From gold thongs to urine drinking – a look at some of the weirdest rituals in sport

It takes a lot to be a pro athlete. Not only do you have to have to be athletically gifted and mentally grounded, but you of course also need to be incredibly disciplined with your diet, training and recuperation.

But the universe is a chaotic and unpredictable place. Even with flawless preparation, there’s variables that cannot be controlled on the big day – though many athletes do try.

Athletes will become superstitious in an attempt to take control of these factors and tip the balance in their favour.

These superstitions can come in a range of forms. While they are often an extension of their training routine, such as eating a special meal on the big day, some take on much more unusual forms.

Let’s take a look at some truly weird and wonderful superstitions the world of sport has ever seen.

A famous one to kick things off. When Michael Jordan led his college team the North Carolina Tar Heels to a national championship in 1982 he was convinced there was something else on his side.

His shorts, to be exact. The greatest basketballer of all time was convinced his Tar Heels uniform shorts were something of a good luck charm and never went into a game without them.

So for his entire run in the NBA, Jordan wore his college basketball pants underneath his Chicago Bulls shorts. To accommodate this, his Bull pants had to be much larger and baggier and became a signature look.

Soon, every player who stepped onto the courts wanted that Jordan look and the tight short basketball bottoms were a thing of the past. Michael Jordan’s superstition ultimately made him a style icon.

As far as clothing-related superstitions go, baseballer Jason Giambi's is a little bit more, erm, revealing. The former Yankees big hitter's lucky piece of clothing was a gold thong.

Giambi apparently would don the thong whenever he was in a batting slump and swore that every single time he did he would snap straight back into form.

Apparently, Giambi didn’t want to use it every day so he could preserve its powers, but he would lend it to teammates whenever they found themselves in similar situations. Sharing is caring as they say.

We’re not exactly sure how he came to realise the magic powers of the gold thong, but we’re guessing there’s a very simple explanation.

You have to be a pretty extreme person to step into the world of Ultimate Fighting. Extreme people do extreme things and UFC fighter Lyoto Machida’s daily routine of drinking his own urine is a testament to that.

The former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion apparently picked this little trick up from his father, himself a karate master, who swears that urine is a natural medicine that cleanses the body.

It’s unclear whether this is a superstition or it’s just a general part of his self-care routine, like having an Epsom salt bath, but we should point out there is currently no scientifically-backed use for untreated urine. So make of that what you will…

While we're on the subject of urination, there are a few athlete's out there who have incorporated relieving themselves into a sort of winning routine – one that springs to mind is goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea.

The retired national Argentinian goalkeeper was renowned for his ability to stop penalty kicks during his career, but his preparations for this were a little unorthodox. The keeper used to himself on the pitch before every single kick. It is unclear whether this practice directly contributed to his success or if the sight of it was enough to distract and intimidate his opponents.

With a record 23 Grand Slam wins to her name, it’s safe to say Serena Williams knows a thing or two about preparing for a competition. For her, it all comes down to the socks – not just any old socks, but old socks nonetheless.

Williams would never change her socks during a tournament. This meant she would be re-wearing socks for seven days on in a row. And not exactly light wear at that, if you get us? We can only imagine how relieved she must be to be done with them at the end of a tournament run!

Actually, Williams has a few other foot-related superstitions, including bringing her shower sandals to the court and tying her shoelaces a specific way, so there’s definitely a theme here.

And one of our favourites has to be English football icon Jamie Vardy’s port and red bull pre-game routine, just purely because of how at odds it is with modern athletes' dietary regiments.

When the striker took underdogs Leicester on their fairytale journey to the top of the league table in 2016, he maintained a strict routine of drinking half a bottle of port ‘out of a Lucozade bottle’ – for reasons unknown – the night before a game. 

He would back that up by drinking three cans of red bull just before each game. He said this was the magic formula to get help him “run around like a nutjob." He went on to be the highest goal scorer in the Premier League that year.