 ... that the 2000 Summer Olympics gold medalist in the heptathlon was Denise Lewis? (10 April 2004)
|
| ... that as part of a publicity stunt, the 1927 Texas Relays held a 89 mile (143 km) running race from San Antonio to Austin? (23 February 2007)
|
| ... that Czech decathlete Roman Šebrle, world record holder and 2004 Olympic winner, was injured in January 2007 when a javelin which had been thrown 55 metres pierced his shoulder? (5 March 2007)
|
| ... that at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics, Yipsi Moreno became world champion in the hammer throw at the age of twenty, improving from an eighteenth place finish in 1999? (11 March 2007)
|
| ... that Erica Larson, a chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, won the Pikes Peak mountain marathon five times in six years between 1999 and 2004, more than any other woman in the event's history? (12 June 2007)
|
| ... that all four deaths in the thirty annual Chicago Marathons have occurred in the last ten years? (31 July 2007)
|
| ... that wind assistance has caused the non-ratification of many potential world records in athletics? (10 September 2007)
|
| ... that Patrick Ivuti's photo finish victory in the 2007 Chicago Marathon, one of the five major marathons, was his first marathon victory? (15 October 2007)
|
| ... that 1985 NCAA hurdling champion Thomas Wilcher won the Michigan High School Athletic Association team track & field championship three consecutive times, both as an athlete and a coach? (27 January 2008)
|
| ... that Charlie Fonville broke a 14-year-old shot put world record by almost twelve inches at the 1948 Kansas Relays but was not allowed to stay with the other athletes because he was African-American? (8 February 2008)
|
| ... that the Peachtree Road Race, held annually on July 4 (U.S. Independence Day) in Atlanta, Georgia, is the world's largest 10 kilometer road race with 55,000 runners participating in 2007? (11 February 2008)
|
| ... that Gerald Ford threatened to quit the Michigan football team when African-American player Willis Ward was kept out of a 1932 game in response to Georgia Tech's refusal to play an integrated team? (14 March 2008)
|
| ... that in January 2006, British Paralympic sprinter John McFall's racing prosthesis was stolen, but anonymously returned a week later? (3 June 2008)
|
| ... that US Olympic discus throw gold medalist Stephanie Brown Trafton said that the downside of the Beijing Games was that they conflicted with the opening of hunting season in California? (28 August 2008)
|
| ... that Taisto Mäki, one of the so-called Flying Finns, was the first man to run 10,000 metres in under half an hour? (31 August 2008)
|
| ... that despite being the fifth fastest European of all time in the 100 metres, Ronald Pognon failed to reach the semifinals in his event at the 2008 Olympic Games? (4 September 2008)
|
| ... that Olympic distance runner Matt Centrowitz was the number one high school mile runner in America in 1973? (1 October 2008)
|
| ... that at age 17 years and 331 days, Polish hammer thrower Kamila Skolimowska (pictured) was the youngest Olympic champion in the 2000 Summer Olympics? (4 January 2009)
|
| ... that New York Road Runners CEO Mary Wittenberg was the first female director of a major international marathon? (30 January 2009)
|
| ... that Eddie Tolan, the first African-American to be the "world's fastest human" after winning double gold at the 1932 Olympics, returned home jobless and appeared in vaudeville with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson? (1 February 2009)
|
| ... that Senegalese long jumper and triple jumper Ndiss Kaba Badji was the only person from his country to reach a final at the 2008 Summer Olympics? (3 February 2009)
|
| ... that Ugandan 800 metres runner Abraham Chepkirwok missed out on the 2007 World Championships bronze medal by only 0.02 seconds? (6 February 2009)
|
| ... that, although she was born in South Africa, Kate Dennison now holds the indoor British record for the pole vault? (22 February 2009)
|
| ... that Kenyan long distance athlete Evans Cheruiyot and his teammates were stranded in France by their manager without food, money, or shelter? (25 February 2009)
|
| ... that Charles Hoff was the first Norwegian to set a world record in a track and field event? (1 March 2009)
|
| ... that when 2001 Chicago Marathon winner Catherine Ndereba set the world record, she joined four-time winner Khalid Khannouchi with a current world record time set at the Chicago Marathon? (1 March 2009)
