Olympic Medal Count Records

• Year Set: 2008 & 2016
• Who Set It: Michael Phelps
• Nationality: United States of America

Michael Phelps set out to do the impossible in the 2008 Summer Olympics. He claimed he wanted to win 8 Gold Medals, which would break fellow American Swimmer, Mark Spitz’s record of 7 Gold Medals. Phelps managed to achieve his goal in some amazingly dramatic racing events. Phelps continued to return to the Olympics until the 2016 Summer Games, which would be his last. He essentially “retired” with 28 Medals overall, 23 of them being gold. This accounts for 3 Olympic Medalist records, which most feel will never be broken.

Land-Speed Record (Measured Over 1 Mile)

• Year Set: 1997
• Who Set It: Andy Green
• Nationality: United Kingdom

Reaching land speed records used to be commonplace, making world records in this area seem easy to break. But this changed with Andy Green who, in October 1997, broke the official land speed record when he went 763.035 mph in Black Rock Desert, Nevada. For some time before this, the speed of Mach 1.0106 was just not recognized by the USAF, and radars were not calibrated to catch it. To measure Green’s speed, they had to aim a dish using a TV screen. It happened to be powered by two Rolls-Royce Spey 202 jet engines, which generate 50,000lbs of thrust.

Fastest Time To Complete A Marathon On Each Continent (Male)

• Year Set: 2015
• Who Set It: Douglas Wilson
• Nationality: Australia

The story of Douglas Wilson is truly remarkable and worthy of a movie in our view. The Aussie nearly died after he found out he had a brain tumor in October of 2013. He had to undergo life-threatening surgery to remove the very large tumor. It then left him with serious medical complications including meningitis, facial paralysis, loss of hearing in one ear, and the loss of the right balance nerve with it. Yet in spite of all of this, he returned to running a few months after. In spite of this, he decided to break a record. He ran a marathon in Chile, Spain, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Antarctica, and the United States in just 6 days, 18 hours, 2 minutes, and 11 seconds. This is is one of those world records that’ll be hard to break.

Fastest To Complete A Marathon

• Year Set: 2018
• Who Set It: Eliud Kipchoge
• Nationality: Kenya

When it comes to the world of track or running records at all, most people expect a person from Kenya to be among the best. They seem to produce some of the best runners in the world. It should, obviously, not shock you to find out that a fellow Kenyan has the fastest completion time for a marathon (roughly 26.2 miles). Eliud Kipchoge set the world record at the 2018 Berlin Marathon with an official time of 2 hours, 1 minute, & 39 seconds. Eliud amazingly beat his own record in 2019 with a time of 1:59:40, but it will not be recognized as a new world record for dumb reasons. He still has the two best times though.

The Fastest Man To Ever Live

• Year Set: 2009 & 2012
• Who Set It: Usain Bolt
• Nationality: Jamaica

Usain Bolt has numerous world records to his credit and is the undisputed short race king. He is the only sprinter to win the 100m & 200m race at three Olympics consecutively. Bolt set the records for both races in 2009 with the 100m record being set at 9.58 seconds and 200m being set at 19.19 seconds. Bolt also led Jamaica to a world record in the 4 x 100-meter relay, helping set the record at 36.84 in 2012. He has a total of 8 Olympic Gold Medals & 11 World Championship and is considered the greatest sprinter to ever live. Bolt also has the highest top speed for a human being, as he can reach 27.7 mph.

Fastest Evolving Animal Species

• Year Set: 2008
• Who Set It: Tuatara Species
• Nationality: N/A

We’re not really the type to care if someone “believes” in evolution or not. Considering this is a “science” website, we’re going with the facts of the matter. However, sometimes evolution itself does not explain the black magic seen in some animal species around the world. Take the Tuatara, a species of reptile. Normally, animals evolve over hundreds to thousands of years through various cycles where small changes occur over long periods. The average reptile makes 0.2 substitutions every million years or so. However, the Tuatara makes 1.37 substitutions, which is the fastest evolving creature in existence.

