The sport to my knowledge is quite new to recreational sporting. I would like to know when it was first played at the olympics.
131515
fencing was played by the greeks in the olympics, who first introduced it.
12770
In Greece...I think...when the first Olympics occured
57670
no way! come on get a life. olympics come once every 2 years and winter olympics come once every 4 years! try something new. look at skeliten or downhill ski racing instead.
161554
I love watching curling on TV - I even taped it during the Olympics so I could watch the US in their bronze medal match.  I've never played it, the nearest place to play is like 200 miles away, but I find the game really interesting in a quirky way.  It seems like bowling on ice - the kind of game that you could still play even after a couple of beers!!!
645724
there are 53 players on a team, not 42 or 65 like those first two idiots answered. and there are several different fouls. the officials throw yellow penalty flags when a foul is committed. the rules are far too involved and complicated to go into here, but the sport is so strategic it's like a hard hitting chess match. if you watch some games and start learning the rules, i'm sure you'll find it fascinating. thank you for showing such an interest, it's very refreshing to hear a european asking about the rules instead of just bashing a sport they don't understand.
558303
Congratulations - it's a great sport and you'll be glad you chose it long into your adult life!\n\nThis is probably a bit of a down time for HS XC it being summer season and all... if you ask again in a couple months I bet you'll get lots of responses from people who are really getting into it.  Have fun!
623913
I remember some time ago, for non-official competitions, Brazil would play like that. The one I remember well was the 1988 Olympics, when Brazil finshed second.\nFor official competitions (I mean, those played by the real national team), I don't think it has happened, though.
200742
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word sport was first used to describe athletic endeavors in 1863.  Prior to that the word was used as early as 1440 to describe more general pasttimes and activities.\n\nThe word itself is a form of another word, disport, which ties back to the French word deporter, which means to divert, to amuse.\n\nIt's usage around the world probably stems from a couple of reasons: 1) that a similar word developed in local languages that have the same basis as English but, more likely, 2) that they are simply adopting the English word for this activity
589130
Hello,\nI presume you are talking about the football worlcup\nIt started in 1930 In Uruguay, why? well the FIFA (the organisation in charge of the football competiton around the world) wanted at the begining leave the world cup into the olympics game (1908) but after the great world war, the FIFA and his president Jules Rimet changed their mind and decided to creat the World cup, they took the decision in 1928. The first edition had 13 teams (countries) vs 32 today.\n\nWell it's brief and i hope it will help you to start, if you need more info on the organisation or the cup your best try will be www.fifa.com
117445
It was developed in England in the 19th Century. A great overview of the game, complete with links to sources you can cite, is at Wikipedia.
161977
Football originated in Britain and the first 'internationals' were between the constituent countries of the United Kingdom. When football became international they carried on that way. Cricket has separate teams too. \n\nIncidentally the UK can't enter a football team for the Olympic Football event as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can't agree on forming a British team and so no team at all is sent for that competition
133417
Yes, slight problem with this theory though and that is Softball is on the way out. Yes, it will be done in Beijing 2008, but London 2012 has said "No" to softball. And it's unknown whether or not the bids for the 2016 Games have even got the sport considered.
311637
I had to do this before this should help.\n\nhttp://www.sportsknowhow.com/volleyball/history/volleyball-history.shtml
109241
In 1896, winners' medals were in fact silver. The custom of gold-silver-bronze for the first three places dates from the 1904 games and has been copied for many other sporting events\n\nHowever, the 1904 Olympics also awarded silver trophies for first place, which makes Athens 1906 the first games that awarded the three medals only
562363
L’équipe d’Italie débute tardivement sur la scène internationale. Elle dispute son premier match le 15 mai 1910 à l’Arena de Milan face à la France. Les Italiens qui jouent en blanc, l’emportent sur le score de 6-2, et font chavirer de joie tous les tifosi de la péninsule italienne. C’est le 6 janvier 1911, lors d’un match contre la Hongrie, que l’Italie va pour la première fois jouer avec un maillot bleu, la maglia azzurra, en hommage à la famille royale des Savoie.
58838
Yes it will be a good olympic sport in the future. But it will take time to get there if you notice snowboarding in now a olympic sport. It will take time though and the more paintball is brought out of the woods the better chance it will have. \nI think you will see a format like X-ball in the olympics before anything else.
306619
Check this out:\n\nhttp://www.forbes.com/2004/06/23/04athletesland.html