Born and raised in Portugal, Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (dos Santos Aveiro) was actually named after a very well known American. His middle name was inspired by the late President Ronald Reagan, who the athlete says his mother was a great admirer of.

Boxing legend Rocky Marciano invented the fax machine.

When Nadia Comaneci scored her perfect 10, it couldn't be shown on the scoreboards as they only went as high as 9.9. The number 1.0 flashed up instead!

Babe Ruth once said he knew he didn’t swing hard enough if “a little poop didn’t come out.”

The name ‘Federer’ can be typed entirely with the left-hand.

When Ian Thorpe first started swimming as a young boy he had an allergy to chlorine which meant he had to keep his head above the water as he swam.

Michael Phelps has particularly long arms in proportion to his body, and size 14 feet - which some people say act almost like flippers in the water!

When Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) was 12 years old his bike was stolen. He told a policeman, who also happened to be a boxing coach, that he was going to "whup" the thief. The policeman told him that he ought to learn to box first!

At college Mark Spitz was known by his teammates as "Mark the Shark".

Emil Zatopek made funny and painful faces as he ran, winning him the nicknames "Emil the Terrible" and "the Czech Locomotive". He often trained wearing heavy work boots!

Carl Lewis's real name was Frederick Carlton Lewis. His parents ran a local athletic club and by the age of 13 Carl was already competing in long jump.

Michael Jordan won the NBA’s MVP award 5 times during his career (1987/88, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1995/96, and 1997/98). He also won Rookie of the year (1984/85) and was an all-star 14 times.

Hockey legend Gordie Howe suffers from cryophobia, the extreme fear of cold and ice.