2010 - the top 15 sporting stories. the Top 5

And so we finish the run down of the top sporting moments of last year with the top5.

5. Amy Williams wins Skeleton Gold

The winter Olympics have hardly been a success for Great Britain, but this year, Amy Williams won Britains first Gold Medal since Torvill and Dean won gold in 1984, the last individual Gold medal came 4 years before that when Robin Cousins took the men's figure skating title at Lake Placid in 1980.

Williams entered the competition in Vancouver as the Number 2 Skeleton slider, ranked behind Shelley Rudman, the silver medal winner in Turin 4 years previous, but swept aside the competition with a winning margin of over half a second, on a notoriously fast track.

Interest was high in the track event after the track had to be shortened, in order to reduce speeds after Georgian Luge slider Nodar Kumaritiahvili crashed in practice and lost his life, and Williams put in a sparkling performance.

Without any training facilities in the country, it shows what a brilliant achievement it was for Williams, who also won a Silver medal at Lake Placid, New York in 2009.

4. England win the Twenty20 World Cup

England romped to their first ever win in an ICC Limited overs tournament with a crushing win over the old enemy Australia.

Captained by Paul Collingwood, England won the toss and put the aussies into bat, a decision which looked inspired as Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Bresnan both struck early on, along with a run-out, which saw the Aussies struggling at 8-3. Once again it was a Hussey that came to the rescue, this time David, striking 59 off 54 balls before being run out.

Hussey’s contribution helped Australia reach a respectable 147-6 giving them a chance at victory, and when Michael Lumb was caught for just 2 runs it certainly seemed like it was game on, but the big hitting of Craig Kieswetter (63) and Kevin Pietersen (47) took England to within 26 runs of victory, before captain Collingwood, and Eoin Morgan combined to see England through to victory by 7 wickets, with 18 balls to spare.

It was a memorable win for England, and plenty of credit has to go to coach Andy Flower for finding a formula to transform England from perennial under-achievers to world conquerors.


3. A.P McCoy finally wins the Grand National

The world most famous jump jockey had never won the worlds most famous horse race in his previous 14 attempts, something that seemed to be a burden on McCoy, a burden which got heavier after every defeat, but this year he finally managed to pass he post first on Don’t Push It.

Having dominated the sport since first becoming Champion Jockey in 1996, riding more than 3000 winners, but always said that until he won the National he wouldn’t be happy with his career, despite winning almost every big race in the National Hunt calendar, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and King George VI Chase.

To complete a memorable year for McCoy, he was voted as BBC Sports Personality of the year, taking nearly 42% of the votes, ahead of Phil Taylor and Jessica Ennis


2. The Ryder Cup

Not since 1991 had the Ryder Cup gone down to the final match of the 12 Singles games to decide the outcome, but that is exactly what happened this year.

After play had been lost early due to terrible weather, the format had to be restructured, and the singles were to be played on a Monday for the first time ever.

Europe went into the singles with the upper-hand needing just 5 points from the 12 games in order to regain the trophy, as they were leading 9.5 – 6.5, and Captain Colin Montgomerie, sent out World number 1 Lee Westwood first in the hope that he would settle any nerves by bringing home the first point of the day.

But Westwood suffered a 2&1 defeat to Steve Stricker, and the U.S began to gain momentum. Dustin Johnson had already emphatically defeated Martin Kaymer 6&4 despite teeing off after the Westwood-Stricker tie, and USA had clawed the scores back to 9.5 - 8.5.

Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter calmed things down for the European fans with their first point of the day crushing Matt Kuchar 5&4, before Rory McIlory appeared to have thrown away an early lead, before fighting back to claim half a point against Stewart Cink to see the scores at 11-9.

When Luke Donald finished 1 up against Jim Furyk, and Miguel Angel Jimenez beat Bubba Watson 4&3 it meant Europe only needed 1 point from the next 6 games to secure victory.

Ross Fisher looked set to be the man who would secure the victory before bogeying the final 4 holes, and losing 3& 2 to Jeff Overton, whilst Tiger Woods clawed back even further by strolling to a 4&3 win over Francesco Molinari.

Phil Mickelson then pulled America back within One point of Europe by defeating Peter Hanson 4&2, in the next game Rickie Fowler won the last 4 holes to finish al square with Edoardo Molinari, keeping the US hopes alive.

In the penultimate game, Zach Johnson defeated Padraig Harrington 3&2 equalling the scores at 13.5 – 13.5.

And so it came down to Graeme McDowell vs Hunter Mahan, a brilliant putt on the 16 from McDowell meant that Mahan would need to win the final two holes in order to finish all square and deny Europe, McDowell won the 17th hole to secure a 3&1 victory and spark wild celebrations.

