My Science School

In the first Test between Pakistan and South Africa that took place in Karachi, Pakistan, late in January 2021, South African speedster Kagiso Rabada took his Test wickets tally to 200. He did it in style, as he became the third fastest, in terms of balls bowled, to reach the landmark.

Kagiso Rabada took three wickets in the first Test between Pakistan and South Africa. Even though it came in a losing cause, Rabada had something to celebrate as he became the third fastest, in terms of balls bowled, to reach 200 Test wickets.

All three of Rabada's wickets in the game came in the first innings. Rabada accounted for both of Pakistan's openers in the first innings. He had Abid Ali bowled, while Imran Butt was out caught, as Rabada took his tally to 199. His 200th wicket came when he cleaned up tail-ender Hasan Ali.

Rabada's numbers as he enters

The 200-wicket club

Having made his debut against India at Mohali in 2015, Rabada has raced to 200 Test wickets in just over five years.

Rabada might be the third fastest to 200 Test wickets in terms of balls bowled, but he comes only 13th in terms of matches played. Rabada reached the milestone in his 44th Test match. Pakistan's Yasir Shah (33), Australia's Clarrie Grimmett (36) and India's Ravichandran Ashwin (37) are the three fastest to 200 Test wickets, in tents of matches played.

Rabada has the best strike rate in the history of Test cricket for bowlers with 200 or more wickets - a phenomenal 41.1. Rabada's compatriot Dale Steyn, who finished his Test career with 439 wickets at a strike rate of 42.3, and Pakistan's Waqar Younis, who finished with 373 wickets at a strike rate of 43.4, come second and third in this list.

Kinetic energy largely dominates the beautiful game of football as players cover a number of kilometres in a 90-minute game, in search of goals that separate the competing sides. But one of the more dramatic moments produced on the football field depends mainly on the potential energy of a player.

Energy and forces

The overhead kick, also known as the bicycle kick and scissors kick based on minor differences, sees the player utilising potential energy to carry out the acrobatic move. There are also forces in action as a player needs to contend with centrifugal and gravitational forces while trying to kick the ball overhead.

Three main phases

The overhead kick can be broadly broken down into three phases. The first, and most obvious phase, is the jump. The player places himself such that their centre of gravity is a little behind their impulse foot. This enables the player to gain rotational momentum by applying pressure on the ground. The jump phase is thus similar to the back somersault.

There is very little separating the second and third phase as it all happens really quickly in reality. The second phase is the kicking movement done by the player once completely air-borne. With other forces in action, the player needs great strength in their thighs and muscles to carry out this phase.

Changes direction and spread

The third and final phase is the moment of impact, when the player’s foot strikes the ball. When struck properly, the ball not only change direction, but also gains considerable velocity.

While all these happen within seconds, what really matters for the player is what happens next. What we have just described might seem like poetry in motion for those who love physics, but for footballers, their goal with these kind of shots is to find the ball in the back of the net!

 

Picture Credit : Google

Kinetic energy largely dominates the beautiful game of football as players cover a number of kilometres in a 90-minute game, in search of goals that separate the competing sides. But one of the more dramatic moments produced on the football field depends mainly on the potential energy of a player.

Energy and forces

The overhead kick, also known as the bicycle kick and scissors kick based on minor differences, sees the player utilising potential energy to carry out the acrobatic move. There are also forces in action as a player needs to contend with centrifugal and gravitational forces while trying to kick the ball overhead.

Three main phases

The overhead kick can be broadly broken down into three phases. The first, and most obvious phase, is the jump. The player places himself such that their centre of gravity is a little behind their impulse foot. This enables the player to gain rotational momentum by applying pressure on the ground. The jump phase is thus similar to the back somersault.

There is very little separating the second and third phase as it all happens really quickly in reality. The second phase is the kicking movement done by the player once completely air-borne. With other forces in action, the player needs great strength in their thighs and muscles to carry out this phase.

Changes direction and spread

The third and final phase is the moment of impact, when the player’s foot strikes the ball. When struck properly, the ball not only change direction, but also gains considerable velocity.

