…humans can’t run as fast as some animals. 

Some of the best sprinters, or short distance runners, only have one foot touching the ground for about 90 milliseconds as they run! That means they only have 90 milliseconds to push themselves forward. But because humans run on two legs, their force is directed in a vertical direction. 

In contrast, four-legged animals, like greyhounds and cheetahs, can apply this force in a horizontal direction. Plus, the animals can move their limbs more than humans. Because human legs are long, the hip, knee and ankle joints can’t be moved as much as a cheetah’s can. That’s why humans can’t run as fast as some animals. 

…some countries call football “soccer.” 

In many parts of the world, soccer and football mean the same sport. Football, as we know it today, is believed to have started in 1863 when England’s Football Association put down some rules for the sport. This sport was known as association football.  

Around the same time, rugby football, named after an English boarding school, was a similar sport played in the country. In this sport, players were allowed to carry the ball and run towards the goal. 

In the 1880s, students of the University of Oxford named rugby football “rugger” and association football “assoccer” to differentiate between the sports. Assoccer was soon shortened to soccer (or socker) and the name stuck! 

…Olympic Games’ symbol has five coloured rings.

The Olympic Games’ symbol is based on a design first created by the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin. The symbol, a set of five rings, represents the union of the continents and the meeting of athletes from across the world. When Coubertin first created the symbol in 1913, the five colours (blue, yellow, black, green and red) with the white background represented the colours of the flags of all the nations at that time.