|
| ... that Eline Berings won the 60 metre hurdles event at the 2009 European Indoor Championships ahead of Lucie Škrobáková? (15 March 2009)
|
| ... that Dan & Dave both won Olympic medals, but lost their endorsement deal? (15 March 2009)
|
| ... that three members of the Croatian bobsleigh team at the 2006 Winter Olympics, Dejan Vojnović, Jurica Grabušić and Slaven Krajačić, had all previously competed as track athletes at the Summer Olympics? (1 April 2009)
|
| ... that Keila Costa is the South American record holder in the women's triple jump event? (13 April 2009)
|
| ... that Spirit of the Marathon, a documentary film about marathon runners, won Best Picture at the Mammoth Film Festival? (26 April 2009)
|
| ... that Shamar Sands, the Bahamian 110 metre hurdles national record holder, has a degree in accountancy? (16 May 2009)
|
| ... that after a hurdle was misplaced on the running track, Angelo Taylor said he would never again compete at the Adidas Track Classic? (22 May 2009)
|
| ... that Coby Miller is the only track athlete to have run 100 meters in under ten seconds at Olympic Trials and not make the Olympic team? (25 May 2009)
|
| ... that Ivory Williams competed against Usain Bolt in a 150-metre street race as part of the Great City Games in Manchester, England? (8 June 2009)
|
| ... that of the 68 track sprinters who have broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 metres, only Patrick Johnson is not of West African descent? (23 June 2009)
|
| ... that former long jump record holder Carol Lewis tried out for the 2002 Winter Olympics bobsleigh team? (27 June 2009)
|
| ... that Ukrainian runner Yuliya Krevsun ended her track career in 2005 to start a family, but later made a comeback and reached the 800 metres final at the 2008 Olympic Games? (5 July 2009)
|
| ... that sprint athlete and British 200 metres champion Toby Sandeman did a photoshoot for Vogue with Naomi Campbell? (26 July 2009)
|
| ... that 19-year-old Panamanian sprinter Alonso Edward is a two-time South American Champion and the fourth fastest 200 m runner this year? (16 August 2009)
|
| ... that Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to run the entire Boston Marathon? (23 August 2009)
|
| ... that because the Foulées du Gois road running race is held on a tidal causeway, participants are sometimes forced to swim to the finish line? (26 August 2009)
|
| ... that William Sharman, a finalist in the 110 meter hurdles at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, is also a classically trained pianist and has a master's in banking and finance? (12 September 2009)
|
| ... that American sprinter Walter Dix won two bronze medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but hardly competed at all in 2009 due to injury and a legal dispute with his agent? (20 September 2009)
|
| ... that the first United States national track and field championships were organized by the New York Athletic Club in 1876? (29 September 2009)
|
| ... that the Belgrade Race Through History and Belgrade Marathon competitions were held in 1999, despite the fact that the NATO bombing campaign had caused widespread damage to the city that year? (22 October 2009)
|
| ... that long-distance runner Zersenay Tadese was the first person from Eritrea to win an Olympic medal in any sport? (23 October 2009)
|
| ... that the annual Emsley Carr Mile was created to encourage athletes to break the four-minute mile, but by the second race in 1954, Roger Bannister had already broken it? (29 October 2009)
|
| ... that in 2004 Kenyan runner Florence Barsosio won the Florence Marathon in Florence, Italy? (8 December 2009)
|
| ... that Tsegaye Kebede, an Olympic and World Championship medalist in the marathon, worked as a child for 30 US cents a day so he could afford a daily meal and an education? (8 December 2009)
|
| ... that the Obudu Ranch International Mountain Race is known as "the world's richest mountain race" because of the large amounts of prize money on offer? (8 December 2009)
|
| ... that Penn State's John Romig, the first NCAA champion in the two-mile run, later became an explosives expert? (11 December 2009)
|
| ... that Leonard Paulu won consecutive NCAA championships in the 100 yard dash despite war injuries that included the loss of an eye and a right-leg stride four inches shorter than his left? (13 December 2009)
|