Longhorn With The Biggest Horns

• Year Set: 2019
• Who Set It: Poncho Via (Longhorn)
• Nationality: United States of America

It is not shocking to see the bovine community of animals show some type of horn. Usually, though, you expect to see something like a rhino with the largest horn. Yet there is a longhorn in Alabama that happens to have the world record for the largest horns ever. They measure out at a length of 10 feet, 7.4 inches. Of course, world records like these have to be authenticated and proven as real. This is why the Guinness World Records team themselves looked at the longhorn, named Poncho Via, themselves. They found the steer has not only the largest horns but the largest of any steer dead or alive.

The Oldest Land Creature Ever

• Year Set: 2019
• Who Set It: Jonathan The Tortoise
• Nationality: N/A

We know by now that both turtles and tortoises are capable of living extremely long periods of time. While most of the animals that live the longest seem to reside in the water than on land, the tortoise manages to exist in both. Specifically, one known as Jonathan the Tortoise. We know he was hatched around 1832, and as of this writing, he is still alive. This makes him around 189 years old! Just imagine all Jonathan has lived through. This mark is obviously a world record, the question now is how much longer can he live? It seems like he’s trying to make the record completely unbreakable at this point.

Longest Journey By A Butterfly

• Year Set: 1989
• Who Set It: N/A
• Nationality: N/A

How could anyone ever know the distance traveled by a butterfly? Well, it is quite simple: you tag it. This was done by a team led by Donald A. Davis when he released a butterfly in September of 1988. They recaptured the butterfly in April of 1989. The creature was released in Canada but had been caught in Texas. Yet when they checked into the data, the scientists found that the butterfly spent time in Mexico too. It managed to travel a distance of over 2,880 miles. However, it is uncertain how often it went around different territories, so many believe it could have traveled more than double this figure.

Most Tattooed Human Being

• Year Set: 2006
• Who Set It: “Lucky” Diamond Rich
• Nationality: New Zealand

Several people all around the world have many tattoos. In some native tribes, tattoos are a symbol of something important that the person does or achieves. This is why many of them seem to be heavily tattooed. But no one on Earth is more tattooed than a man named “Lucky” Diamond Rich. The New Zealand street performer is tattooed nearly everywhere on his person, just slightly under a 100% body covering. In 2006, he was given the world record in this category by the Guinness World Records team when he surpassed the previous holder, Tom Leppard.

Most Concrete Blocks Broken Records

• Year Set: 2015-2018
• Who Set It: Ali Bahçetepe
• Nationality: Turkey

There are very few martial arts records that are counted outside of competitions. However, there are those related to the field that the Guinness World Records team cares about. Ali Bahçetepe from Turkey seems to possess quite a lot of them. The martial artist holds the record for the most overall heavy concrete blocks broken with the abdominals/stomach. He also holds the record for most concrete blocks broken in 30 seconds, most broken in a minute, and most broken in a single stack. Those numbers in order are 683, 1175, and 37, in that order.

Most Children Delivered In A Single Birth To Survive

• Year Set: 2009
• Who Set It: Nadya Suleman
• Nationality: United States of America

It is uncertain if Nadya Suleman was going for a world record when she was aiming to have children. She had to actually get a Vitro Fertilization to even get pregnant, as she did not have a partner to have kids with. However, the IVF treatment worked far better than anyone ever assumed. When she went into labor at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, California, she gave birth to six boys and two girls, bringing 8 children into the world. This is the world record for the most babies ever delivered in a single birth to survive. Due to her impressive accomplishment, Nadya became known as “The Octomom.”

Most Prolific Parent(s) In History

• Year Set: 1765
• Who Set It: Feodor Vassilyev & His 2 Wives (He & His First Had 69 Kids)
• Nationality: Russia

If you thought the Octomom had it rough with eight kids, we should introduce you to Feodor Vassilyev. The Russian peasant was able to have a child with his wife at 18. But then he ended up having 22 sets of twins, 9 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets with two different wives. His first wife, who no one knows the name of sadly, gave birth to the most children with Feodor, having 69 children with her. Of those 69, a total of 67 survived infancy. He then had 18 more children with his second wife. He became a father to 87 children overall, with around 84 of those children still surviving into his mid-70s.

