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A knockout (KO) is when a fighter is knocked down and cannot resume within the referee's count, normally ten seconds. A technical knockout (TKO) is when the fight is stopped for any other reason
Through a combination of urine and blood samples, collected both at competitions and without warning out of competition, analysed against a prohibited list maintained by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Four coloured jerseys mark the leaders of four separate competitions running simultaneously within the race. Yellow (maillot jaune) — the general classification leader, meaning the lowest cumulative
At the end of a season, the worst-performing clubs in a league move down to the division below, and the best-performing clubs from that division move up. The pyramid connects, so in principle a club
Because the clock stops constantly, and because a great deal of the broadcast is not play at all. A game is four quarters of 15 minutes, 60 minutes of game clock. The elapsed time is typically around
A shootout decides a match that is level after extra time in a knockout competition. Each side takes five penalties, alternating, and whoever scores more wins. If the scores are still level after
Under rally scoring, a point is awarded on every rally regardless of who served. Under the older side-out systems, only the serving side could score, and winning a rally as receiver merely won you
Because the body runs out of its most accessible fuel. "The wall" is the sudden, severe fatigue that many marathon runners experience somewhere after 18 to 22 miles, and it has a specific
In both sports, a Grand Slam is the set of four most important annual tournaments — and, in its strictest sense, winning all four in the same calendar year. Tennis has the Australian Open in January,
Chess uses the Elo rating system, devised by the physicist Arpad Elo. A rating is a number that estimates playing strength, and it moves after every game based on the result and the strength of the
Three separate competitions that English clubs play in simultaneously, run by different bodies with different formats. The Premier League is a league. Twenty clubs each play every other club twice,
A mathematical method for resetting the target in a rain-affected limited-overs match, so that a side batting second is asked for a fair score given the overs and wickets it actually has. The problem
Players score by potting balls in a set order, and the colours are worth different amounts. The table holds 15 reds worth one point each, and six colours: yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6,
A triathlon is a swim, then a bike ride, then a run, completed in that order without a break — the clock runs through the transitions. There are several standard distances. Super sprint — 400m swim,
The numbers describe how outfield players are distributed from defence forward. The goalkeeper is never counted, so the digits always add up to ten. means four defenders, four midfielders, two
The Video Assistant Referee can only intervene in four categories of decision, and only when there has been a clear and obvious error or a serious missed incident. The four are: Goals — and any part
Points are awarded to the top ten finishers in each Grand Prix, on a sliding scale, with additional points available in some circumstances. The race scale is 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 for first
Leg before wicket dismisses a batter whose body — usually the pad — stops a ball that would otherwise have hit the stumps. Without it, batters could simply stand in front of the wicket and block
Seeding is the practice of placing the strongest competitors at predetermined positions in a draw so that they cannot meet each other in the early rounds. In an unseeded random draw, the two best
Because the sport kept adding shorter versions without abandoning the long one, and each format now serves a different audience. Test cricket is the original form and the longest. Matches last up to
Modern chess uses algebraic notation, which names every square on the board and then records each move as a piece and a destination. The board is an 8×8 grid. Files — the columns — are lettered a to
From cricket, and from an actual hat. When a bowler took three wickets with three consecutive deliveries, it was traditional for a collection to be taken up or for the club to present him with a hat
To give fighters time to rehydrate. The practice is standard in professional boxing and is also one of the sport's most criticised safety issues. Boxing is divided into weight classes so that
It counts for the opposing team on the scoreboard, but it is not credited to any player as a goal. It is recorded as an own goal against the player who put the ball in, and it does not appear in