| ... that American athlete Eric Wilson won the 220-yard dash at the first NCAA track and field championships in 1921? (14 December 2009)
|
| ... that Stanford's Flint Hanner, winner of the first NCAA javelin championship, later coached the Fresno State Bulldogs to 27 track and field championships? (17 December 2009)
|
| ... that Michigan's Don McEwen, two-time NCAA champion in the two-mile run, also won consecutive Big Ten cross country championships even though his school had no varsity cross country team? (18 December 2009)
|
| ... that Michigan Wolverines Hall of Famer Phil Northrup won three NCAA championships in the javelin throw and pole vault? (19 December 2009)
|
| ... that athletes from Michigan Wolverines men's track and field have won 43 NCAA individual event championships, 14 Olympic gold medals, and 57 Big 10 team championships? (19 December 2009)
|
| ... that the 6 foot, 6 inch Swedish Wolverine Roland Nilsson won six consecutive Big Ten shot put championships in the 1950s? (20 December 2009)
|
| ... that Alemayehu Bezabeh, the 2009 European Cross Country Champion, had to have X-ray tests to estimate his age? (27 December 2009)
|
| ... that at the 2008 Great Brook Run, English politician David Cameron ran through a muddy stream faster than a man dressed as Spider-Man? (4 January 2010)
|
| ... that the first sub-four-minute mile in athletics was achieved at the Roger Bannister running track, then known as the Iffley Road Track? (1 February 2010)
|
| ... that Bulgarian middle-distance runner Vesela Yatsinska failed to make it past round one in the 1980 Olympics despite achieving a personal best time? (15 February 2010)
|
| ... that in 2009, triple jumper Fabrizio Donato set a new championship record for the European Indoor Championships at 17.59 metres? (16 February 2010)
|
| ... that the Beppu-Ōita Marathon in Japan produced world record-breaking marathon runs in both 1963 and 1978? (18 February 2010)
|
| ... that the Norwegian long jump record for women, which Margrethe Renstrøm broke in 2009 with a 6.64 metres jump, was at the time the oldest Norwegian athletics record? (18 February 2010)
|
| ... that marathon races only receive IAAF Gold Label Road Race status if organisers have taken steps to preserve the environment? (19 February 2010)
|
| ... that Kurao Hiroshima was a two-time Olympian, two-time Japanese marathon champion, and two-time winner of the Fukuoka Marathon? (21 February 2010)
|
| ... that Magnar Lundemo competed in international championships in both running and skiing in 1962? (25 February 2010)
|
| ... in 2007, champion runner David Lelei tried to be the Orange Democratic Movement candidate for the Eldoret South Constituency seat but lost to the eventual winner Peris Simam? (4 March 2010)
|
| ... that Samuel Wanjiru, the 2008 Olympic marathon champion, won the Fukuoka Cross Country competition when he was only 16 years old? (6 March 2010)
|
| ... that Sisko Hanhijoki won 28 Finnish championship titles in the 60, 100 and 200 metres events between 1985 and 1993? (7 March 2010)
|
| ... that German high jumper Meike Kröger spent almost a year working in an orphanage in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan? (7 March 2010)
|
| ... that three-time Olympian Albertina Dias was the first Portuguese woman to win at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships? (8 March 2010)
|
| ... that the Bulgarian female runners Zlateva, Yordanova, Pekhlivanova, Shtereva, Tomova and Petrova all won medals in 800 metres at the European Indoor Championships in the 1970s? (8 March 2010)
|
| ... that Franjo Mihalić, winner of the 1958 Boston Marathon, set his first Yugoslav record over 5000 m just several months after taking up athletics? (9 March 2010)
|
| ... that Moroccan Elarbi Khattabi won five medals in team competitions at the World Cross Country Championships, including Morocco's first such medal, the silver in 1994? (16 March 2010)
|
| ... that despite his international success, Tunisian-Swiss 1500 metres runner Ali Hakimi only became Tunisian champion three times? (18 March 2010)
|
| ... that the Almond Blossom Cross Country was created by the District of Faro and the Portuguese tourist board to promote sport and tourism in the area? (23 March 2010)
|
| ... that the career of Asian Games gold medallist Pinki Pramanik was cut short by serious injury suffered in a car crash? (23 March 2010)
|
| ... that Olena Krasovska ran the fastest 100 metres hurdles race (12.45 seconds) by an athlete representing Ukraine, but despite this she does not hold the Ukrainian record? (28 March 2010)
