Sports
- Jeu de paume, precursor of tennis, in the 12th century.
- First documented cycling race, a 1,200 metre race held on May 31, 1868 at the Parc of Saint-Cloud, Paris. The first cycle race covering a distance between two cities was Paris–Rouen (see History of cycling).
- International Olympic Committee by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894.
- On 22 July 1894 the newspaper Le Petit Journal organised the world's first competitive motor race from Paris to Rouen. The first finisher was Count Jules-Albert de Dion but his steamer was ineligible, so the 'official' victory was awarded to Albert Lemaître driving his 3 hp petrol engined Peugeot.
- Pétanque in 1907.
- Triathlon in the 1920s near Paris (Joinville-le-Pont, Meulan and Poissy).
- The Aqua-lung, first Scuba Set (in open-circuit) by Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1943.
- Parkour in the 1980s by the future Yamakasi, especially David Belle.
Read more about this topic: French Inventions
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behaviour, attire, grace, learning and all their words aimeth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Come, my Celia, let us prove
While we may the sports of love;
Time will not be ours forever,
He at length our good will sever.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
“Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn,
Thy sports are fled and all thy charms withdrawn;
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant’s hand is seen,
And desolation saddens all thy green;
One only master grasps the whole domain,
And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain;”
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774)