Infostrada Databox: December 2007  

Boris Becker

> Boris Becker (pictured right courtesy of Getty Images Sport/Michael Kienzler) became the youngest man ever to win a Grand Slam when he won Wimbledon in 1985, aged 17.
> Becker no longer holds this record as he lost it to Michael Chang (Roland Garros) four years later.
> Becker won six Grand Slam singles titles during his career, the last being the 1996 Australian Open.
> In total, he won 49 ATP singles titles and 15 doubles titles in a career which ran from 1984 to 1999.
> Becker won the year-end Tennis Masters Cup three times. Only four players have won it more often.

Powerboating

> The term powerboating comprises all sports events involving motorised boats.
> Most forms of powerboating are highly dangerous. Attempts to break the world record are estimated to carry a 50% fatality rate.
> The world water speed record was set at 511 km/h (317 mph) and was set in 1978.
> Powerboating has its own Formula 1 class, of which the season concludes in Sharjah, UAE, on 14 December.
> With one race to go, Italy’s Guido Cappellini of the Tamoil F1 was leading the driver standings.

Snowboarding

> Snowboarding is a winter sport that was developed in the US in the 1960s and 1970s.
> Enjoying increasing popularity from the very start, Snowboarding was given an Olympic status in 1998.
> Its first World Cup race had been staged no earlier than 1985 in the Austrian town of Zürs.
> On 8 February, 1998, Canada’s Ross Rebagliati became the sport’s first Olympic champion.
> By 2006, the number of Olympic events has been expanded to six (men and women combined).

Great Britain (Rowing)

> Great Britain is one of the major nations in the sport of rowing, winning a total of 22 Olympic gold medals.
> All 22 have been won by Great Britain’s male rowers, a total only bettered by the United States men.
> At the 2007 World Championships, Great Britain won two golds, in Lightweight Four (M) and Quadruple Sculls (W).
> The gold medal in the Women’s Quadruple Sculls was the third in a row for Great Britain after 2005 and 2006.
> Frances Houghton and Katherine Grainger took part in all three gold medal triumphs.

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