Captain Colin Montgomerie was clearly emotional at the victory, and the most remarkable of Ryder Cup wins arguably compensated for the Major title he failed to win, that his talents deserved.


1. Coventry Bees win the Speedway Elite League

The speedway season runs from late March – early October, and as late as August 12, Coventry Bees were struggling in 8th place of a 9 team league.

Some shrewd signings saw an upturn in form for the Bees, who managed to qualify for the Play-offs, by winning their final meeting of the qualifying period, with a victory over the runaway league leaders Poole Pirates.

The stunning run saw the team grow in confidence, in the play-offs Coventry faced Peterborough, with the first leg at home against the Panthers, which with 3 heats to go was agonisingly close, with Coventry just 2 points up.

3 maximum heat advantages followed giving Coventry a 14 point lead to try and hold onto as they travelled to the East of England showground the following week for the second leg.

Nerves were aplenty in the ranks of the Coventry fans before the meeting, but they were misplaced, as the Bees attacked from the start and were ahead from the very first heat of the meeting.

Richard Sweetman’s win in Heat 11 secured Coventry’s place in the final, after Number 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak had crashed out, and set up a final against Poole, the team who comfortably finished top of the table.

It was a dream final, the dominant force of the league against the underdogs, who had only lost one of their last 8 league meetings in order to sneak into the play-offs.

The first leg of the final had plenty of drama, with controversial decisions from the referee, and a spirited fight-back from the Pirates after an excellent start from Coventry.

After 8 heats, Coventry were 14 points up, and Poole had just used one tactical ride (where a nominated rider scores double points) on World Under 21 champion Darcy Ward, who failed to score, the Coventry fans were cock-a-hoop with their team seemingly having one hand on the trophy, Poole closed the gap to 10 points after 12 heats, before 2 of the final3 heats bizarrely finished with just one rider from each side.

At the end of the night both sides were happy, Coventry with a twelve point lead, and Poole happy that they had managed to stem the tide after Coventry’s emphatic start.

And so the week later (ironically the same day as the conclusion of the Ryder Cup), Coventry descended on Poole, hoping to secure their third Elite League title in just 5 years.

After three heats Poole had clawed 4 points back, and in heat 4, Coventry’s Captain Chris Harris was excluded after falling off. In the re-run, Polish youngster Pzemyslaw Pawlicki rode a brilliant race, but was pipped on the final bend by Pirates skipper Davey Watt meaning that in just 4 heats, Poole had halved the deficit already.

Kasprzak and Sweetman gained the first heat advantage for Coventry in heat 5, before the turning point of the meeting in Heat 6.

In a clash of the top riders on each team, Chris Holder appeared to take Chris Harris off, with the Coventry rider hitting the deck, before his team-mate Lewis Bridger had chance to take avoiding action he had ran over the back of his skipper, and took a heavy fall himself. See Video…

Both riders lay motionless as a worried silence took over the stadium, Bridger was he first up, and appeared untroubled by the crash, but Harris was still down. I personally felt the crash was bad enough to end a career, I wouldn’t have minded losing the final, but to lose a rider to such a terrible crash would have been hard to stomach, but what happened next was the stuff of legend.

After being down for a fair few minutes, Harris sprang to life, he got up and sprinted back to the pits to get ready for the re-run, the inspiration that sight provided the rest of the team was instantly visible, as riders, and backroom staff seemingly couldn’t believe Harris was up, let alone sprinting back to the pits.

The Re-run was a closely fought contest with both riders putting their bodies on the line and showing no fear as they continuously swapped positions, on the final bend, the Coventry man managed to switch to the inside and burst past Holder in order to take the victory, Harris then went unbeaten for the rest of the night inspiring Coventry to not only win the title, but to win on the night too, which was Poole first home defeat all season.

Victory was sealed in Heat 13, where Kasprzak and Harris collected a 5-1, and further gloss was added to the victory as Pawlicki and Ben Barker secureded another 5-1 in heat 14, before Kasprzak and Harris rounded off the evening with yet another maximum in the final heat.

The spirit and determination which Harris showed after that crash perfectly summed up what I watch sport for, the excellence shown afterwards to then finish unbeaten by an opposition rider only greatened the respect, and admiration for the guy.




Here’s hoping for similar sporting memories in 2011.



