BIGGEST RECORD-BREAKERS IN SPORTS

By Femi Akinpelu Joseph 

 The world of sports is filled with lots of great excitements, and this comes with the anticipations of match fixtures and results, surprises, disappointments, and also records which are being set, and getting broken, almost on weekly basis.

There are, however, certain individual players in sports world that have broken, and even set new world records which are worthy of celebration. 

Here are some of the best record-breakers in different areas of sports, which you might not know. Enjoy as you read.

   1. Roger Federer

Federer is recognized as "for the most Grand Slam single titles (17), most Grand Slam matches won (265) and Most weeks' ranked world No.1 (302)". The Swiss No.1 tennis player is now the most powerful sports star in the world, ranked No.8 on Forbes' list, taking the mantle from NFL quarterback Peyton  Manning.

2. Usain Bolt

 
Jamaican Bolt remains the fastest man in the world. He ran 9.69 seconds in the final of the 100 meters race at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He also broke his personal best record at the World Championship in Athletics in Berlin, in 2009, running 9.58 seconds. He was the first to achieve a "double double" by winning 100m and 200m titles at consecutive Olympics, (in 2008 & 2012). He is the highest paid athlete ever in track and field.

 

3. Rory Mcilroy

The northern Irish golfer and the current number one ranked player, simultaneously broke the record for the Lowest score to par in a US Open, shooting 16-under with a scorecard boasting 268 (65-66-68-69).



4. Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

 
 Unbeaten heavyweight retired boxer, is widely recognised as the best boxer of his generation and amongst the greatest fighters of all time. Mayweather's fight with Saul "Canelo"  Alvarez in September 2013 is rated as "the highest selling pay-view boxing match of all time". The bout raked in a staggering $150,000,000 (91,812,400 pounds). Mayweather is unbeaten in his professional career. He is rated as the greatest pound for pound welterweight of all time and the 6th greatest pound for pound fighter of all time.

 He has a record of 49 wins in 49 fights, with 26 knock-outs and no loss. Mayweather topped the Forbes and Sports Illustrated lists of the 50 highest-paid athletes of 2012 and 2013, and the Forbes list again in 2014 and 2015.

  






5. Cristiano Ronaldo

Reigning FIFA Ballon d'Or winner and Uefa Best Player of the Year in Europe, Ronaldo, bagged the recognition for the "Most Champions League goals in a calendar year", after scoring 17 goals during 2013/2014 season, and the one "with Most Twitter followers for an athlete"' now in excess of 55 million.

He is the only player in the history of football to score 50 or more goals in a season on five consecutive occasions.

Ronaldo is the current winner of the European Golden Boot, with a record number of 4, and his latest being the 2015 edition. He also became the all-time goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League with 82 goals, and in October 2015, he became Real Madrid's all-time leading goalscorer.







6. Asmir Begovic

 Chelsea football club goalkeeper, Begovic has been honored with the official world record for the "longest goal scored in football" after his stunning strike at home to Southampton in 2013/2014 season. The Bosnia-Herzegovina goalkeeper's bizarre kick forward within just 13 seconds of his former club's (Stoke City) 1-1 draw against Southampton in November 2013 -- measured at 91.9 meters, or 301 feet, 6 inches- has been entered into the Guinness World Records 2015 Book.

 

7. Tiger Woods

 Born Eldrick Tont Woods, has broken numerous golf records. He has been world number one for the most consecutive weeks, and for the greatest total number of weeks of any other golfer. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record eleven times, and has the record of leading the money list in ten (10) different seasons. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour. 

Woods is the only player to have won all four professional major championships in a row, accomplishing the feat in the 2000/ 2001 seasons.

In 2009, Forbes confirmed that Woods was indeed the world's first athlete to earn over a billion dollars in his career!


  8. Miroslav Klose

 
Klose is the all-time German football national team top scorer, with 71 goals. He has excelled at the FIFA World Cup where he is the overall top scorer in its history with 16 goals, beating Ronaldo de Lima of Brazil (who was previously the World Cup leading scorer at 15 goals), to it. He is as well the only player to have scored at least 4 goals in 3 different tournaments.

The German team never lost a game in which Klose has scored. He also became the first player ever to score 5 headers in a World Cup. He scored his record 16th World Cup goal against Brazil in the semi-finals (in Brazil 2014 World Cup). 

He also set another record by becoming the first player to appear in four World Cup semi-finals. He is also the only player to have had 4 FIFA World Cup medals, and likewise being the only player to have had 17 wins in FIFA World Cups.




9. Novak Djokovic

Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player who is currently ranked No 1. in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Players (ATP). He became the youngest player to have reached the semi-finals of all four grand slams both separately and consecutively.

He is also first player to win three consecutive men's Australian Open titles, as well as the only player to win 5 Australian Open titles overall.

Djokovic holds the best match winning rate at (83.33%) on hard courts and he is the only player in the Open Era to win the first three masters in a year (2015: Indian Wells, Miami Open and Monte Carlo).

Djokovic is also the youngest player in the Open Era to defeat the top three players in succession; he achieved this when he defeated world no. 3 Andy Roddick, world no. 2 Nadal, and world no. 1 Federer in the 2007 Rogers Cup. He is the only player to win eight of the nine events at least once.

10. Michael Jordan

Jordan was acclaimed the greatest basketball player of all time. He played a total of 15 NBA seasons in his professional career, at Chicago Bulls (13), and Washington Wizards (2). He was 5 time NBA Most Valuable Player. He was ranked #1 by SLAM Magazine's Top 50 players of all time. He also ranked #1 by ESPN Sports century's Top North American Athletes of the 20th century. 

He was the only player in NBA history to win Rookie of the Year, Defensive player of the Year MVP, All-Star MVP, and Finals MVP. He led the Chicago Bulls to the best regulars season record in NBA history (72 wins, 10 losses). 

Jordan is the only player to score 40+ (Goals),at age 40 or older. He is the only player in NBA history to record back-to-back 50 point games in the playoffs, scoring 50and 55 in Games 1 & 2 against the Cavaliers. Jordan also has the 
record of being the oldest player in NBA history to score 50 points in a game (38yrs,315 days, 51points, in December 29,2001).

Jordan has 5 of the top 10 highest scoring games by any player in NBA history. The Number 23 jersey was retired by Chicago Bulls, as a honor, for him. Jordan was the Chicago Bulls all time leading scorer.


  11. Ronaldo de Lima

 
The Brazilian football legend, Ronaldo was the youngest winner of the FIFA Player of the Year award at the age of 20. He was also the first player to have won the award 3 times (1996, 1997, and 2002). He again became the first player to win the FIFA award in two consecutive times (1996 and 1997).

On the other hand, Italian Fabio Cannavaro was the oldest player to win this FIFA award, at the age of 33, in 2006.