Chapter 4: A Modern, Thriving Society

Sport

अंतिम जाँच: 15 July 2026

• 1Major UK sporting events include the Wimbledon Championships (tennis), the Grand National (horse racing), the Open Championship (golf), the Six Nations (rugby) and the Ashes (cricket).
• 2London hosted the Olympic Games in 1908, 1948 and 2012 (plus the 2012 Paralympics); the main 2012 site was in Stratford, East London.
• 3Sir Roger Bannister — first man to run a mile in under four minutes, in 1954.
• 4Sir Jackie Stewart — Scottish racing driver, Formula 1 world champion three times.
• 5Bobby Moore — captained the England football team that won the World Cup in 1966.
• 6Sir Ian Botham — captained the England cricket team and holds several English Test cricket records.
• 7Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean — won Olympic gold for ice dancing in 1984 and four consecutive world championships.
• 8Sir Steve Redgrave — rower, won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games.
• 9Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson — Welsh Paralympic wheelchair athlete: 16 Paralympic medals including 11 golds, six London Marathon wins, held over 30 world records.
• 10Dame Kelly Holmes — won two athletics gold medals (800m and 1500m) at the 2004 Olympics.
• 11Dame Ellen MacArthur — yachtswoman; in 2004 became the fastest person to sail solo around the world.
• 12Sir Chris Hoy — Scottish cyclist; six Olympic gold medals and one silver.
• 13David Weir — Paralympic wheelchair athlete: six gold medals over two Paralympic Games and six London Marathon wins.
• 14Bradley Wiggins — in 2012 became the first Briton to win the Tour de France; multiple Olympic gold medallist.
• 15Mo Farah — won gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m at the 2012 Olympics; the first Briton to win the Olympic 10,000m; born in Somalia.
• 16Jessica Ennis — won the 2012 Olympic heptathlon gold (seven-event discipline).
• 17Andy Murray — Scottish tennis player; in 2012 won the US Open, the first British man to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1936; also won Olympic gold and silver in 2012.
• 18Ellie Simmonds — Paralympic swimmer; gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Games; the youngest member of the 2008 British Paralympic team.
• 19Cricket originated in England; test matches can last up to five days; the Ashes is a famous series of test matches played between England and Australia.
• 20Cricket idioms have entered everyday English, e.g. a "good innings" and "it's not cricket" (meaning unfair).
• 21Football is the UK's most popular sport; each UK country has its own leagues (the Premier League in England) and its own national team.
• 22The first professional football clubs were formed in the late 19th century; England's only World Cup win was in 1966.
• 23Rugby originated in England in the early 19th century (at Rugby School); there are two codes: rugby union and rugby league.
• 24Rugby's Six Nations Championship is contested by England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy; the Super League is rugby league's main club competition.
• 25Horse racing has royal connections: Royal Ascot is a five-day race meeting attended by the monarch; the Grand National is run at Aintree near Liverpool; the Scottish Grand National is at Ayr.
• 26The National Horseracing Museum is in Newmarket, Suffolk.
• 27Golf can be traced back to 15th-century Scotland; St Andrews in Scotland is known as the home of golf; the Open Championship is the only golf "major" held outside the United States.
• 28Modern lawn tennis evolved in England in the late 19th century; the first tennis club was founded in Leamington Spa in 1872.
• 29Wimbledon (the All England Lawn Tennis Championships) is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and the only Grand Slam played on grass.
• 30Sailing: Sir Francis Chichester sailed single-handed around the world in 1966/67; Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was the first to do it without stopping.
• 31Rowing: a popular sport; there is a famous annual Boat Race on the Thames between Oxford and Cambridge universities.
• 32Motor sport: racing in the UK dates from 1902; Britain is a centre of F1 engineering; British F1 world champions include Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
• 33Skiing: possible in Scotland, which has five ski centres; dry slopes exist across the UK.