Most Times To Be Struck By Lightning And Survive

• Year Set: 1977
• Who Set It: Roy Sullivan
• Nationality: United States of America

Getting struck by lightning once is considered to be nearly impossible. This is why only a fraction of living humans today will ever experience it. Yet Roy Sullivan must have been a man that ticked off Zeus himself. He was struck a grand total of 7 times and somehow lived after each encounter. A former Park Ranger in Shenandoah National Park was first hit in 1942. But would go on to be struck a few more times with 1970-1977 resulting in 5 hits alone. Ironically, due to the fact that God seemed to be unable to kill him, Roy sadly took his own life in 1983 at age 71. Potentially just to show he could die at all.

The Most Atomic Bombs Survived By One Person

• Year Set: 1945
• Who Set It: Tsutomu Yamaguchi
• Nationality: Japan

Imagine being around when an atomic bomb hits your hometown. Now, imagine you try to escape this only to be around for a second atomic bomb. That was the case for Tsutomu Yamaguchi. The Japanese marine engineer was in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki when each was hit by an atomic bomb. He was working at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on August 6th when the bomb hit Hiroshima. In spite of his wounds, he decided to return to work on August 9th. That morning, he happened to be working in Nagasaki the very time the second bomb dropped. In spite of the radiation exposure, Yamaguchi lived until 2010, dying at 93.

Most Different Types of Military Aircraft Flown

• Year Set: 1939-1970
• Who Set It: Captain Eric Brown
• Nationality: Scotland

Captain Eric Brown was part of the British Royal Navy and operated as a test pilot during a bulk of World War II. This was a big deal because, at that time, new aircraft were coming out to battle against several different potential enemies. New aircraft were being produced seemingly every week. Due to how impressive a pilot Brown was, he was one of the most trusted pilots Britain knew could get the most out of an aircraft. That led to him flying a world record 487 different types of aircraft, during his service in the Navy. It is unlikely we’ll ever see so many aircraft being tested like what we saw during WWII.

Furthest Distance To Be Thrown By A Tornado And Survive

• Year Set: 2006
• Who Set It: Matt Suter
• Nationality: United States of America

Matt Suter is an exceptional person. He was able to survive something very few can say they have survived, a brush with death after being sucked up and thrown by a tornado. In March 2006, he was living in a mobile home in Fordland, Missouri. On the 12th of this month, he was sucked up by a tornado that would eventually throw Suter and his home 398 meters (roughly 1305 feet). Somehow, he survived this situation. Once the people at the Guinness World Records found out, he was given the official world record for the furthest distance to be thrown by a tornado and survive.

Most Bones Broken By A Human Being

• Year Set: 1975
• Who Set It: Evel Knievel
• Nationality: United States of America

It should not shock anyone to find out that the infamous daredevil, Evel Knievel, would sustain a lot of injuries in his life. He did do some of the most amazing things as a stunt performer. However, in spite of succeeding more than failing, he could always mess up. There are 18 notable mistaken jumps and eventual crashes Evel was part of. As a result, he managed to suffer a total of 433 fractured bones. He sustained a fractured/broken skull, nose, jaw, collarbone, both his arms & wrists, every single rib he had, as well as his back. It is unlikely anyone will ever “break” this world record, we also hope no one tries.

Largest Cake With An Image Of Someone Falling Off A Horse

• Year Set: 2019
• Who Set It: John Oliver & Last Week Tonight Crew
• Nationality: United Kingdom & United States of America

HBO’s Last Week Tonight w/John Oliver decided to dive into the Guinness World Records for some of their less favorable dealings over the years. They have often opened up useless or odd records, but this was not done just to highlight incredible accomplishments. It was also due to a payoff with some world leaders who would use them to further push themselves as something worthwhile. Oliver decided to spend HBO’s money to make the world’s largest cake with an image of someone falling off of a horse. Although John and his team did achieve a world record, Guinness does not count it, to the shock of no one.

World Record For Holding The Most World Records

• Year Set: Ongoing
• Who Set It: Ashrita Furman
• Nationality: United States of America

Ashrita Furman is not your typical person. He has wanted to stand out of the pack and achieve greatness. This is why he has attempted thousands of world records in his life. Somehow, Ashrita was able to break and hold over 600 Guinness World Records in numerous categories. This is a world record in itself. Such as the most jumping jacks in succession, longest underwater cycling distance, the fastest mile in somersaulting, and many more. While he did hold the record, he only holds around 200 now due to other record-breakers wanting to best his work.

Sources:

Guinness World Records

BBC

The Washington Post

Entertainment Weekly

Live Science

History.com

HBO