|
| ... that Ukrainian sprinter Anzhela Kravchenko has more national titles in the 100 and 200 metres than double world champion Zhanna Pintusevich-Block? (28 March 2010)
|
| ... that Seteng Ayele was the oldest track and field athlete at both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics? (29 March 2010)
|
| ... that Siraj Gena won the Rome Marathon barefoot to honour the 50th anniversary of Abebe Bikila's marathon gold at the 1960 Rome Olympics? (29 March 2010)
|
| ... that about 30,000 runners cross the 25 de Abril Bridge as part of the Lisbon Half Marathon each year? (30 March 2010)
|
| ... that tree surgeon Gaylord Silly has represented the Seychelles twice at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships? (4 April 2010)
|
| ... that Swedish athlete Lena Berntsson has competed at World Championship-level in both the 60-meter dash and weightlifting? (1 May 2010)
|
| ... that Günther Weidlinger broke the 23-year-old Austrian record in the marathon in his second-ever race over the distance? (1 May 2010)
|
| ... that Olympic marathon runner Lisa Weightman won the Award for Business Excellence from Australian broadsheet The Age? (2 May 2010)
|
| ... that the Cursa de Bombers 10 km road race in Barcelona was created by firefighters protesting about their working conditions? (5 May 2010)
|
| ... that Kenyan long distance runner Eliud Kiptanui went on to win the Prague Marathon after the Eyjafjallajökull eruption prevented him from traveling to the Vienna Marathon three weeks earlier? (29 May 2010)
|
| ... that American sprinter Jeff Williams won his first World Championship medal at the age of 29 under the guidance of women's Olympic medalist Barbara Ferrell? (4 June 2010)
|
| ... that 1912 Olympic champion Jim Thorpe was stripped of his track and field medals after it was discovered he had played baseball professionally? (4 June 2010)
|
| ... that Teruji Kogake set a world record in the triple jump at the Japanese Olympic Trials but only managed eighth in the finals at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics? (12 June 2010)
|
| ... that American athlete Marla Runyan, who is legally blind, won the national 5K road running title three consecutive times at the Freihofer's Run for Women? (13 June 2010)
|
| ... that French track and field athlete Teddy Tamgho (pictured) became the third best triple jumper of all-time three days before his 21st birthday? (19 June 2010)
|
| ... that the New York Mini 10K, first held in Central Park in 1972, was the world's first women-only road running event? (21 June 2010)
|
| ... that Norwegian MP Arne Haukvik was a founder of the Bislett Games? (24 June 2010)
|
| ... that, in 2007, American track and field athlete Jake Arnold became the first man in 22 years to win back-to-back NCAA Championships in the decathlon? (25 June 2010)
|
| ... that Karen Fladset, team handball player and former coach for the Norwegian women's national handball team, was also national champion in discus throw? (26 June 2010)
|
| ... that the career of the 400-meter world junior record holder Darrell Robinson ended after he accused Carl Lewis and Flo-Jo of using performance-enhancing drugs? (26 June 2010)
|
| ... that Harvard medical graduate Brenda Taylor reached the 2004 Olympic final in the 400-meter hurdles? (8 July 2010)
|
| ... that Claude Bracey, known as "the Texas Flyer," won the 100- and 220-yard sprints at the 1928 NCAA Track Championships and tied the world record in the 100-meter race in 1932? (18 July 2010)
|
| ... that in 1975, Julie Ann Brown became the first American woman to win the World Cross Country Championships? (20 July 2010)
|
| ... that the Norwegian multi-sports club Ski does not offer the sport of skiing? (6 August 2010)
|
| ... that the Chicago Half Marathon begins and ends near the Museum of Science and Industry? (7 August 2010)
|
| ... that the inaugural Paris Marathon in 1896 was won by Len Hurst, an English brick-maker? (7 August 2010)
|
| ... that Sandra Perković is the youngest ever European champion in women's discus throw? (15 August 2010)
|
| ... that Ethiopian-born Meryem Erdoğan, impressed by her countrywoman Elvan Abeylegesse's success, illegally immigrated to Turkey at age 16 in order to become a distance runner? (18 August 2010)
|
| ... that the Giro di Castelbuono is one of Europe's oldest road running competitions, having been first held in Castelbuono, Sicily, in 1912? (20 August 2010)
|