While all these happen within seconds, what really matters for the player is what happens next. What we have just described might seem like poetry in motion for those who love physics, but for footballers, their goal with these kind of shots is to find the ball in the back of the net!

 

Picture Credit : Google

With 18 teams competing in the German Bundesliga, and each club playing the other 17 twice, every team plays a total of 34 matches each season. This means that clubs would have played 17 games each at the halfway mark of each season.

In the 1968-69 season of the Bundesliga, Germany's Gerd Muller, playing for Bayern Munich, scored a record 20 goals in the first half of the season. That record stood for over 50 years, only to be broken in the 2020-21 season by Robert Lewandowski.

Polish striker Lewandowski, also playing for Bayern Munich now, notched up 22 goals in the first 17 league games this season.

 A look at Lewandowski and Muller..

Having drawn level with Gerd Muller’s record in Bayern Munich's 3-2 defeat away against Borussia

Monchengladbach on January 9, Lewandowski made the record his own on January 17, with a goal in the seventh minute in their 2-1 victory over Freiburg.

 Lewandowski took his tally to 22 at the halfway mark of the season when he scored from the penalty spot to give his side a 1-0 win away against Augsburg.

Records, awards and goals have been coming thick and fast for Lewandowski, who, at 32, seems to be improving with age. He became just the third footballer to notch up 250 Bundesliga goals in December 2020, before he went on to pick up FIFA'S "The Best" prize being the top footballer of the year.

He seems to be continuing in 2021 from where he left off in 2020 as he first claimed the record for Bundesliga's halfway mark and then scored his 500th career goal (club and country) in Bayern's 4-0 win over Schalke on January 24.

With no signs of letting up, Lewandowski might well go past Muller's record for most goals scored in a season, set in 1971-72.

Seen here in what looks almost like a ballerina pose, Gerd Muller surely did make opponents dance to his tunes. He set innumerable records in his Bundesliga career with Bayern, which included the 20 goals he scored in the first half of the 1968-69 season. His Bundesliga goals tally (365) is beyond reach for most and he also holds the record for most goals scored in a single Bundesliga season - 40 in 1971-72.

 

Picture Credit : Google

India's 2-1 series victory against Australia was historic in more ways than one and will be spoken about for a long time.

One of the reasons for why it is rated so highly is the fact that the win in the fourth Test was made possible by chasing down a big target away at Brisbane, one of Australia's strongholds. The target of 328 achieved, in fact, is the third highest successful chase in India's Test history.

• 406 for 4 (chasing 403) against West Indies at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad in April 1976. This is from July 1979 shows Gundappa Viswanath hot on the heels of Sunil Gavaskar as they walk on a rope at Birmingham during a Test series in England. Almost three years and three months before this photo was taken, the duo were literally walking on a tight rope as they helped India achieve a historic victory against the formidable West Indies. After Vivian Richards scored 177 to take his team to 359, India were bowled out for 228 in the first innings. Alvin Kallicharran made an unbeaten 103 next as West Indies declared their second innings at 271 for six, setting a huge target of 403 for India to win the Test. Gavaskar (102) and Visvanath (112) helped India achieve the unthinkable as both of them scored centuries in pursuit of the target.


• 387 for four (chasing 387) against England at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai in December 2008. Centuries by England opener Andrew Strauss (123 and 108) not only allowed the visitors to take a first innings lead of 75, but also helped them set a big target of 387 for India to win the Test. A swashbuckling counter-attacking 68-ball 83 by Player of the Match Virender Sehwag (above) set the stage for India's chase. Sachin Tendulkar (103 not out, right in left) and Yuvraj Singh (85 not out, left in left) were at the crease when the winning runs were scored.


