Who holds the world record for the heaviest deadlift?

For readers unfamiliar with powerlifting exercises, a deadlift involves lifting a ‘dead’, or static, weight, typically a barbell, from the ground and elevating it to an upper-thigh, locked position by extending the hips and knees in unison.

According to Guinness World Records, the world record for the heaviest deadlift is held by now-retired Icelandic professional strongman Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. On May 2, 2020, at Thor’s Power Gym in Kópavogur, Iceland, during a ‘Feats of Strength’ event sanctioned by World’s Ultimate Strongman and streamed live on cable sports channel ESPN, Björnsson deadlifted 501kg, or 1,104½lb. Standing 6’8¾” tall and weighing in at a massive 205kg, or 452lb, at the time, the former professional basketball player beat the previous record, 500kg, or 1,102lb, set by English former professional strongman Edward ‘Eddie’ Hall during the World Deadlift Championships in Leeds, England in July, 2016.

Afterwards, Hall contested the world record on the grounds that Björnsson completed his lift in his home gym, rather than in a competitive environment. Björnsson, who had no previous boxing experience, responded by challenging Hall to a boxing match. The contest, billed as ‘The Heaviest Boxing Match in History’, did not come to fruition until March 19, 2022 but, when it did, the Icelander won the six-round exhibition match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium by unanimous points decision.

His powerlifting exploits aside, Björnsson is perhaps best known to a wider audience for his portrayal of Gregor ‘The Mountain’ Clegane in the popular Home Box Office (HBO) series ‘Games of Thrones’, in which he appeared in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth seasons, from April, 2016 onwards

Which is the most dangerous sport, in terms of fatalities?

According to Bandolier, an independent healthcare journal, the most dangerous sport, in terms of fatalities, is BASE jumping, in which the risk of death is 1 in 2,317 jumps. BASE is, of course, an acronym that stands for Buildings, Antennae, Spans and Earth, which are the types of fixed objects from which participants may leap before parachuting to the ground.

In many jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, there is no specific legislation prohibiting BASE jumping, but the sport is still subject to common laws, such as trespass and public endangerment. However, BASE jumping ‘is not considered part of sport parachuting’ by British Skydiving, formerly the British Parachute Association and, as such, is completely unregulated.

Furthermore, while skydivers jump from a minimum altitude of at least 3,000 feet, and often higher, and are equipped with both a main parachute and a reserve parachute, BASE jumpers typically jump from altitudes between 150 and 500 feet and are equipped with just a single parachute. Consequently, BASE jumpers have just a few seconds to orient their bodies before deploying their parachute, which makes the sport an altogether riskier proposition than skydiving. Approximately 38% of BASE jumping fatalities occur without a parachute being deployed at all, for whatever reason.

By comparison, Bandolier quotes figures between 1 in 101,083 and 1 in 125,189 jumps for the risk of death involved in skydiving, which are in the same ball park as the 1 in 116,000 quote for hang gliding. Indeed, the risk of dying associated with swimming, cycling or running is higher than that associated with skydiving or hang gliding, but BASE jumpers are approximately 24 times more likely to suffer a fatality than participants in any other sport.

Which is the oldest sport in the world?

In the absence of time travel to the past – which, while theoretically possible, remains largely the preserve of science fiction – the oldest sport in the world will always be a matter for conjecture. According to Cambridge Dictionary, ‘sport’ is ‘a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job’. Thus, while the origins of various modern sports are prehistoric, the details of when they became ‘sports’, in the modern sense, are lost in the mists of time.

For example, the earliest direct evidence of bow and arrow technology dates from the Paleolithic period, 64,000 years ago, but the use of the bow as a hunting weapon, or for warfare, for that matter, is not quite the same as shooting arrows at an inanimate target. However, recreational archery was practised by civilisations of ancient Egypt, which dates from c.4,000 BCE, and ancient Greece, which dates from c.1,200 BCE.

Likewise, one of the earliest depictions of people swimming or, at least, people in a prone position with arms and legs bent, as if swimming, can be found in the so-called ‘Cave of Swimmers’, in southwestern Egypt. The Neolithic rock art is believed to date from c.8,000 years ago, during the African Humid Period, a.k.a. The Green Sahara, when the Sahara Desert was covered with lush vegetation and lakes.

Perhaps the most convincing evidence for the oldest sport(s) in the world, though, can be found in the Grotte de Lascaux, or ‘Lascaux Cave’, in southwestern France. The cave contains numerous paintings dating from the Upper Paleolithic period, c.15,300 years ago, including depictions of sprinters and wrestlers who, whether competing recreationally or professionally, were presumably doing so according to rules of some kind.

What is Korfball?

‘Korf’ is the Dutch word for ‘basket’, so it should come as no surprise to learn that Korfball is a team sport that originated in the Netherlands in the early years of the twentieth century. In fact, Korfball was the brainchild of Dordrecht-born schoolteacher Nicolaas Broekhuijsen, who drew his inspiration from an existing, but more involved, Swedish game known as ‘Ringboll’ or, in English, ‘Ring Ball’. His idea caught on; the International Korfball Federation (IKF) was founded in 1933, the first IKF World Korfball Championship was held in 1978 and, nowadays, Korfball is played in over 50 countries worldwide.

Korfball can be played indoors or outdoors and incorporates elements of basketball, handball and netball. Teams consist of eight players – four male and four female by definition – and are split into two zones, attack and defence, which switch back and forth after every two goals. Two male and two female players from each side take up positions in each zone, although players are not permitted to defend against someone of the opposite sex.

A Korfball court is typically rectangular, measuring 20 metres by 40 metres. The object of the game is to score a goal, or basket, by throwing a ball, akin to a regulation association football, through a bottomless basket, positioned at a height of 3.5 metres and a distance of approximately 6.6 metres from the back of each zone.

As in netball, players cannot dribble or otherwise travel with the ball in hand, but must rely on passing the ball to one another. A player catching the ball must keep his or her landing foot stationary, but can pivot around that foot in order to complete a pass to a team-mate. Granted the mixed-gender nature of Korfball, physical blocking, holding and tackling are not permitted.