| ... that shot putter Ivan Ivančić is the oldest ever finalist at the World Championships in Athletics? (25 August 2010)
|
| ... that over two days Sun Yingjie won both the Beijing Marathon and a silver medal in athletics at the 10th Chinese National Games, but lost her medal because a rival spiked her drink with steroids? (28 August 2010)
|
| ... that Dora Ratjen (pictured) was stripped of the women's high jump gold medal from the 1938 European Athletics Championships because he was a man? (2 September 2010)
|
| ... that Prudent Joye, the 1938 European Champion in the 400 m hurdles, escaped from a Nazi internment camp and joined the French Resistance? (2 September 2010)
|
| ... that the Youth Olympic champion in the girls' hammer throw, Alexia Sedykh, is the daughter of two current world record holders in athletics? (2 September 2010)
|
| ... that Canadian Olympic shot putter Bishop Dolegiewicz admitted to selling steroids in the 1980s but later warned athletes of their health risks as a throwing coach? (24 September 2010)
|
| ... that Oprah Winfrey completed the America's Finest City Half Marathon in 1993, running under a pseudonym and accompanied by a bodyguard, a trainer, and a video crew? (3 October 2010)
|
| ... that Sharon Cherop fell over at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon but got back up and ran the fastest marathon ever by a woman in Canada? (6 October 2010)
|
| ... that Kenyan athlete Paul Malakwen Kosgei became the World Half Marathon Champion in 2002 despite having never competed in a half marathon before? (20 October 2010)
|
| ... that Ethiopian long-distance runner Atsede Habtamu set a new course record at the Eindhoven Marathon with her first marathon victory earlier this month? (22 October 2010)
|
| ... that 2006 National Capital Marathon winner Amos Tirop Matui was disqualified and received financial compensation due to a misplaced barrier on the course? (25 October 2010)
|
| ... that Australian runner Michael Shelley lost his scholarship funding and suffered a broken leg in 2009, but went on to win a silver medal in the marathon at the 2010 Commonwealth Games? (25 October 2010)
|
| ... that Irene Kosgei, despite injuring her knee at a drinks station early in the women's marathon at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, edged compatriot Irene Mogaka to become the first Kenyan woman to win a Commonwealth marathon title? (26 October 2010)
|
| ... that Amane Gobena is the first Ethiopian runner to win the Osaka Ladies Marathon? (27 October 2010)
|
| ... that Sy Mah, who held a Guinness World Record for the most lifetime marathons, completed his first marathon in the same race in which he coached 13-year-old Maureen Wilton to a women's world record? (5 January 2011)
|
| ... that Gary Fanelli, who represented American Samoa in the marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics, has competed in various costumes including Elwood Blues, a Ghostbusters ghost, and Michael Jackson? (11 February 2011)
|
| ... that 2012 Olympian Janet Cherobon-Bawcom started running only as a means to get a college scholarship and says she never "really became interested" in the sport? (3 August 2012)
|
| ... that to deprive his body of oxygen in the five months before the Olympic trials, Olympic steeplechaser Donn Cabral spent over 10 hours a day in a high-altitude tent he bought on Craigslist? (3 August 2012)
|
| ... that race walker Emerson Esnal Hernández, who is set to represent El Salvador at the 2012 Olympic Games, started competing in athletics after accompanying a shy friend to tryouts? (3 August 2012)
|
| ... that California student Sarah Attar is one of Saudi Arabia's first female athletes at the Olympics, and is due to compete at the 2012 Games in an event she hasn't competed in since high school? (8 August 2012)
|
| ... that 2012 Indian Olympic competitor Ram Singh Yadav is the second Indian athlete ever to be qualified for the Olympics marathon? (11 August 2012)
|
| ... that Vahram Papazyan (pictured) and Mıgırdiç Mıgıryan, the two athletes who represented Turkey in its first-ever Olympics, were both ethnic Armenians? (2 March 2013 )
|
| ... that Chinese athlete Wu Shuijiao set an East Asian Games record in 100 metres hurdles when she won gold in the 2013 Games in Tianjin? (8 January 2014)
|
| ... that Australian javelin thrower Hamish Peacock has competed at the Youth, Junior and Senior World Championships? (11 June 2014)
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