Sports
Main article: Sport in Greece Panathenaic Stadium at the first day of the 1896 Summer Olympics (top) and the Olympic Stadium of Athens, during the 2004 games (bottom).Greece is the birthplace of the Olympic Games, first recorded in 776 BC. The Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, a replica of an ancient Greek stadium, hosted the Olympic Games in 1896. It had also hosted Olympic Games in 1870 and 1875 (see Evangelis Zappas). The Panathenaic stadium also hosted the Games in 1906 and was used to host events at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
The Greek national football team, ranked 14th in the world in 2012, won the UEFA Euro 2004 in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport. The Greek Super League is the highest professional football league in the country comprising sixteen teams. The most successful are Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens.
The Greek national basketball team has a decades-long tradition of excellence in the sport. As of 2012, it ranked 4th in the world. They have won the European Championship twice in 1987 and 2005, and have reached the final four in three of the last four FIBA World Championships, taking second place in 2006. The domestic top basketball league, A1 Ethniki, is composed of fourteen teams. The most successful Greek teams are Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Aris Thessaloniki and AEK Athens.
Water polo and volleyball are also practiced widely in Greece while cricket and handball are relatively popular in Corfu and Veroia respectively.
Other articles related to "sports, sport":
... varies according to the martial arts or combat sports in question ... In combat sports, stand-up grappling usually revolves around successful takedowns and throws ... In some sports such as glima, the fight is over once one of the opponents has fallen down ...
... Football is the most widely-followed sport in Bucharest, with the city having numerous club teams, some of them being known throughout Europe Steaua, Dinamo or Rapid ... There are sport clubs for ice hockey, rugby union, basketball, handball, water polo and volleyball ... which is also used for other indoor sports such as volleyball and handball ...
... Olympia is the home of the Oly Rollers, the local women's flat track roller derby league whose travel team (the Cosa Nostra Donnas) became the 2009 national champions of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) by winning the national "Declaration of Derby" tournament in Philadelphia, PA on November 15, 2009 ... Olympia is also home to some of the Pacific Northwest's greatest running talents such as the Guerilla Running Racing Club. ...
... The University of Manchester operates sports clubs via the Athletics Union while student societies are operated by the Students' Union ... The sports societies vary widely in their level and scope ... Many more popular sports operate several university teams and departmental teams which compete in leagues against other teams within the university ...
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)
“It is usual for a Man who loves Country Sports to preserve the Game in his own Grounds, and divert himself upon those that belong to his Neighbour.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“In the end, I think you really only get as far as you’re allowed to get.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)