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Sports

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

A YMCA gym in 1910.

The YMCA First Opened Gyms to Train Stronger Christians

Physical fitness was a secondary goal for the movement

Mami Johnson photographed on February 14, 1998, at the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore.

Remembering Mamie ‘Peanut’ Johnson, the First Woman to Take the Mound as a Major-League Pitcher

The Negro Leagues trailblazer has died at 82. Barred from trying out for a segregated female league, she made her mark playing alongside men

Evel Knievel's trademark red, white and blue leathers, with accompanying cape and boots, joined the Smithsonian's American history collection in the early 1990s.

This Woeful Wipeout Made Evel Knievel an Instant Legend

In 1967, a bone-shattering spill at Caesars Palace spawned a career in self-endangerment

The True Story of the German-Jewish High Jumper Who Was Barred From the Berlin Olympics

A new Olympic Channel documentary explores Margaret Lambert’s stunted path to Olympic glory—and her resilience in the face of persecution

Trending Today

Understanding the Doping Controversy That’s Hit Sled Dog Racing

Four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey’s dogs tested positive for banned substances, but Seavey claims it was sabotage

Testing football gear

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Could This Strange Fluid Prevent Concussions and Twisted Ankles?

Army researchers, academics and industry have been using shear thickening fluids for body armor, better football helmets, rehabilitation tools and more

Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) right before the famous match in Battle of the Sexes.

The True Story Behind Billie Jean King’s Victorious “Battle of the Sexes”

Smithsonian sports curator Eric Jentsch offers a look at her legacy beyond the legendary match

“As a guard, what I liked about the ABA ball was the color,” said former ABA player Gene Littles. “It was a special feeling to take a long shot and watch those colors rotate in the air and then see the ball with all those colors nestle into the net. It made your heart beat just a little bit faster when you hit a 25-footer with the ABA ball.” -Loose Balls by Terry Pluto

The ABA Was Short-Lived, but Its Impact on Basketball Is Eternal

The spectacular play you see today owes a mighty debt to the revolutionary, slam-dunking basketball league

Capoeira roda in the Arts and Industries Building at the 2017 Folklife Festival.

How Brazilian Capoeira Evolved From a Martial Art to an International Dance Craze

The athletic movements may have inspired modern break dancing

1879 football match between Yale and Princeton

Turn-of-the-Century Kid’s Books Taught Wealthy, White Boys the Virtues of Playing Football

A founder of the NCAA, Walter Camp thought that sport was the cure for the social anxiety facing parents in America’s upper class

The 1919 Chicago White Sox team photo.

The 1919 Black Sox Baseball Scandal Was Just One of Many

They say baseball “lost its innocence” after 1919, but betting and other improper behavior was rampant in early-20th-century baseball

Casey stands at bat in a 1912 illustrated version of the poem.

‘Casey at the Bat’ Leaves a Lot of Unanswered Questions

Was there a Casey? Where did he strike out? Does it really matter?

Robots in the "kid-size" (really around 16 inches tall) Robocup soccer league face off. These "Rhoban" bots, built by students at the University of Bordeaux, took first place in their division in the 2017 competition.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Why Funny, Falling, Soccer-Playing Robots Matter

The 2017 RoboCup brings small changes and big competition to a broad technical challenge

The degenerative disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, is common in football players, boxers, veterans and others exposed to head trauma.

New Research

Disease Found in 99 Percent of Brains Donated by NFL Families

The degenerative brain disease develops after repeated concussions or blows to the head

"Many people, Indian and otherwise, will continue to fight until your team name sits in the rubbish heap where it belongs," says Gover.

Commentary

The Washington Football Team Can Legally Keep Its Racist Name. But It Shouldn’t

The director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and a citizen of the Pawnee Nation, speaks out against the D.C. sports franchise

A relatively significant number of people lace up their shoes to run across the country every year.

A Brief History of People Running Across America

Fictional character Forrest Gump wasn’t the only one to do it, not by a long shot

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