| c. 800 BC | Greece | Book XXIII of the Greek epic poem The Iliad contains the earliest known extensive description of a sporting event, the Funeral Games of Patroclus. It is mostly devoted to chariot racing, but there are briefer descriptions of boxing, wrestling, discus and javelin throwing, and foot races. In another epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer describes a game resembling team handball, which he says was invented by Angagalla, a Spartan princess. |
| 582 BC | Greece | The Pythian Games are inaugurated at Delphi, Greece, as a Panhellenic festival modelled on the Olympic Games. In the cycle of the four Panhellenic festivals, the Pythian Games are eventually held in the third year of each Olympiad. |
| 566 BC | Greece | The Panathenaea, the greatest of the Greek local festivals, is inaugurated at Athens. Held every year in summer with an even grander celebration (the Greater Panathenaea) every four years, it includes athletic and equestrian events, and musical, dancing, and poetry contests. |
| 67 | Greece-Roman, Roman Empire | Roman emperor Nero creates a spectacle by taking part in the Greek games. He is allowed to win 1,808 prizes, but his antics and dubious victories are not officially recorded. |
| 969 | China | The Chinese introduce playing cards. The earliest known pack consists of 56 cards divided into 4 suits of 14 cards each. The cards are printed in several inks, using separate wood blocks for each part of the pattern. They are used as paper money as well as for gaming. |
| 1000–1100 | Europe | ‘Tables’, or backgammon, is introduced to Europe by the Arabs (or reintroduced, as it is similar in name and appearance to the Roman game Tabula). It becomes extremely popular over the next few centuries. The name ‘backgammon’ is first used in the mid-17th century. |
| 1349 | England | Football and other games are banned in England by King Edward III because they interfere with archery practice. The ban is repeated in 1389 and 1401, but with limited effect. |
| 1591 | England | The Privy Council orders all theatres in England to be closed on Thursdays because bear baitings generally take place on Thursdays and actors cannot be allowed to prejudice such entertainments by their competition. |
| 1618 | UK | King James I of England and VI of Scotland issues a ‘declaration to his subjects concerning lawful sports to be used’, known widely as the Book of Sports. Sports such as football are prohibited, but in permitting a number of others, he fails to quell Puritan objections to the playing of games and other recreations. |
| 1653 | UK | The first edition of English author Isaak Walton's The Compleat Angler, or The Contemplative Man's Recreation is published. |
| c. 1725–c. 1740 | Spain | Bullfighting grows in popularity in Spain, with Francisco Romero becoming the first famous matador. |
| 1811 | Prussia | The Prussian educator Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, a founding father of modern gymnastics, establishes the Turnverein gymnastic society in Berlin, the Prussian capital. |
| c. 1820 | UK | Squash rackets, a version of rackets with a softer ball, is invented and developed at Harrow School, London, England. |
| 10 June 1829 | UK | The Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race is first rowed, on the River Thames at Henley, Oxfordshire, England. Oxford wins the 3.6-km/2.25-mi race from Hambledon Lock to Henley Bridge in 14 min 30 sec, represented entirely by students from Christchurch College. |
| 1858 | Australia | Australian cricketer Thomas Wills and his cousin Henry Colden Harrison devise Australian Rules football, and help to form the first club, Melbourne Football Club. |
| 30 June 1859 | France, USA, Canada | The French tightrope walker Charles Blondin (pseudonym of Jean-François Gravelet) crosses Niagara Falls, between Canada and the USA, on a tightrope. About 25,000 people witness the crossing, which takes five minutes. |
| c. 1867 | UK | The game of badminton, based on the old English game of battledore and shuttlecock (itself based on an ancient Chinese game), is devised at Badminton Hall, Gloucestershire, England, by the family and friends of the Duke of Beaufort. |
| 1882 | Japan | The first judo kodokan (training hall) is established at Shitaya, Japan, by Jigoro Kano. |
