Triple Crown

The Triple Crown is a term sometimes used to describe the three-tiered crown or tiara formerly used by popes. See Papal Tiara

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Triple Crown is a term used to describe the winner of three specific and important events in a number of different venues as follows:

• Triple Crown of Aerial Skiing[?]
• Triple Crown of Alpine Skiing
• Triple Crown of Auto Racing[?] - (Formula One World Championship, Indianapolis 500, 24 hours of Le Mans)
• Triple Crown of Cycling
• Triple Crown of Entertainment[?] - (Tony Award, Oscar, Emmy Award)
• Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers
• Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Trotters
• Triple Crown in Major League Baseball
• Triple Crown of Running[?]
• Triple Crown of Snooker[?]
• Triple Crown of Snowboarding[?]
• Triple Crown of Surfing[?]
• Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

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The Triple Crown is also a sporting competition in which the rugby teams of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland play against each other from January to March in a series of rugby internationals.¹ The unbeaten team, if there is one, wins the Triple Crown. (Note that the Triple Crown will not necessarily be won by anyone, as it requires victories against all the other home countries.) It is played as part of a larger competition known as the Six Nations[?], which also involves France and Italy. A team that beats all other teams is said to have won the Grand Slam. The loser, i.e., the team with no wins or the lowest number of points, is said to have won the Wooden Spoon[?].

Footnote

¹ The name may well be due to the existence in the United Kingdom until 1922 of three 'crowns', the former kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. Wales was not a crown, hence the use of triple crown as a title when four nations were actually involved in the competition. Though Ireland as the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom in 1922, and is now the Republic of Ireland, the term is still used.