Top Sporting Moments (40-21)
Dec. 18th, 2009 12:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article6959436.ece
It could have been Tim Henman, but rain and the multiple personalities of a Croat giant put paid, in the semi-finals, to the Briton’s best chance of winning Wimbledon. Never mind, many locals adopted Ivanisevic instead for the first men’s final to begin on a Monday, even if he had a McEnroe-style tantrum in the fourth set and blew two match points with double faults (how very British) in the fifth. Fans began queueing from 5am the previous day when it became apparent that the weather would push the final back a day and they were treated to a five-set thriller between Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter, which the Croat won 9-7 in the fifth.
I call bullshit on this being so low (especially given some of the one's higher in the list than it), because it would be in my top 5. And its certainly the best tennis moment of the last decade, because it's Goran, finally winning a Slam, and at Wimbledon, and it's People's Monday, and it's Goran, people!
“Remember the name: Wayne Rooney.” So said Clive Tyldesley on the TV commentary after a youngster with a reputation for being something special scored his first Premier League goal five days before his 17th birthday. Arsenal went to Goodison Park on a 30-match unbeaten streak and went a goal up on Everton, but the home side pulled one back, then, with ten minutes to go, a hopeful long ball reached Rooney, 30 yards from goal, who took it down, turned and unleashed a howitzer of a curling shot into the top-left corner. It made him the youngest scorer in Premier League history and an instant star.
I really wish they'd put Goodison, not Liverpool, because it only confuses me. And yes, I do remember this, and the hubbub at school the next day.
After a career beset by injuries, Holmes arrived in Athens for her third Olympics in such good health that she decided to compete in two events, although she announced that she would race in the 800 metres only five days beforehand. It was a gamble, but she judged the pace right in the 800 to seal her first gold. No Briton had won gold in both middle-distance races since 1920, but Holmes controlled the final of the 1,500 metres, emerging from the back of the field to lead in the final straight. Holmes went on to be the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, saying she achieved her goals after “20 years of dreaming”.
So pleased to see this here. Because she really was always injured, but not in the way a lot of British athletes were (i.e. injury mysteriously announced only after abject failure) but it a permenant shin splints/muscle tear/misc. other way. And we loved her anyway. And just the look on her face at the end of the 800 m, where she crosses the line, thinking that she's not won and then looks at the screen and her eyes go wide and wider, because she's so utterly shocked and happy.
So very happy for her.
It could have been Tim Henman, but rain and the multiple personalities of a Croat giant put paid, in the semi-finals, to the Briton’s best chance of winning Wimbledon. Never mind, many locals adopted Ivanisevic instead for the first men’s final to begin on a Monday, even if he had a McEnroe-style tantrum in the fourth set and blew two match points with double faults (how very British) in the fifth. Fans began queueing from 5am the previous day when it became apparent that the weather would push the final back a day and they were treated to a five-set thriller between Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter, which the Croat won 9-7 in the fifth.
I call bullshit on this being so low (especially given some of the one's higher in the list than it), because it would be in my top 5. And its certainly the best tennis moment of the last decade, because it's Goran, finally winning a Slam, and at Wimbledon, and it's People's Monday, and it's Goran, people!
“Remember the name: Wayne Rooney.” So said Clive Tyldesley on the TV commentary after a youngster with a reputation for being something special scored his first Premier League goal five days before his 17th birthday. Arsenal went to Goodison Park on a 30-match unbeaten streak and went a goal up on Everton, but the home side pulled one back, then, with ten minutes to go, a hopeful long ball reached Rooney, 30 yards from goal, who took it down, turned and unleashed a howitzer of a curling shot into the top-left corner. It made him the youngest scorer in Premier League history and an instant star.
I really wish they'd put Goodison, not Liverpool, because it only confuses me. And yes, I do remember this, and the hubbub at school the next day.
After a career beset by injuries, Holmes arrived in Athens for her third Olympics in such good health that she decided to compete in two events, although she announced that she would race in the 800 metres only five days beforehand. It was a gamble, but she judged the pace right in the 800 to seal her first gold. No Briton had won gold in both middle-distance races since 1920, but Holmes controlled the final of the 1,500 metres, emerging from the back of the field to lead in the final straight. Holmes went on to be the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, saying she achieved her goals after “20 years of dreaming”.
So pleased to see this here. Because she really was always injured, but not in the way a lot of British athletes were (i.e. injury mysteriously announced only after abject failure) but it a permenant shin splints/muscle tear/misc. other way. And we loved her anyway. And just the look on her face at the end of the 800 m, where she crosses the line, thinking that she's not won and then looks at the screen and her eyes go wide and wider, because she's so utterly shocked and happy.
So very happy for her.
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Date: 2009-12-18 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 12:39 am (UTC)Exactly. They've gone for some very recent ones higher than it, and I don't think they'll pan out to be as important when we look back on the decade in future.