The rarest achievements in sports
Contents:
o the most incredible goals in football we have already written. It's time to highlight the rarest sporting achievements in other sports.
• Participants in this list are not included in world or national records. Rather, these are examples of incredible skill, professionalism, and considerable luck.
7. Triple play without assistance
• This is one of the rarest achievements in Major League Baseball and baseball in general. It requires one defensive player to personally make all three outs (withdrawal of a player from the other team). Why would anyone do that when there are a bunch of other people on the field who are paid to help him?
• Since the inception of Major League Baseball in 1869, there have only been 15 recorded cases of unaided triple play, averaging one every 9,5 years.
• But like stars, birthmarks, and unexplained deaths, unaided triple plays tend to happen in clusters: there were six in the 1920s, two in the 1990s, five in the 2000s, and only one in between.
• The Cleveland Indians are the only team with three players capable of accomplishing this sporting feat. Their names are Neil Ball, Bill Wambsganss and Asdrubal Cabrera.
6. 1080 skateboarding trick
• For someone far from skateboarding, the very idea that an athlete can take off from a springboard, complete 1080 (three full rotations) and land successfully, borders on science fiction.
• Add to that the fact that most of these crazy records were made by people under the age of 15, and you have the plot for the next episode of Stranger Things.
5. Quadruple double
• One of the rarest accomplishments in the NBA. The player is required to score double figures in four of the five categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots of the opponent.
• A triple-double is impressive on its own, but it happens a few times a season. But the quadruple-double has not been repeated since 1994.
• There have only been five such records in NBA history:
- Nate Thurmond in 1974
- Alvin Robertson in 1986
- David Robinson in 1994
- and the only player to do so twice was Hakeem Olajuwon in 1990.
4. Twice-Won Heisman Memorial Trophy
• Since its inception in 1935, the most coveted individual award in American college football has been presented 77 times to 76 different players. This means that only one player has won the award twice.
• Retired NFL quarterback Arthur Griffin took home the Heisman Trophy in 1974 and 1975. So far, no one has repeated his result.
3. Furthest penalty in rugby
• A free kick in rugby is taken from the place where the infringement occurred. Sometimes the shot has to be taken quite far from the goal, and it is always impressive. But some rugby players have real steel pistons, not leg muscles, and can send the ball flying incredibly far.
• The farthest recorded penalty was scored by Welshman Paul Thorburn against Scotland in 1986. Considering that the kicker is not a special position assigned only to this role (Paul ran around the field no less than other players) and that rugby balls were much heavier in the 80s, this 64,2-meter-long kick entered in history as one of the most amazing sporting achievements.
2. Getting the title of yokozuna in sumo wrestling
• During the existence of sumo wrestling, only 72 wrestlers managed to win the highest title and become yokozuna. When receiving the title, not only strength and skill are taken into account, but also the dignity / grace of the athlete. The latter quality has long been considered the prerogative of exclusively Japanese sumo wrestlers (and members of the Sumo Association have said this openly).
• However, in 1993, the Hawaiian Akebono was named yokozuna, and later three more foreigners – the Samoan Musashimaru, the Mongol Asashoryu and the resident of Sakhalin Taiho Koki, Ukrainian by grandfather.
• There is another key differentiator of this achievement besides its rarity – Yokozuna is never demoted. Once you reach this rank, you will become a living symbol of sumo, and only a pension, disqualification for a serious offense or death can save you from the title.
1. Completion of Produnova's jump in women's gymnastics
• The danger factor, the intense disappointment of failure, plus the real challenge, means that seeing a gymnast landing gracefully in Produnova's jump is like seeing Halley's comet passing by a lunar eclipse.
• The unique vault two and a half forward somersaults is named after Russian gymnast Elena Produnova, the first woman to successfully perform this hold at the 1999 Universiade.
• Many tried to repeat this element, many were injured while doing this, which made the choice that any athlete or athlete should make very ambiguous.
• You see, even if you land and stumble like a drunken sailor after 40 rums, the judges will count the landing, thus ensuring a high score despite poor performance. This resulted in many gymnasts attempting Produnova's vault but landing clumsily, risking serious and even fatal injuries. So far, only 5 athletes have been able to successfully complete this element.