• 329 for seven (chasing 328) against Australia at Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane, Australia in January 2021. The latest entrant in the list of highest successful run chases achieved by India in Test cricket had a number of heroes. After Marnus Labuschagne's 108 and captain Tim Paine's 50 allowed Australia to post 369, their highest total in the series, India were in a spot of bother at 186 for six. Debutant Washinton Sundar (62, left in A) and Shardul Thakur (67, right in A), playing only his second Test, forged a 123-run partnership that pushed India to 336, much closer to Australia's first innings total. Mohammed Siraj (5 for 73 in the second innings, left in C) and Thakur (4 for 61 in second innings, right in C) then picked nine wickets between them to restrict the Aussies to 294. Chasing 328 for an unlikely win on a fifth day track at Australia's fortress, Shubman Gill (91, right in B) led the charge in the first session. Cheteshwar Pujara (56, left in B) was India's rock, as he preserved his wicket at one end while the others continued to go for runs. After his dismissal in the first over with the second new ball, Rishabh Pant (89 not out, right) took the reins, taking India over the line for a magical victory.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Don Bradman, byname of Sir Donald George Bradman, (born August 27, 1908, Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia—died February 25, 2001, Adelaide, South Australia), Australian cricketer, one of the greatest run scorers in the history of the game and often judged the greatest player of the 20th century.

In Test (international) matches Bradman scored 6,996 runs for Australia and set a record with his average of 99.94 runs per contest. He scored 19 centuries (100 runs in a single innings) in Test matches against England between 1928 and 1948. On his first visit to England, in 1930, he established a Test record (eventually broken) by scoring 334 runs in one innings; in 1934, also in England, he had an innings of 304 runs. In 1948 he was captain of the Australian team that was victorious in England, four matches to none. He retired from first-class cricket in 1949 and was knighted in the same year.

has described himself as being fortunate not to suffer nerves like so many other batsman.

Fellow teammates have also described his confidence and ability to concentrate his performance particularly when rising to dangers and difficulties at the crease.

Walter Hammond, former England Test Captain: “I was forced to admire the cool way Don batted. On one or two occasions, when he was well set, and when he saw me move a fieldsman, he would raise his gloved hand to me in mock salute, and then hit the next ball exactly over the place from which the man had just been moved. Reluctantly I had to admit once more that he was out of the ordinary run of batsmen – a genius!”

Bill Brown, former Australian Test batsman: “He could analyse the game much more deeply and quickly than the average player. He controlled the game so much when he was at the wicket.”

CB Fry, former England Test cricketer: “This young man owes half his perfection to an outright power of concentration”.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Kutraleeswaran Ramesh, popularly known as Kutraleeswaran or Kutral, is an Indian swimmer. He swam across the Palk Strait, in April 1994. He swam across the English Channel in 1994 when he was 13 years old and in the same year, he swam across the Rottnest Channel in Australia, the Straits of Messina in Italy, the Zannone Circeo in Italy and the Ten Degree Channel to surpass Mihir Sen's record of completing five channels in a calendar year. He received the Arjuna Award and the Guinness world record in 1996.

He is a hero of Indian sports, whose name has been totally forgotten. Kutral, eventually, got an offer from Italy to represent them in the Olympics. However, he didn’t hesitate to turn down the offer with grace. Before swimming across the English Channel in the year 1994, he swam across the Palk Strait.

For a 13-year-old, it was a phenomenal achievement and the entire country rejoiced for his feat. A total of 25 swimmers from across the world were selected for the World Series in swimming. Among them, Kutraleeswaran was the only Asian. He represented India in six global competitions and went on to win an event held at Switzerland.

This was recognized by the Indian government which bestowed him upon with the Arjuna Award in 1996, thus making him the youngest person to win the award at that time.

Despite things looking bright for Kutraleeswaran, he could not find a sponsor to support his career. His father had initially funded his training and his travel. His family approached their State government. However, he didn’t get the desired support.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Yelena Isinbayeva, also spelled Elena Isinbaeva, (born June 3, 1982, Volgograd, Russia, U.S.S.R. [now in Russia]), Russian pole-vaulter who achieved numerous world records and became the first woman to clear the 5-metre (16-foot 4.75-inch) mark in the sport’s history.

