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Diagoras of Rhodes

(Encyclopedia)Diagoras of Rhodes, ancient Greek athlete, fl. 5th cent. b.c. A boxer and wrester, he won an Olympic championship in 464 b.c. and won numerous times at the Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean games. Pindar ...

Haile Gebrselassie

(Encyclopedia)Haile Gebrselassie, 1973–, Ethiopian track athlete. Adept at both indoor and outdoor distance events as well as long-distance cross-country and marathon running, Haile won major races in distances r...

Bjørndalen, Ole Einar

(Encyclopedia)Bjørndalen, Ole Einar, 1974–, Norwegian biathlete, generally regarded as the greatest champion in the history of the biathlon, a combination of cross-country skiing and target-shooting. He competed...

Pythian games

(Encyclopedia)Pythian games pĭthˈēən [key], in ancient Greece, games held at Delphi every four years (the third of each Olympiad). They included musical, literary, and athletic contests. The games honored Apoll...

Biles, Simone Arianne

(Encyclopedia)Biles, Simone Arianne, 1997–, American gymnast, b. Columbus, Ohio. Known for her consistency and the high degree of difficulty of her routines, she was the first gymnast to win three consecutive wor...

Leonidas of Rhodes

(Encyclopedia)Leonidas of Rhodes rōdz [key], fl. 2d cent. b.c., ancient Greek athlete. He won three different foot races—the stadion, about 200 m, the diaulos, about 400m, and the hoplitodromos, in which athlete...

marathon race

(Encyclopedia)marathon race, long-distance foot race deriving its name from Marathon, Greece. According to legend, in 490 b.c., Pheidippides, a runner from Marathon, carried news of victory over the Persians to Ath...

Nemea

(Encyclopedia)Nemea nēˈmēə, nĭmēˈə [key], city of ancient Greece, in N Argolis. At the temple of Zeus were held the Nemean games, which from 573 b.c. were one of the four Panhellenic festivals; the games we...

Thorpe, Jim

(Encyclopedia)Thorpe, Jim (James Francis Thorpe), 1888–1953, American athlete, b. near Prague, Okla. Thorpe was probably the greatest all-round male athlete the United States has ever produced. His mother, a Sac,...

Bach, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bach, Thomas, 1953–, German sports executive, b. Würzberg. A lawyer and businessman, he won a gold medal in team fencing representing West Germany in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Bach served as pres...
 

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