| 1884 | UK | The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), the governing body for the native Irish sports of hurling, Gaelic football, handball, and rounders, is formed, in Dublin, Ireland. |
| 1886 | Ottoman Empire, UK | John Collinson compiles the rules of bridge in Britain, after seeing the game played during a trip to Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire. |
| 1887 | USA | George Hancock of the Farragut Boat Club, Chicago, Illinois, invents softball as an indoor version of baseball. The game later becomes known as ‘mush-ball’ or ‘kitten-ball’; it is not called ‘softball’ until the 1920s. |
| 1895 | USA | Volleyball is invented by William G Morgan, director of physical training at the Holyoke YMCA, Massachusetts. It is originally known as ‘mintonette’. |
| 30 March 1895 | USA, UK | US-born British cinematographic pioneer Birt Acres films the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race. This is the first sporting event to be filmed in Britain, and the first regular event in the sporting calendar to be filmed anywhere in the world. |
| 1902–1903 | Europe | Henry Lunn, the English founder of the Lunn travel agency business, pioneers skiing holidays and skiing races through the Public Schools Alpine Sports Club. |
| 1–19 July 1903 | France | The Tour de France cycling race is run for the first time, organized by Henri Desgrange, editor of the French cycling magazine L'Auto. Twenty-one of the 60 entrants finish the 2,428-km/1,509-mi race, with Maurice Garin of France the winner. |
| 1908 | | The game of darts is legalized in British public houses. |
| 4 June 1920 | United Kingdom, USA | The US sculler John B Kelly is refused entry to the Henley Regatta, England, because it is deemed that his job as a bricklayer gives him an unfair advantage in competition with ‘gentlemen’. He goes on to win two gold medals for rowing at the Antwerp Olympic Games. |
| 8 August 1926 | UK, France, USA | Gertrude Ederle of the USA becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel, completing the 56 km/35 mi crossing from Cape Nez, France, to Dover, England, in 14 hrs, 31 min, a new world record for a man or a woman. |
| c. 1960 | USA | Skateboarding is invented in California, USA, by surfers who fix roller-skate wheels to short surfboards. Soon afterwards the first skateboards are manufactured commercially, and over the decade the craze spreads east across the USA. |
| 1961 | Netherlands, Japan | Anton Geesink of the Netherlands becomes the first non-Japanese winner of the World Judo Championships, in Paris, France. |
| 18 July 1965 | Congo | The first All-African Games sports festival opens in Brazzaville, Congo, with 29 nations competing. Because of political problems the next games are not held until 1973. |
| 1972 | USA | US runners Philip Knight and William Bowerman found Nike, Inc, under the name of Blue Ribbon Sports. By 1990, Nike will be the leader in the training shoes market and Knight will be a billionaire. |
| July 1972 | USA, Japan | Hawaiian-born Jesse Kuhaulua, also known as Takamiyama, is the first non-Japanese sumo wrestler to win an official top-division tournament. |
| 1977 | UK | Skateboarding is becoming more popular in Britain, with the prime minister, James Callaghan, seen riding a board. Some local authorities build skateboard parks, which fall into disuse when the craze wanes. |
| 1980 | USA | Canadian ice-hockey player Scott Olsen and his brother create rollerblades, high-speed roller-skates, and found Rollerblade Inc in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to manufacture them. |
| 4 April 1981 | UK | Susan Brown becomes the first woman cox in the Oxford and Cambridge university boat race in England, steering the Oxford crew to victory. |
| 19 March 1982 | UK, South Africa | Fifteen England cricketers led by Graham Gooch are banned from Test cricket for three years for participating in a cricket tour of South Africa, breaking an international ban on sporting links with that country because of its policy of apartheid. |
| 5–20 July 1986 | USSR, USA | The first Goodwill Games are held in Moscow, USSR, conceived by US entrepreneur Ted Turner to promote goodwill between the USA and USSR following the boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games. Over 3,000 athletes from 79 countries compete in 18 different sports. |
| 1996 | Spain, Europe | The Spanish bullfighter Christina Sanchez becomes the first female matador in Europe. |
