July 19, 1900 – Frenchman Michael Theato wins the Olympic marathon in Paris, run in scorching 102-degree heat. Theato wasn’t the fastest runner in the field, but the rest of the competitors purposely stayed far behind him due to his body odor.

July 20, 1954 – Tennis star Maureen Connolly is seriously injured in a freak accident involving a horse and a truck – the horse Connolly is riding rears and pins her leg against a truck, shattering it. Connolly didn’t fool anyone with her story, however, as this is almost exactly the same story Catherine the Great’s handlers first told after she died.

July 21, 1981 – Patrick Young pockets a world record 13,437 balls in 24 hours during a pool exhibition at the Lord Stanley-Plaistow Hotel in London. Young’s total was later upped be two to 13,439 after cameras caught him repeatedly playing pocket pool between shots.

July 22, 1976 – Kornelia Ender of East Germany wins the 200-meter freestyle to become the first female swimmer to win four gold medals in an Olympic Games. The East German was so excited after “her” final victory that her erection was clearly visible through her swim trunks.

July 23, 1972 – Eddie Merckx of Belgium wins his fourth consecutive Tour de France. Because performance-enhancing drugs were not widely used or known about in 1972, the French accused Merckx of cheating by properly hydrating himself.

July 24, 1987 – Boris Becker of West Germany defeats John McEnroe, 4-6, 15-13, 8-10, 6-2, 6-2, in a Davis Cup match that lasts 6 hours and 38 minutes. The match was so long that McEnroe’s Afro grew five inches in height.

July 25, 1908 – While carrying a Bible in his left hand for inspiration, American Forrest Smithson wins the 110-meter hurdles at the London Olympics. Smithson later became an atheist because he missed out on setting a new world record by one hundredth of a second thanks to the added weight of the Bible.