She became the first woman to clear the five-metre barrier in 2005. Her current world record is 5.06 m outdoors, set in Zurich in August 2009. Her 5.01 m indoors was the world record for just over a year. The latter was Isinbayeva's twenty-eighth pole vault world record. On 2 March 2013, Jenn Suhr joined Isinbayeva as the only women who have cleared 5 metres. In the process, Suhr took Isinbayeva's indoor world record.

Isinbayeva was named Female Athlete of the Year by the IAAF in 2004, 2005 and 2008, and World Sportswoman of the Year by Laureus in 2007 and 2009. In 2007 she entered in the FICTS "Hall of Fame" and was awarded with "Excellence Guirlande D'Honneur". She was given the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports in 2009. She is one of only nine athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Kirani James, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels, and David Storl) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.

At the 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics Isinbayeva again took first place clearing 4.20 m ahead of German Annika Becker. The same year the women's pole vault made its debut as an Olympic event in Sydney, Australia where Stacy Dragila of the United States took gold. In the same event Isinbayeva did not make it out of the qualifying round.

She won another gold medal in 2001, this time at the European Junior Championships with a winning height of 4.40 m.

Isinbayeva continued to improve and 2002 saw her clear 4.55 m at the 2002 European Athletics Championships, where she gained her first senior championship medal (silver), finishing 5 cm short of her compatriot Svetlana Feofanova.

 

Picture Credit : Google

In 1976 in Montreal, Romanian athlete Nadia Comaneci became the first gymnast in Olympic history to be awarded the perfect score of 10.0 for her performance on the uneven bars. She went on to record the perfect 10.0 six more times and became the youngest all-around Olympic gold medallist ever.

Nadia Elena Comaneci was born on November 12, 1961, in Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Romania, in the Carpathian Mountains, to parents Stefania-Alexandrina and Gheorghe, an auto mechanic. Comaneci was discovered at the age of 6 by gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi (later to become the Romanian national coach). She won the Romanian National Junior Championships, and, as a senior, won the European Championships in 1975 and the American Cup in 1976.

Comaneci retired from competition in 1984 and worked as a coach for the Romanian team before defecting to the United States via Hungary in 1989. After appearing in a series of provocative underwear advertisements, she married American gymnast Bart Conner in 1996 and moved to Norman, Oklahoma.

In 1999, Comaneci received a World Sports Award of the Century after being elected "Athlete of the Century" during a gala in Vienna, Austria.

Comaneci currently does television commentary, writes for gymnastic publications and travels the world promoting the sport.

 

Picture Credit : Google

 

Martina Navratilova is a Czechoslovak-born American former professional tennis player and coach. In 2005, Tennis magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1975 through 2005 and she is considered one of the best female tennis players of all time.

She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 major women's doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 major mixed doubles titles, for a combined total of 59 major titles, marking the Open Era record for the most Grand Slam titles won by one player, male or female. She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including for nine consecutive years from 1982 through 1990, and won the women's singles title at Wimbledon a record nine times (surpassing Helen Wills Moody's eight Wimbledon titles), including a run of six consecutive titles, widely regarded as the best performance by any professional player at a major event. She and Billie Jean King each won 20 combined Wimbledon titles, an all-time record. Navratilova is also one of just three women ever to have accomplished a Career Grand Slam in women's singles and doubles, and mixed doubles, called the career "Grand Slam Boxed Set"; consisting of every senior Grand Slam title, a distinction she shares only with two others, Margaret Court and Doris Hart.

Navratilova's final Grand Slam singles triumph was in 1990. In the final at Wimbledon, the 33-year-old Navratilova swept Zina Garrison 6–4, 6–1 to claim an all-time record ninth Wimbledon singles crown. She won four other tournaments that year, although she did not participate in the Australian or French Opens, and finished the year ranked No. 3 in the world, narrowly edged out by sixteen-year-old Monika Seles for the No. 2 spot. Though that was her last major singles title, Navratilova reached two additional major singles finals during the remainder of career: in 1991, she lost in the US Open final to the new world No. 1, Monica Seles; and, in 1994, at age 37, Navratilova reached the Wimbledon final, where she lost in three sets to Conchita Martínez. In November that year, after losing to Gabriela Sabatini in the first round of the WTA Tour Championships, she retired from full-time competition on the singles tour. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000.

