Lewis Gordon Pugh was the first person to complete a long distance swim at the North Pole. He was also the first person to complete a long distance swim in all five oceans of the world (Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, Arctic and Southern).
Nadia Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and the first gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event.
Bill Tilden is often considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. An American tennis player who was the World No. 1 player for seven years, Bill Tilden dominated the world of international tennis in the first half of the 1920s.
Gene Tunney was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1926-1928 who defeated Jack Dempsey twice, first in 1926 and then in 1927. Tunney's successful title defense against Dempsey is one of the most famous bouts in boxing history and is known as The Long Count Fight.
Ring Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.
Masato Akamatsu is a Japanese baseball player. In August 2010, Masato made sports headlines by denying batter Shuichi Murata a home run with what sportswriters dubbed the Spider-Man Catch, rapidly scaling the outfield fence before snaring the ball in mid-leap.
Camel wrestling is a sport in which two male Tülu camels wrestle in response to a female camel in heat being led before them. It is most common in the Aegean region of Turkey, but is also found in the Marmara and Mediterranean regions of that country. There are an estimated 1,200 camel wrestlers in Turkey, bred specially for the competitions.
Jan Ove Waldner has been called the "Mozart of table tennis" because of his ability to play many different compositions on the table. If not Mozart, Waldner is certainly the Michael Jordan of his sport. His domination and nearly mythical status among the sport's players and fans is unprecedented in the history of the game. Although table tennis doesn't enjoy the respect reserved for the world's more recognized sports, Waldner, in countries that take the sport seriously, is widely recognized as the best player of all time. He is one of two players in the sport's history to win all three major titles—at the World Championships, the Olympics and the World Cup. He is also known for possessing the finest serve technique in the European game.
Ferret legging is a sport that seems to have been popular among coal miners in Yorkshire, England. The male-only contestants put live ferrets inside their trousers; the winner is the one who is the last to release the animals. The world record is five hours and thirty minutes.
Irina Rodnina is one of the most successful figure skaters ever and the only pair skater to win 10 successive World Championships (1969–78) and three successive Olympic gold medals.