Portal:Sports

The Sports Portal

Sport in childhood. Association football, shown above, is a team sport which also provides opportunities to nurture physical fitness and social interaction skills.

Sport is a form of physical activity or game. Often competitive and organized, sports use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills. They also provide enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Many sports exist, with different participant numbers, some are done by a single person with others being done by hundreds. Most sports take place either in teams or competing as individuals. Some sports allow a "tie" or "draw", in which there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking methods to ensure one winner. A number of contests may be arranged in a tournament format, producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs.

Sport is generally recognised as system of activities based in physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with major competitions admitting only sports meeting this definition. Some organisations, such as the Council of Europe, preclude activities without any physical element from classification as sports. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee who oversee the Olympic Games recognises both chess and bridge as sports. SportAccord, the international sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports: bridge, chess, draughts, Go and xiangqi. However, they limit the number of mind games which can be admitted as sports. Sport is usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to ensure fair competition. Winning can be determined by physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first. It can also be determined by judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance, including objective or subjective measures such as technical performance or artistic impression. (Full article...)

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A flèche during the qarter-finals of the Masters à l'épée 2012

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Mahela Jayawardene in 2008

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Jordan going in for a slam dunk with his signature exposed tongue.
Jordan going in for a slam dunk with his signature exposed tongue.
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player, entrepreneur, and majority owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

After a three-season career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which included a national championship in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball.

Jordan led the Bulls to NBA championships in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999. After retiring from the sport, he returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.

Jordan's individual accolades and accomplishments include five MVP awards, numerous All-NBA Team and All-Defensive Team appearances, All-Star Game MVP and NBA Finals MVP awards, and other accolades. He holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring average (33.45 points per game).

In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press's list of athletes of the century. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

Jordan is also noted for his product endorsements. He fueled the success of Nike's Air Jordan sneakers, and starred in the 1996 feature film Space Jam as himself. (Full article...)

Selected team

Malmö FF line up before a 2011–12 UEFA Europa League group stage match
Malmö FF line up before a 2011–12 UEFA Europa League group stage match
Malmö Fotbollförening, also known simply as Malmö FF, is a Swedish professional association football club based in Malmö. The club is affiliated with Skånes Fotbollförbund and the team play their home games at Swedbank Stadion. The club colours, reflected in their crest and kit, are sky blue and white.

Formed on 24 February 1910, the club have won sixteen national championship titles and fourteen national cup titles, making them the most successful club in Sweden in terms of total trophies won. Malmö FF have also won the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, on three occasions when the title of Swedish champions was not decided by the outcome of that league. They were runners-up in the 1979 European Champions Cup final, which they lost 1–0 to English club Nottingham Forest. This made them the only Swedish football club, as of 2012, to have reached the final of the competition, for which the team were awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal.

Malmö FF is an open member association and the annual general meeting is the highest policy-making body. The meeting approves the accounts and elects the chairman and board. With an equity of 109.5 million SEK (approximately €12.4 million) the club is the richest football club in Sweden as of 2012.

The club first won Allsvenskan in 1944. Malmö FF were most successful during the 1970s, when they won five Swedish championships and four Svenska Cupen titles. The main rivals of the club are Helsingborgs IF, IFK Göteborg, and historically IFK Malmö. MFF Support is the official fan club of Malmö FF. The club have also been featured in the media, including the football documentaries Blådårar 1 and Blådårar 2. (Full article...)

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Opening ceremonies of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics

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