2008 A Great Year In Sport
‘n Opsomming van die hoogtepunte in die sportwereld vir 2008. My gunsteling “hoogtepunt” natuurlik 18 Junie 2008.
January
Jan. 4 – The Dakar Rally, the epic motorcycle, car and truck race across the Sahara desert, was cancelled by organisers citing “direct” threats of terrorism from al-Qaida-linked militants.
Jan. 9 – Peter de Villiers became the first black coach of South Africa’s rugby team, with his race a deciding factor for the selectors.
Jan. 11 – Marion Jones, the former U.S. Olympic track gold medallist, was sentenced to six months in prison for lying to investigators about doping and her role in a check-fraud scam.
Jan. 19 – Australia’s world record-equalling run of 16 successive test cricket victories since December 2005 is ended by India’s 72-run in the third test at Perth. Australia had equalled its own record streak from 1999-2001.
Jan. 26 – Maria Sharapova won the Australian Open, beating Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 6-3 for her third Grand Slam singles title. Sharapova won the title without dropping a set, including wins over three of the top four ranked players.
Jan. 27 – Novak Djokovic fended off unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the Australian Open final, earning his first Grand Slam title.
MarchMarch 16 – Wales beats France 19-12 to complete a second Six Nations Grand Slam in four years, conceding only two tries in five games
April
April 13 – Trevor Immelman handled the wind and pressure of Augusta National far better than anyone chasing him to win the Masters, the first South African in a green jacket in 30 years. A two-putt par on the final hole gave him a 3-over 75, matching the highest final round by a Masters champion. Even so, it was good enough for a three-shot victory over Tiger Woods.
April 15 – England appoint former captain Martin Johnson as manager through 2011, without any prior experience, kicking out coach Brian Ashton, who led the team to the Rugby World Cup final last year.
May
May 24 – Munster was crowned European Cup champion for the second time in three years after edging Toulouse 16-13 in a thrilling rugby final at Cardiff.
May 31 – The Canterbury Crusaders win the Super 14 title, their seventh in 13 years, with a nail-biting 20-12 win over the New South Wales Waratahs in the final.
May 31 – Usain Bolt set the world record in the 100 meters with a time of 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York. Bolt was .02 seconds faster than the old record held by fellow Jamaican, Asafa Powell.
June
June 7 – Ana Ivanovic won her first Grand Slam title by beating Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3 in the French Open.
June 8 – Rafael Nadal won his fourth consecutive French Open title in a rout, again spoiling Roger Federer’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam. Dominating the world’s No. 1 player with astounding ease, Nadal swept six consecutive games early in the match to take control and won 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.
June 18 – Selcourt Primary made rugby history when 2 of their teams won the league.
July
July 5 – Venus Williams won her fifth Wimbledon singles title, beating younger sister Serena Williams 7-5, 6-4 in the final. Defending champion Venus is 5-2 in Wimbledon finals, losing only to Serena in 2002 and ‘03. The win at the All England Club gave Venus her seventh major title. The match was the seventh Grand Slam final between the American sisters, with Serena leading 5-2. They are now 8-8 overall.
July 6 – Rafael Nadal ended Roger Federer’s bid to become the first man since the 1880s to win a sixth consecutive championship at the All England Club. Two points from victory, the No. 1-ranked Federer couldn’t pull it out, instead succumbing to No. 2 Nadal 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7 in a 4-hour, 48-minute test of wills that was the longest men’s final in Wimbledon history – and quite possibly the greatest. Nadal, the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win Wimbledon and the French Open in the same year, stopped Federer’s streaks of 40 victories in a row at the All England Club, and a record 65 in a row on grass.
July 12 – South Africa, a man short, pips New Zealand 30-28 in the Tri-Nations, ending the All Blacks’ 30-match, five-year winning streak at home, and ending an 87-year winless drought at Dunedin’s Carisbrook.
