Masters of Champions
Episode 1: 14-year-old contortionist Princess Elayne from Argentina, who hit a target while blindfolded by shooting a bow and arrow with her feet while performing a backbend handstand.
Episode 2: Motorcyclist Chris Florin of Grant, Florida.
Episode 3: Playing card manipulator Rick Smith Jr., who threw cards at over 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) cutting vegetables and candlesticks in half, into the Master of Champions cup 60 feet (18 m) away, and through seven sheets of newspaper.
Episode 4: The "Stupid Fun Club", a Berkeley, California based think tank specializing in robot-people technology, won a Rube Goldberg machine building contest against the current national champions, the "Uber Rubes" from Purdue University.
Episode 5: Billy Matsumoto juggled three lit torches while attempting to break a personal record on the arcade game Dance Dance Revolution.
In an episode that was unaired by ABC, two members of the Harlem Wizards basketball team appeared to do basketball tricks, and Trevor Snowden, a paraplegic mountain bike rider, did tricks on a four-wheeled bike.
A unicycle is a vehicle that touches the ground with only one wheel. The most common variation has a frame with a saddle, and has a pedal-driven direct-drive. A two speed hub is commercially available for faster unicycling. Unicycling is practiced professionally in circuses, by street performers, in festivals, and as a hobby. Unicycles have also been used to create new sports such as unicycle hockey. In recent years, unicycles have also been used in mountain unicycling, an activity similar to mountain biking or trials.
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coordinated. Rhythmic gymnastics is governed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FiG), which first recognized it as a sport in 1963. It became an Olympic sport in 1984, with an individual all-around event. The group all-around competition was added to the Olympics in 1996. At the international level, rhythmic gymnastics is a women-only sport. The most prestigious competitions, besides the Olympic Games, are the World Championships, World Games, European Championships, European Games, the World Cup Series and the Grand Prix Series. Gymnasts are judged on their artistry, execution of skills, and difficulty of skills, for which they gain points. They perform leaps, balances, and rotations along with handling the apparatus.
The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. which air on the ESPN family of networks including ABC. The events are mainly held in the United States, with disciplines such as skateboarding, BMX, motocross, skiing and snowboarding. Participants compete to win bronze, silver, and gold medals, as well as prize money. Concurrent with competition is the "X Fest" sports and music festival, which offers live music, athlete autograph sessions, and interactive elements.
Robert Seagren is a retired American pole vaulter, the 1968 Olympic champion.
Sportin Lithuania is governed by the Physical Education and Sports Department following the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. The Lithuanian government established the department to manage physical education in the schools and sports administration in the country. Over the next few years, Lithuanian sports organizations established membership in international governing bodies. Lithuania participated in the Winter Olympics in Albertville and has participated in every Winter and Summer Olympics since.
Superstars was a TV sports competition in which elite athletes from a variety of sports compete against each other. The athletes must not compete in the sport for which they practice as their profession, resembling a decathlon. Points are awarded for the position in which the competitor places in each event. The competitor with the most points at the end of all ten events is declared the champion.
Amy Deloris Van Dyken-Rouen is an American former competitive swimmer, Olympic champion, former world record-holder, and national radio sports talk show co-host. She won six Olympic gold medals in her career, four of which she won at the 1996 Summer Olympics, making her the first American woman to accomplish such a feat and the most successful athlete at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She won gold in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and 4×100-meter medley relay.
Cheng Fei is a Chinese retired artistic gymnast. She is a three-time World Champion on the vault (2005–2007) and 2006 World Champion on floor exercise. She was a member of the gold medal-winning Chinese teams for the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, Denmark and 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. She was also a member of the silver medal-winning Chinese team for the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
Terrance Patrick Gannon is a sportscaster for NBC Sports and the Golf Channel, currently announcing golf, gymnastics, and figure skating.
Kazakhstan's former long-term President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has challenged sports organizers to engage 30 percent of the country's population in sports. The state has numerous sports clubs where people participate in various types of sports; sport facilities are available to the general public. Kazakhstan currently hosts major international tournaments; Astana and Almaty hosted the VII Asian Winter Games 2011, which drew teams from 27 countries.
Natalia Filimonovna Bestemianova or Bestemyanova is a Soviet and Russian former competitive ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union. With her partner Andrei Bukin, she is the 1988 Olympic Champion, 1984 Olympic silver medalist, four-time World champion, three-time World silver medalist, and five-time European champion.
Sport in Spain in the second half of the 20th century has always been dominated by football. Other popular sport activities include basketball, tennis, cycling, padel, handball, rugby, rally, motorcycling, judo, Formula One, water sports, rhythmic gymnastics, bullfighting, golf, and skiing.
Nicholas Mark Slater is a former ice dancer and TV and theatrical performer.
Greece has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Football in particular has seen a rapid transformation, with the Greece national football team winning the UEFA Euro 2004. Many Greek athletes have also achieved significant success and have won world and olympic titles in numerous sports during the years, such as basketball, wrestling, water polo, athletics, weightlifting, with many of them becoming international stars inside their sports. The successful organisation of the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games led also to the further development of many sports and has led to the creation of many world class sport venues all over Greece and especially in Athens. Greek athletes have won a total 161 medals for Greece in 17 different Olympic sports at the Summer Olympic Games, including the Intercalated Games, an achievement which makes Greece one of the top nations globally, in the world's rankings of medals per capital
Shawn Johnson East is an American former artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and team, all-around and floor exercise silver medalist. Johnson is also the 2007 all-around World Champion, and a five-time Pan American Games gold medalist, winning the team titles in 2007 and 2011, as well as titles in the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam in 2007.
The Bay State Games are an Olympic-style athletic event for amateur athletes in the state of Massachusetts, which includes several divisions and allows athletes of all ages to compete. The Games are divided into Summer and Winter Games. The Summer Games include 25 sports and are usually held in late July. The Winter Games include three different sports and are usually held in late January or early February. The Bay State Games is a member of the National Congress of State Games. Kevin Cummings currently serves as executive director.
The Magicians is a British talent show, first broadcast throughout January 2011 on BBC One.
The Superstars was a televised sporting event featuring ten top athletes from ten different sports competing in events that were not their own. The idea was developed by Dick Button who shopped the idea to all three U.S. television networks. The show was sold to ABC which aired it as a two-hour ABC Sports special in the winter of 1973.
