Michael Phelps and Larisa Latynina

Between 1956 and 1964, Larisa Latynina from the Soviet Union won 18 Olympic medals in gymnastics. Today, when we think about women’s gymnastics, we think of Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci or Mary Lou Retton. Most people today have never heard of Larisa Latynina. But until yesterday, Ms. Latynina held the record for the most Olympic medals. That was until Michael Phelps won two medals, the second of which being his 19th medal, making him the record holder for the most medals. Ms. Latynina held the record for 48 years.

She was 29 in 1964 when she won her 18th medal. These days, most female gymnasts retire while still in their teens. Quite a difference.

For more Olympics coverage, go to http://www.iweblists.com/sports/olympics/index.html. For a list of the medals Michael Phelps has won, look here and here.

Albert Pujols – is he worth it?

On Thursday, Albert Pujols signed a 10-year contract for $254 million with the Los Angeles Angels. Is he worth it? Looking at records, maybe he is, when it comes to getting hits. He has the best career batting average of any player active today, 33rd on the all-time list, at .3284. With 445 home runs, he is 37th on the all-time list with one season in the top 50, 2006, with 49 home runs (tied for 43rd place). Find more baseball statistics at iWeblists.

World Series Game 7

Tonight will be the first time the World Series had a game 7 since 2002 when the Anaheim Angels beat the San Francisco Giants four games to three (4-3). In the last 10 years, including 2011, there have been seven games twice, six games twice, five games three times and a sweep of four games three times.

For more on World Series history, view iWeblists‘ History of World Series Games.

Gary Sheffield’s 500th Home Run

Gary Sheffield just hit his 500th career Home Run. He holds the 25th place among career home run hitters.

Barry Bonds is first with 762, followed by Hank Aaron at 755 and Babe Ruth at 714. Willie Mays is 4th with 660, and Ken Griffey is 5th with 613.

Here’s a link to the career home run leaders and here are more baseball records.

Hockey Record – Goalie Wins

Last week, Martin Brodeur, goalie for the New Jersey Devils, broke the record for career wins, with 552. Patrick Roy is #2, with 551 wins. Roy last played with the Colorado Avalance in the 2002-2003 season.

Brodeur is also currently in second place for career shutouts, with 101, behind Terry Sawchuk, with 103. Sawchuk spent most of his career with the Detroit Red Wings, and played his last season in 1969-1970 with the New York Rangers.

Here is a list of NHL Hockey records, and here is a list of Goalie Career Wins.

World Series facts

Since 1922, the World Series has been a “best of seven” event. In that time, there have been 17 4-0 shutouts, 17 4-1 series, 17 4-2 series and 33 4-3 series. Of the 102 World Series, 60 have been won by the American League team and 42 have been won by the National League team.

The Yankees have won 26 World Series, followed by the Cardinals with 10 and the Red Sox with 7. Combined, the Oakland Athletics and Philadelphia Athletics have won 9 times. The Phillies have won once (1980) and lost four times, and the Rays have never been in the series.

iWeblists has a sortable list of World Series Games and also of World Series winning teams.

Olympics Venues

Which nations have hosted the most Olympics games? The USA has hosted four Summer Games and four Winter games. Second highest is France, with three Winter Games and two Summer games. A total of 12 nations have hosted at least two Games, and Russia will become the 13th when they host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Here’s a table of nations that have hosted at least two Games.

Nation	Total	Summer	Winter
USA	8	4	4
France	5	2	3
Germany	3	2	1
Italy	3	1	2
Japan	3	1	2
United Kingdom	2	2*	0
Canada	2	1	1**
Australia	2	2	0
Austria	2	0	2
Greece	2	2	0
Norway	2	0	2
Switzerland	2	0	2

*The United Kingdom is hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
**Canada is hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Summer Venues and Winter Venues can be found on the iWeblists website.

Olympics Records at Beijing

It’s interesting that out of 32 possible records in Men’s and Women’s Swimming combined at the Olympics, 30 of those records were broken in Beijing in 2008. In no other sport were anything close to so many records broken. The only sports that come close are Women’s Shooting and Women’s Weightlifting. Both of those sports made their debut at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, so they’re still fairly new.

Here’s a list of all the possible Summer Olympics records and the number that were broken in 2008.

Sport	Total Records	Broken Records	Percent
Men’s Swimming	16	15	94%
Women’s Swimming	16	15	94%
Women’s Shooting	14	10	71%
Women’s Weightlifting	21	14	67%
Cycling (Men’s & Women’s)	7	4	57%
Men’s Athletics	24	10	42%
Women’s Athletics	23	7	30%
Archery	0.5 (tie)	15	3%
Men’s Weightlifting	24	0	0%

So why were so many Swimming records broken in Beijing? You could argue that Michael Phelps is just a phenomenal athlete, and that’s true, but of the 15 records broken, seven of them were broken by other individuals, and three involved Michael Phelps as part of a team. And for the Women’s swimming, the 15 records were split among eight different nations.

The swimming records were broken due to improved training techniques and better technology (swimsuit material, etc.) but weren’t there similar improvements in the other sports?

For more details on Olympics records, visit iWeblists’ Olympics Records pages.

Olympics Swimming records

The Men’s Swimming portion of the 2008 Beijing Olympics are now over. Of course there was lots of hype about Michael Phelps. Another interesting point is the fact that there are 16 Olympic records in swimming, and in 2008, all but one of them was broken. That’s the 400 meter freestyle. Here’s a list of all the new Olympics Men’s Swimming records.

In addition, the same goes for Women’s Swimming. The only Women’s record that was not broken in 2008 was the 100 meter butterfly. Here’s a list of all the new Olympics Women’s Swimming records.