Thanks for reading,



Bert

2010 - the top 15 sporting stories. 10-6

My countdown of the top sporting moments of 2010 continues today with stories 10-6



10. Luis Suarez - the Hand of God.

The world cup quarter finals threw together two of the dark horses for the tournament. The whole world seemingly took Ghana on as their adopted nation when their ide went out, willing on an African team in an African World Cup. Uruguay however were playing some excellent football, Diego Forlan was the catalyst in their side, playing just behind Luis Suarez he had been creating chances, as well as scoring for the team in Sky Blue.

With both teams playing a fast and exciting brand of football, this match had the potential to be a cracker, in an otherwise disappointing world cup, and boy did it deliver on that promise.

Sulley Muntari, almost sent home earlier on in the tournament after a bust-up with Ghana's Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac, had given his side the lead before Diego Forlan equalized with a viciously-swerving free-kick for his third goal of the finals.

As the game was seemingly heading towards a penalty shoot-out, Ghana piled on the pressure, and in the final few seconds, Ghanaian defender Dominic Adiyiah’s header seemed set to win the game and send Ghana through to the Semi-Finals.

But then Suarez stopped the ball with his hand, deliberate handball, a red-card offence. The referee blew up, awarded a penalty and sent the striker off. Ghana knew that the penalty would be the last kick of the game, and their star of the campaign, Asamoah Gyan stepped up to create history.

Unfortunately for Gyan his spot-kick crashed against the crossbar and away from the goal, the ref blew for full time and sent the game to the dreaded penalty shoot-out.

Meanwhile the camera showed a replay of Suarez walking down the tunel in tears at being sent off, which suddenly turned to ecstatic celebrations once he realised the penalty had been missed.

In the shoot-out, Gyan showed tremendous bottle in stepping up first and scoring his effort in the shoot-out, before Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was the hero, saving twice from John Mensah, the Sunderland centre-back, and Adiyiah, in the shoot-out.

Sebastian Abreu scored the winner with a delightful chipped penalty straight down the middle, the sort that if missed would have made him the villain, but Richard Kingson was left stranded in no-man’s land as the ball hit the back of the net.

The following scenes left the world in shock as Suarez was carried on the shoulders of the Uruguayans, celebrating as if he was the scorer of the winning goal, he later claimed that his was the “hand of God” which sent his country through to the Semi-finals, whist others claimed that the goal should have been awarded, in a similar fashion to how a penalty try is awarded in Rugby.

Debate has continued since as to whether it was a blatant act of Cheating, or whether it was a selfless act, with Suarez sacrificing himself, in order to give his country a chance to qualify.

Personally, if I was in the same position as Suarez, I guarantee that I would do the same, and if a player on a team I was supporting didn’t do it, I would be fuming.


9. Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid

After the greatest start of any coach in Real Madrid’s history, Jose Mourinho mustn’t have expected his brilliant Camp Nou record to come to an end in such a fashion.

Priding his sides on solid defence, Mourinho couldn’t believe his eyes as Barca waltzed through time and time again, on their way to an emphatic 5-0 victory.

Pre-game all the attention focused on the attacking talents on display, Barcelona with Messi, Villa, Iniesta, Xavi et al, and Real with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain (who missed the game with injury) and the new darling of the Bernabeu, Mesut Ozil (you know, that guy I tipped to be a star in my world cup preview blog).

It promised to be a close fought game, both teams with such attacking forces, backed up ably by solid holdng players in midfeld, in Busquets (probably a little harsh to call him a holding midfielder, as he has a lot more to offer, but is often overhadowed by his more esteeedcolleagues) and Sami Khedeira, another German youngster to impress in the World cup.

Both defences looked solid too, and back up by two of the best goalkeepers in Europe in Victor Valdes and Iker Casillas.

In reality though, it looked like men against boys, as Barcelona tore Madrid to pieces, inpossibly the most dominant footballing performance I have ever seen.

Leo Messi failed to score for the first time in 10 consecutive games, but his performance – along with the rest of the Barcelona team was sublime. The passing was so precise, the finishing deadly.

Xavi opened the scoring, with a briliant move involving Messi and Iniesta, before playing a magnificent pass to David Villa to cross for Pedro to tap in to make it 2-0.

Villa then scored a quick fire brace, both set up by Messi before substitute Jeffren finished off Bojan Krkic's cross to complete a miserable night for Mourinho's team. Jeffrén had been on the pitch only three minutes.

The victory for Barcelona was described by the Madrid coach as a "historically bad result" for his club – it was the worst defeat he has suffered in his career.





8. Graeme McDowell wins the US Open

Sunday June 20th, and the 40year wait for a British US Open championship was finaly over as Graeme McDowell won his inaugural major.