In September 1992, the 35-year-old Navratilova played 40-year-old Jimmy Connors in the third Battle of the Sexes tennis match at Caesars Palace in Paradise, Nevada. Connors was allowed only one serve per point and Navratilova was allowed to hit into half the doubles court. Connors won 7–5, 6–2. She played for the Boston Lobsters in the World TeamTennis pro league through the 2009 season.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Gregory Efthimios Louganis  born January 29, 1960) is an American Olympic diver, LGBT activist, and author who won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, on both the springboard and platform. He is the only man and the second diver in Olympic history to sweep the diving events in consecutive Olympic Games. He has been called both "the greatest American diver" and "probably the greatest diver in history".

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, his head struck the springboard during the preliminary rounds, leading to a concussion. He completed the preliminaries despite his injury. He then earned the highest single score of the qualifying round for his next dive and repeated the dive during the finals, earning the gold medal by a margin of 25 points. In the 10 m finals, he won the gold medal, performing a 3.4 difficulty dive in his last attempt, earning 86.70 points for a total of 638.61, surpassing silver medalist Xiong Ni by only 1.14 points. His comeback earned him the title of ABC's Wide World of Sports "Athlete of the Year" for 1988.

Six months before the 1988 Olympics, Louganis was diagnosed with HIV, and started antiretrovirals. At the time, people with HIV/AIDS faced great stigma losing their jobs, being denied housing, and being ostracized. Years later Louganis came out as HIV+. When he injured his head at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and some blood got in the pool, Louganis said he was "paralyzed with fear" that someone might catch the virus, but no-one did. The incident posed no risk to others as any blood was fully diluted by the pool water, and according to John Ward, chief of HIV-AIDS surveillance at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "chlorine kills HIV". Also, since skin is a very effective barrier to HIV, the only way the virus could enter would be through an open wound. "If the virus just touches the skin, it is unheard of for it to cause infection: the skin has no receptors to bind HIV," explained Anthony Fauci.

In 2016, Louganis was pictured on boxes of Wheaties cereal, where prominent American athletes are famously featured, as part of a special "Legends" series that also included 1980s Olympians Janet Evans and Edwin Moses. This occurred approximately a year after a change.org petition was launched that requested that he be featured, although General Mills denied any influence from the petition.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Argentine footballing icon Diego Maradona has revisited an old feud, claiming Pele's "FIFA Football Family" award is meaningless.

Maradona was voted the Player of the 20th Century in 2000 after a large public vote, while Pele was handed a separate award by FIFA.

Pele, meanwhile, claimed in 2009 that Maradona couldn't be the best player ever as "he couldn't kick well with his right foot and he didn't score headed goals," per Rob Draper of the Daily Mail.

While harmless, Maradona has also accused Pele of being homosexual, per Goal.com. He also accused him of allowing former teammate Garrincha to die in misery, per BBC Sport in 2000. 

The controversy over the FIFA award stems back to 2000. In the midst of the pair's souring of relations, FIFA decided to hand out two awards, despite Maradona winning an Internet poll.

Ever since, the Argentine has declared Pele's prize to be meaningless.

The duo do not portray football in a good light with their behaviour, which has descended into childish squabbles that would be frowned upon at a primary school.

The constant one-upmanship has sadly tarnished the image of both players, with neither particularly respected for their conduct. Indeed, both have become somewhat of a laughing stock:

It is a sad way for two of football's very best players to be regarded, but their behaviour in this clash of egos has been nothing short of immature on both sides over the course of many years.

Maradona's latest outburst is simply the continuation of a trend. We can surely expect a response from his Brazilian nemesis at some point in the near future.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Jesse Owens, by name of James Cleveland Owens, (born September 12, 1913, Oakville, Alabama, U.S.—died March 31, 1980, Phoenix, Arizona), American track-and-field athlete who set a world record in the running broad jump (also called long jump) that stood for 25 years and who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. 