July 27 – Carlos Sastre won the Tour de France in one of the closest finishes in the 105-year-old race. The third Spaniard in a row to win cycling’s premier event, Sastre held his 65-second lead over Cadel Evans of Australia. The 21st and final stage was won by Gert Steegmans. As in the last two years, this year’s Tour was plagued by doping. Four riders were ousted in drugs busts.
August
Aug. 2 – South Africa earned its first series win in England since 1965, as captain Graeme Smith, with an unbeaten 154, led the Proteas to a five-wicket win with the highest fourth-innings total at Edgbaston (283-5) for an unassailable 2-0 lead in the third of four tests.
Aug.16 – Usain Bolt of Jamaica ran the 100-meter dash in a stunning world-record time of 9.69 seconds for a blowout win that he started celebrating a good 10 strides before the finish line.
Aug. 17 – At the Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps and three teammates won the 400-meter medley relay for Phelps’ eighth gold medal, eclipsing Mark Spitz’s seven-gold performance at the 1972 Munich Games. Of his five individual races and three relays, Phelps set world records in seven and an Olympic record in the eighth.
Aug. 17 – New Zealand’s All Blacks win 19-0 in Cape Town in the Tri-Nations, preventing South Africa from scoring against its archrival on home soil for the first time.
Aug. 20 – In Beijing, Usain Bolt of Jamaica broke the world record by winning the 200 meters in 19.30 seconds, becoming the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to sweep the 100 and 200 gold medals at an Olympics. Bolt is the first man to break the world marks in both sprints at an Olympics – a feat that neither Lewis nor Jesse Owens accomplished. He beat the record of 19.32 set by Michael Johnson at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Aug. 22 – Usain Bolt helped Jamaica win the 400-meter relay final in 37.10 seconds for his third gold medal and third world record of the Olympics. Bolt became only the fourth man, and the first since Carl Lewis in 1984, to win all three Olympic sprint events.
Aug. 24 – The Champions Trophy scheduled for September in Pakistan was postponed for a year by the International Cricket Council after five of the eight competing nations withdraw citing security concerns.
September
Sept. 13 – New Zealand win a fourth successive Tri-Nations rugby title and retain the Bledisloe Cup by defeating Australia 28-24 in Brisbane.
OctoberOct. 17 – Sachin Tendulkar broke Brian Lara record for most test runs en route to his 50th half century, and became the first player to pass 12,000 runs on the first day of the second test against Australia at Mohali.
NovemberNov. 1 – The Stanford Superstars, a West Indies all-star side, crushed England by 10 wickets in the first of five annual winner-take-all $20 million Twenty20 cricket matches bankrolled by American billionaire Allen Stanford in Antigua.
Nov. 2 – Britain’s Lewis Hamilton becomes the youngest – and first black – Formula One world champion when he makes a pass on the last corner of the last lap to finish fifth in the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix and beat home race winner Felipe Massa by one point in the final standings. Ferrari claimed its seventh constructors’ title in nine years.
Nov. 22 – South Africa inflicts on England its worst home rugby defeat at Twickenham, an easy 42-6 pasting to finish its unbeaten European tour.
Nov. 29 – South Africa beat England 19-12 in a fine final to take the first IRB Emirates Airline Sevens title of the ‘08/’09 season at the tournament held in Dubai.
December
Dec. 6 – After 10 long years South Africa’s Sevens stars finally produced a home victory in the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens tournament in George. A 12-7 victory over New Zealand finally delivered on their talent and justified Paul Treu’s full-time set-up.
Dec. 30 – South Africa beat Australia in Melbourne to record their first ever Test series win in Australia. Dale Steyn takes 10 wickets and makes 76 runs to be named man of the match. JP Duminy makes 166 runs in the first innings in just his second test. Ricky Ponting falls just 1 run short of being the first man ever to record a century in each innings of a Test for the 4th time.
Filed under: Trivia
_team_logo.jpg "The Cheetahs"){kind=logo}