Going into the final days play McDowell was 3 shots behind leader Dustin Johnson, but was level after just two holes as Johnson imploded, on his way to becoming the first major winner from the UK since Paul Lawrie’s victory in the 1999 British Open.

McDowell's final round, a 3 over par 74, was the highest score by a US Open champion since Andy North's 74 at Oakland Hills in 1985 but he joins a list of illustrious names such as Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Tiger Woods as US Open winners at the iconic Pebble Beech course.

McDowells celebrations, with his father rushing onto the 18th green to hug him and celebrate the fine victory were even more special due to it being Fathers day, and what better present can any father want, than your sons first Major victory.

I think it’s fair to say that this will not be the final time G-Mac is mentioned in this review of the year.



7. England retaining the Ashes

Not since the 1986-7 tour have England retained the Ashes down under, the last attempt, a calamitous 5-0 whitewash to the Australians, but this time England believed they had a brilliant chance, and so it has proven, with Englands win in the famous boxing Day test at the MCG securing a 2-1 lead in the series, with one test to play.

The series started off poorly for England, Peter Siddle opened his series with a hat-trick on his birthday and Australia built up a strong first inning lead, in the second innings, Englands batsmen made amends, losing just one wicket, the captain Strauss in 152 overs as Alistair Cook made a mockery of those suggesting his position was under threat, with n excellent double century.

For the Aussies not to win after being in such a commanding position immediately ut them on the back foot, as was shown in the second test in Adelaide as Englands batsmen once again held the upper hand, scoring a mammoth 620-5, mainly aided by a fine 227 from Kevin Pietersen, after Englands attack had bowled Australia out for 245, after Michael Hussey had rescued them, after coming out to bat with the score 2/3.

On the final day tensions grew as it was clear that ad weather was on the way, but England managed to bowl out the Aussies just in time, as moments after what would have been lunch the heavens opened and play would have been undoubtedly abandoned for the day.

And so we went to Perth, where England knew a victory would see them retain the urn, but had to do without the services of Stuart Broad, who was sent home with injuries suffered in Melbourne, bringing a premature end to his tour.

Chris Tremlett was the man chosen to replace him, and responded to the call well, picking up 9 wickets in the match, but they were in vain, as Australia kept the series alive with a victory inspired by the recalled Mitchell Johnson.

And so with failing to ensure the Ashes were retained before Xmas, the series moved onto the MCG, Steven Finn was unlucky to find himself out of the team, despite being Englands top wicket taker, but the decision to bring in Tim Bresnan as a replacement was inspired, as the Yorkshire man bowled superbly, in conditions similar to his home ground, Headingly, and fittingly Bresnan was the man to take the wicket to secure retention of the Ashes, and spark raucous celebration from the large travelling Barmy Army.

6. England Vs Germany

After scraping through the group stages, this was the game that was going to kick-start Englands World Cup. Germany had been one of the best teams of the tournament so far, and England had been disappointing, but that was all going to change with this game…. Apparently.

Germany started off emphatically and took an early 2 goal lead with goals from World Cup veterans Miroslaw Klose and Lukas Podolski, but it was Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller, both in their first world cups, who were pulling the strings, along with Bastien Schwiensteiger in his new central midfield role.

Just before half-time Matthew Upson threw England a life-line by heading in from a James Milner cross, halving the deficit. The goal galvanized England, who threw men forward with a new sense of belief, suddenly the ball was laid back to Frank Lampard on the edge of the area, Lampard hit a lofted shot that hit the bar and bounced down several feet over the line, the country erupted in celebration, we had managed to claw our way back into it, the Germans looked deflated, surely there was only one winner from now on… But wait, play has continued, no-body could quite believe the gal hadn’t been given, and Germany were attacking.

In the second half, England naivety came to the fore, men were thrown forward in search of an equaliser, Lampard again hitting the bar, but Germany soaked up the pressure, and caught England on the counter attack twice, both of which Gareth Barry could have easily stoped by being a little more cynical.

There are no doubts that England were beaten by a better team on the day, but if that goal would’ve have been given it would have been a completely different game.

2010 - the top 15 sporting stories. 15-11

Sport is described as  an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, however I feel that there is much more to sport. 


It's ability to create a range of emotions, the drama provided and the sheer excellence often on show all combine together to produce what I consider to be the greatest thing on this earth, and in 2010, we had some great moments, and some belief-defyingly bad moments in the World of sport. And here I will countdown the top 15 sporting stories from the year.




15. "The Decision"

In the NBA the summer of 2010 was billed as the summer of Lebron. Lebron James is arguably the greatest player in the league, and his contract was set to run out with his home-state team the Cleveland Cavaliers. 


