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Sporting Trivia
- Which sport has the lightest balls? Answer: table tennis / ping pong, just 0.1 ounces (2.7grams). The heaviest balls? A tie between ten-pin bowling and shot put — they both have 16lb (7.26 kg) balls. See more Ball Weight comparisons.
- Which sport has the largest balls? Answer: basketball (9.4inches/238.8mm). The smallest balls? Squash and Table-Tennis balls are both about 1.6inches (40mm) in diameter. See more Ball size comparisons.
- The fastest sport in the world? Jai Alai, a version of Basque Pelota is often quoted as the fastest sport in the world due to the speeds achieved by the ball during game play. However, a higher speed has been recorded for a badminton shuttlecock. The Guinness World Records lists fastest badminton hit in competition of 417 km/h (259 mph), achieved by Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) in Tokyo, Japan, on 24 September 2017. Golf balls have also been recorded at a higher speed than in Jai Alai. The title of the fastest field sport in the world is claimed by hurling.
- Fastest Humans? Ignoring any mechanically assisted motion, the fastest moving humans in sport are downhill speed skiers who have been known to reach 250km/hr (155mph). You might think that skydiving may get higher speeds, however the terminal velocity is often reported to be approximately 60 m/s (216km/hr, 134mph) for a typical skydiver in free fall, the skiers probably get in better aerodynamic positions. In sprinting, If you take the average speed of the current world 100 m record (Bolt's 9.58 s), you get about 10.44 meters/sec (23.35 miles/hr, 37.58 km/hr). See more about speed records.
- The heaviest sportsmen? That would have to be Sumo wrestlers.
- Did you know that Wheelchair rugby was originally called murderball?
- Roberto Walker Clemente won a gold medal, a golden glove and a world series. Clemente played Major league baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He won 12 golden gloves during his career and was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, awarded to a person who "performs an outstanding deed or act of service to the security, prosperity, and national interest of the United States".
- The deepest human unassisted free dive is 100m (328ft). See more about the sport of freediving (some whales can go to 2.5km).
- The high jump world record is 2.45m (8ft 0.5in), though an American cougar has been measured jumping 5.4m (18ft) high. The long jump world record is 8.95m (29ft 4.4in), about the same as a kangaroo.
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