At East Technical High School, Owens quickly made a name for himself as a nationally recognized sprinter, setting records in the 100 and 200-yard dashes as well as the long jump. After graduating, Owens enrolled at Ohio State University, where he continued to flourish as an athlete.

At the 1935 Big Ten Championships, the "Buckeye Bullet," as he was also known, overcame a severe tailbone injury and tied a world record in the 100-yard dash—and set a long jump record of 26-8 ¼ that would stand for 25 years. Owens also set new world marks in the 220-yard dash and in the 220-yard low hurdles.

His dominance at the Big Ten games was par for the course for Owens that year, which saw him win four events at the NCAA Championships, two events at the AAU Championships and three others at the Olympic trials. In all, Owens competed in 42 events that year, winning them all.

For Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games were expected to be a German showcase and a statement for Aryan supremacy.

Hitler lambasted America for including Black athletes on its Olympic roster. But it was the African American participants who helped cement America's success at the Olympic Games.

In all, the United States won 11 gold medals, six of them by Black athletes. Owens was easily the most dominant athlete to compete. He captured four gold medals (the 100 meter, the long jump, the 200 meter and the 400-meter relay) and broke two Olympic records along the way.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Janet Evans, (born August 28, 1971, Placentia, California, U.S.), American swimmer, considered by many to be the greatest distance freestyler of all time, who won four Olympic gold medals. She was the first swimmer in history to win back-to-back Olympic and world championship titles in the same event: the 800-metre freestyle (Olympics: 1988, 1992; world championship: 1991, 1994).

In 1987, at age 15, Evans won four gold medals at the U.S. national championships and set three world records. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, she won gold medals in the 400-metre individual medley, the 400-metre freestyle (setting a world record), and the 800-metre freestyle (setting an Olympic record). 

Evans, a natural athlete who swam in her first competition at age four, was renowned for her agility and dedication to the sport. In 1988 she became the first woman to break the 16-minute barrier for the 1,500-metre freestyle (15 min 52.1 sec). Her time would have won the gold medal in the men’s 1,500-metre freestyle at the 1968 Olympic Games. She was awarded the Sullivan Award in 1989 as the outstanding American amateur athlete.

 

Picture Credit : Google

The fastest woman in the world, Florence Griffith Joyner left a legacy that is record-breaking, bold, inspirational, controversial, fashionable… all at the same time.

Fondly known as Flo Jo after her marriage to triple jump Olympic champion Al Joyner, she has been immortalised in history for her records, but is somehow not always named among the greatest sprinters because of the rumours of doping surrounding her, increased by her sudden death due to an epileptic seizure in her sleep at the age of 38 in 1998.

Griffith-Joyner was born and raised in California. She was athletic from a young age and began running track meets as a child. While attending California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she continued to compete in track and field. While still in college, Griffith-Joyner qualified for the 100 m 1980 Olympics, although she did not actually compete due to the U.S. boycott. She made her Olympic debut four years later, winning a silver medal in the 200 meter distance at the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles. At the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, Griffith set a new world record in the 100 meter sprint. She went on to win three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics.

Griffith attended the California State University at Northridge, and was on the track team coached by Bob Kersee. This team, which included Brown and Jeanette Bolden, won the national championship during Griffith's first year of college. However, Griffith had to drop out to support her family, taking a job as a bank teller. Kersee found financial aid for Griffith and she returned to college in 1980, this time at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where Kersee was working as a coach.

Brown, Bolden, and Griffith qualified for the 100-meter final at the trials for the 1980 Summer Olympics (with Brown winning and Griffith finishing last in the final). Griffith also ran the 200 meters, narrowly finishing fourth, a foot out of a qualifying position. However, the U.S. Government had already decided to boycott those Olympic Games mooting those results. In 1983, Griffith graduated from UCLA with her bachelor's degree in psychology.

 

Picture Credit : Google