The Rubik's Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Pentangle Puzzles in the UK in 1978, and then by Ideal Toy Corp in 1980 via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer. The cube was released internationally in 1980 and became one of the most recognized icons in popular culture. It won the 1980 German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle. As of January 2009, 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide, making it the world's bestselling puzzle game and bestselling toy. The Rubik's Cube was inducted into the US National Toy Hall of Fame in 2014.
Speedcubing is a competitive sport involving solving a variety of combination puzzles, the most famous being the 3x3x3 puzzle or Rubik's Cube, as quickly as possible. A person who practices solving twisty puzzles is known as a speedcuber, or a cuber. For most puzzles, solving involves performing a series of moves or sequences that alters a scrambled puzzle into a solved state, in which every face of the puzzle is a single, solid color.
The World Cube Association (WCA) is the worldwide non-profit organization that regulates and holds competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as twisty puzzles. The most famous of those puzzles is the Rubik's Cube. The WCA was founded by Ron van Bruchem of the Netherlands and Tyson Mao of the United States in 2004. The goal of the World Cube Association is to have "more competitions in more countries with more people and more fun, under fair conditions." In 2017, they started work to become a non-profit organization and on November 20, 2017, the state of California accepted the initial registration of the World Cube Association.
Bob Burton is an American speedcuber, most famous for competing in and organizing competitions all over the world and his former world records on the Rubik's Magic and Rubik's Master Magic.
Édouard Chambon (Valence), born 19 August 1986, is a French software engineer who was world record holder for fastest single time on a 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube with a time of 9.18 seconds and fastest average time of 11.48 seconds. These records were set at the Murcia Open on 23 February 2008.
Ron van Bruchem is a Dutch speedcuber living in Almere. He helped create the current resurge of Rubik's Cube enthusiasm by founding the international speedcubing community and organizing international competitions. He is also a founder, delegate and former chairman of the World Cube Association, an organization aiming at the spread of speedcubing as a regulated sport. He is also the host of the website speedcubing.com.
Yu Nakajima is a Japanese Rubik's Cube solver.
Christophe Lemaitre is a French sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres. In 2010, Lemaitre became the first white athlete to break the 10-second barrier in an officially timed 100 m event. Lemaitre has run a sub-10 second 100m on seven occasions: three times in 2010 and four times in 2011. He won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2012 London Olympic Games and in the 200 metres at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.
Feliks Aleksanders Zemdegs is an Australian Rubik's Cube speedsolver. He is the only speedcuber ever to win the World Cube Association World Championship twice, winning in 2013 and 2015, and is widely considered the most successful and greatest speedcuber of all time. He has set more than 350 records across various speedcubing events: 121 world records, 211 continental records, and 6 national records.
The 1982 World Rubik's Cube Championship was a competition for speedsolving the 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube.
Mats Valk is a Dutch Rubik's Cube speedsolver. He broke the Rubik's cube single solve world record twice with times of 5.55 seconds in 2013 and 4.74 seconds in 2016. He won the Rubik's Cube European Championship in 2018 and was runner-up for 3x3x3 at the Rubik's Cube World Championships in 2013 and 2015.
Dalilah Muhammad is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 meters hurdles. She is the 2016 Rio Olympics champion and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, becoming at the latter the second-fastest woman of all time in the event with her personal best of 51.58 seconds. Muhammad was second at both the 2013 and 2017 World Championships to take her first gold in 2019, setting the former world record of 52.16 s. She was the second female 400 m hurdler in history, after Sally Gunnell, to have won the Olympic, World titles and broken the world record. At both the 2019 World Championships and Tokyo Games, she also took gold as part of women's 4×400 metres relay team.
Collin Burns is a speedcuber from the United States who formerly held the world record for solving the Rubik’s cube in 5.25 seconds.
Vincent Sheu is an American speedcuber or Rubik's Cube solver from Saratoga, California known for organizing World Cube Association competitions and setting world records in both the Fewest Moves event and the 2x2x2 single solve. He currently serves as a Director and Delegate for the World Cube Association (WCA) and has been an organizer of every annual US Nationals Cubing Competition since 2010. Sheu previously served as the first Chair of the WCA’s Regulations Committee with Lucas Garron from 2012-2015, directing a complete redrafting of the official competition regulations and guidelines during his tenure. Recently, he has received media attention as the subject of several viral images and video clips at various college sporting events.
Kevin Hays is a former professional American Rubik's Cube speedcuber. Recognized as an expert at solving big cubes, he has won 6 world championship titles and set 21 world records across the three events. He has also set 47 North American records and won 21 US National titles.
Max Park is a Rubik's Cube speedsolver who is currently tied for the world record average of five 3×3×3 solves, 4.86 seconds, set on 6 February, 2023. Park first held this record from 23 April 2017 to 28 June 2017 and was the only cuber other than Feliks Zemdegs to hold the record between 27 September 2009 and 5 June 2021. Park has also set multiple world records in speedsolving in the 4×4×4, 5×5×5, 6×6×6, and 7×7×7 cubes, and the 3×3×3 One-Handed events. As of 28 January 2023, he has won 401 total events in World Cube Association competitions.
Sebastian Weyer is a German Rubik's Cube speedsolver who specializes in 4x4x4 solving. Weyer has broken the 4x4x4 single solve world record 9 times and the average of five solves record 9 times. He set his first world record on 1 May 2011.
Arumugam PK or PK Arumugam is an accomplished Indian Speedcuber. He is a three-time world record holder and the first person to solve more than 1000 Rubik's cubes while riding a bicycle.
Rodney Rowe is an American track and field sprinter specializing in the 100 and 200 meters. Rowe competed at the collegiate level for North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University where he was 2 Time All-American and 10 Time MEAC champion. He attended high school at Clayton High School in Clayton, North Carolina.
Andrea Muzii is an Italian memory competitor, former speedcuber, who became IAM World Memory Champion in 2019 and IAM World No.1 ranked athlete. He was the first memory athlete to achieve the IAM title of Grandmaster of Memory-Gold.
