Sport

A baseball outfielder does not calculate where a fly ball will land. They simply run while keeping their line of sight to the ball at a constant angle. Falcons hunting ducks use the same method. This instinctive tracking is called the gaze heuristic.

At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, marathon runner Shizo Kanakuri collapsed from heat and fell asleep in a local home. He quietly returned to Japan, listed as missing. In 1967, at 76, he returned to finish. Official time: 54 years, 246 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, 20.3 seconds.

Over 80% of elite middle-distance track and field athletes take baking soda as a performance supplement. The IOC acknowledges its efficacy but cannot ban a substance detectable after simply eating cake. Recently, hydrogel capsules have solved its notorious side effect — diarrhea.

Dizzy Dean, a Baseball Hall of Fame inductee who retired at 31, became a commentator known for relentlessly criticizing players. His team eventually put him on the mound to prove his words. At 37, six years after retirement, Dean pitched four scoreless innings.

In 1994, West Ham United fan Steve Davies was heckling his team's striker from the stands, yelling 'I could do better.' When the striker got injured, coach Harry Redknapp pulled Davies from the crowd and put him on the pitch. Davies scored and led the team to victory.

In the javelin throw, a spinning technique — rotating like a discus thrower — once produced a 112m throw by a 49-year-old athlete, far exceeding the current world record of 98.48m. The technique was banned because 90% of throws landed outside the field.