James's potential was widely known before he even played a game of professional basketball, with Nike signing him to a shoe contract whilst James was still in College. 


The season before joining James entered the NBA draft, the Cavaliers tied for last place in the league, which gave them a great chance of winning the lottery and being able to select James in what was widely regarded as a strong Draft class. Cleveland won the lottery, and selected the local hero who transformed them into title challengers, who could never quite get that illusive championship winning ring. 


Cleveland tried everything they could in order to improve their roster, yet it seemed inevitable that, at the end of his contract, James would be moving on.


Several associations cleared the necessary cap space in order to to be able to offer James the maximum contract his talents deserved, and when the Free Agency period opened, Lebron had meetings with six teams - Cleveland, New York, New Jersey, Miami, Chicago and the Los Angeles Clippers. 


After these meetings it was announced that James would be taking the unprecedented decision to announce his decision live on an hour-long TV special, which would see all money raised go to Charity.  The television program drew high ratings but also a high level criticism for the prolonged wait until James' actual decision and the spectacle of the show itself. 


During the show fans of all 6 teams were interviewed, all with high-hopes that James would be joining them and inspiring them to glory, Sports stores were already selling jerseys with James name on the back of them, in the local colours, before the decision was finally announced that James would be joining fellow TEAM USA free agents Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and signing for the Miami Heat.


Cleveland fans took the news the hardest, they saw Lebron as one of them, a local hero, who would carry his home team to glory, footage was shown of fans attacking the giant billboards on which James's image was held, his jerseys were being burned, and some fans were shown in tears. 


As a spectacle, "the decision" showed up the sorts of emotions that sport can stir up, and will never be forgotten by NBA fans, whether they fondly remember it or not, well I guess that depends on who you support.


14. Lee Westwood ends Tiger Woods reign as Number 1 golfer in the world

On November 1st, Lee Westwood finally ended Tiger Woods's 281 week reign as the Number 1 Ranked golfer in the world, despite not playing. 


The world went into the weekend knowing that Tiger's time was up, Westwood was set to leapfrog Woods into top spot, despite recovering from injury, in an attempt to be fit for the Ryder Cup, but it wasn't certain that even though he would over take Woods, he would top the rankings. 


That honour could have gone to the big-hitting German Martin Kaymer if he were to win or finish a clear second in the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama.


Kaymer could only finish in a tie for 21st position, 10 shots behind Graeme McDowell, leaving the 37-year old Englishman to complete a remarkable turn-around, after falling as low as 266th position in the rankings back in March 2003.

Westwood heads into 2011 hoping to continue his recent scintillating form, with the first major win surely just a matter of time.


13. Pakistan Cricket Spot-fixing Scandal

As England were playing Pakistan in the fourth test of the summer series, allegations were made on the Saturday evening, by the News of The World regarding a betting scam in which members of the Pakistani team were involved in. 


The paper alleged that Pakistani players were secretly paid to deliberately bowl no-balls during the match.
The allegations relate to three no-balls delivered by Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif on Thursday and Friday.

The News of the World said members of its reporting team posed as businessmen and paid a middleman who told them exactly what would happen in the three separate incidents during play, in order for the reporters to be able to bet on them.

These allegations led to a tarnished series, in which it was visible that the England side wanted to be over as soon as possible, as well as an altercation between Johnathan Trott and Wahab Riaz, which ended with England Batting coach Graham Gooch having to separate the pair.

Relationships between the two cricket boards sank to new depths this past year, with these allegations sparking the downfall.

12. Phil Mickelson wins the Masters


In April,  everybody's favourite lefty, Phil Mickelson, won his 3rd US Masters title of his career, only this time it was more poignant due to who was there in attendance to see him claim the Green Jacket once again.


Standing behind the green, with his three children, was his Wife, Amy Mickelson, who was at a tournament for the first time since being diagnosed with Breast Cancer 11 months beforehand. 


As Mickelson sank into his wife's arms, and the tears flowed in celebration, it was a true story book ending, fitting to one of the sporting highlight of the year. 


The Masters started with Tiger Woods returning from a sex scandal, which shattered his image but left his game intact. He captivated crowds by flirting with contention until the putts stopped falling and he tied for fourth, and if effectively ended with this shot, no doubt the best shot of the tournament.

 

In the previous 12 months, Mickelson had been alternating between time on the Tour, and taking time off to be with his wife Amy, as well as his mother, who was also diagnosed with the same disease, and during this time his form dipped, but returned dramatically at Augusta, in a victory he dedicated to his wife.

11. Mark Webber's Crash - Valencia

Words can't describe this, so just watch the video. (I'm not sure about the dramatic music though)