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Making history

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Five Things to Know About Roger Bannister, the First Person to Break the 4-Minute Mile

The Oxford medical student, who died on March 3 at age 88, broke what was believed to be an impossible record

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders director Kelli Finglass (left) peruses the donated materials with current DCC captains Jinelle (middle) and KaShara (right). Foregrounded are the original uniform sketches of designer Paula Van Wagoner.

A Classic American Cheerleading Troupe Tumbles to Smithsonian Immortality

“America’s Sweethearts” are as dedicated to social service as they are to the Dallas Cowboys

Will structures like the Gangneung Ice Arena be worth the investment once the games wrap up?

Does Pyeongchang Have a Future As a Winter Sports Destination?

South Korea may fall short of its lofty goal to transform the region into an Asian hub for snow and ice sports

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s New York Times Bestseller introduces young readers to impactful black inventors and innovators.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Travels from Court to Classroom to Highlight History of African-American Inventors

The NBA all-star says he hopes young students realize the power and influence they can achieve in STEM-related fields

Winter Olympics

What Reddit Can Tell Us About the Afterlives of Banned Olympic Drugs

We analyzed 150,000 comments to find that the Internet is still openly discussing these mind-bending stimulants

Figure skater Adam Rippon will be one of two openly gay Americans competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics, a first for the U.S.

Winter Olympics

A Brief History of Openly Gay Olympians

Americans Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy are the latest LGBTQ athletes to go for the gold

A South Korean athlete receives acupuncture treatment

Winter Olympics

When Treating Sports Injuries, Does the West Do It Best?

As the Olympics kick off in South Korea, two radically different approaches to training and treating athletes will be on display

Every dazzling jump on the ice—like Yuzuru Hanyu's quadruple Lutz at the 2017 Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Moscow, Russia—requires a mastery of balance, rotational speed and angular momentum.

Winter Olympics

How Physics Keeps Figure Skaters Gracefully Aloft

Every twist, turn and jump relies on a mastery of complex physical forces

Figure skating at the Olympic winter games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 1936

Winter Olympics

A Brief History of Women’s Figure Skating

You might be surprised to learn that this sport where women now shine was initially seen as solely the purview of male athletes

Jim Martinson using his sit ski at Crystal Mountain Resort, Washington

Winter Olympics

The Unbreakable Spirit of American Paralympians Is Embodied in These Artifacts

Smithsonian’s Sports History collections honor the indomitable innovators of the Paralympic community

Olympic Dreams by Neil Leifer, 1984

Winter Olympics

These Portraits Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of What It Means to Be an Olympian

From Sonja Henie to Shaun White, see these rare images from the collections of the National Portrait Gallery

Mass start speed skating sounds like chaos.

Winter Olympics

A Primer on the Four Olympic Events Debuting in Pyeongchang

The Winter Games hope to stay popular, with new disciplines that create shareable videos or feature men and women competing together

Eighmey's colonial-style corn cakes (top), forcemeat balls (lower right) and pickled French beans (lower left).

The Ben Franklin-Inspired Super Bowl Recipes You Never Knew You Needed

We don’t know who Ben Franklin would root for, but we do know what he’d eat on Super Bowl Sunday

Philip Yenyo, executive director of the American Indian Movement for Ohio, leads a protest of the Cleveland Indians Chief Wahoo mascot before a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers Friday, April 10, 2015, in Cleveland.

Smithsonian Curator Weighs in on Cleveland Indians’ Decision to Retire ‘Racist’ Logo

Chief Wahoo, says Paul Chaat Smith, is a prime example of how the appropriation of Native American culture can be terribly problematic

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The Beijing Winter Olympics

Five Whimsical Words of the Winter Olympics, from ‘Skeleton’ to ‘Salchow’

The sports are hard. The words are harder. We’re here to help

The spandex in Under Armor suits U.S. speedskaters will wear has a slightly gritty texture, which designers claim makes them more aerodynamic by breaking the vacuum that can form around skaters’ arms and legs.

Winter Olympics

Look at the High-Tech Gear Olympians Will Be Wearing

From jackets heated with electronic ink to personal airbags for skiers, these are some of the most innovative wearables you’ll be seeing in PyeongChang

Ice skates signed and worn by Sonja Henie, the Norwegian figure skater who was instrumental in popularizing the sport. Her impressive array of spins and jumps won her three Olympic gold medals.

The First Ice Skates Weren’t for Jumps and Twirls—They Were for Getting Around

Carved from animal shin bones, these early blades served as essential winter transport

The National Aquatics Center is where Michael Phelps earned his eight gold medal during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Today it's been transformed into the Happy Magic Water Cube, one of Asia’s largest waterparks.

The Paris Olympics

Four Olympic Stadiums With Unexpected Afterlives

What happens to old Olympics facilities after the medals have all been awarded?

Boston Bruins forward Willie O'Ree warms up prior to a game against the New York Rangers in 1960.

Sixty Years Ago, Willie O’Ree Broke the NHL’s Color Barrier

A debilitating eye injury and racial epithets weren’t enough to derail the player’s resolve

A Timeline of 1968: The Year That Shattered America

The nation is still reckoning with the changes that came in that fateful year

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