It Was a Very Good Year

Year in Review

2012 was a brilliant year for British sport with Wiggo winning Le Tour, Team GB’s sensational performance in the Olympics & Chelsea upsetting the odds to win the Champions League.

Bolt & Phelps underlined their legendary status with standout performances in the summer. Rudisha’s 800 metre win was even better.

In football, Spain showed they’re still a class above the rest, winning Euro 2012 with style. Aguero’s injury time winner for Man City capped the most exciting finish to a top flight title race since 1989. Leo Messi broke Gerd Muller’s record for goals in a calendar year, with an astonishing 91, helping Barcelona to a nine point lead in La Liga.

Europe pulled off one of the great comebacks in the Ryder Cup.

It was another vintage year in tennis.  The marathon Aussie Open final, record-breaking  wins for Nadal at the French & Federer at Wimbledon. Murray breaking his grand slam duck & the winning the Olympic title. Serena, when fit & focused, proved to be a class apart from the rest, but it seems Azarenka may be getting closer.

Alistair Cook scored 562 runs & broke the English record for most Test centuries, captaining the side to a rare Test series win in India. He will surely break many more batting records.

Uefa Champions League round of 16

A tough draw for the Britsih clubs. Both Man U & Celtic are favoured to go out by the bookies. (Arsenal’s chances are rated 50-50) Madrid v United should be closer than the odds suggest, but I think all the British sides will go out.

Performance of the Month

England’s great upset win over the All Blacks, ending their 20 match unbeaten streak.

Honourable mention: Juan Manuel Marquez getting his revenge for being on the wrong side of some questionable points decisions with a brutal one-punch knockout of Manny Pacquiao.

Yes We Khan

July review

Amir Khan’s five round demolition of Zab Judah keeps him firmly on course for a megabucks showdown with Floyd Mayweather next year. Judah, though 33 & with six losses on his record, had previously only lost to top drawer opposition (Kostya Tszyu, Mayweather etc).
On the same night, the British heavy title fight between Tyson Fury & Dereck Chisora exemplified the best of boxing. It only takes one punch with the heavyweights to turn a fight, but in this contest both fighters were even more vulnerable. Fury was wobbled in the 2nd & Chisora was often under sustained barrages, but both fighters showed their guts with fightbacks from the brink of defeat. In the end the fight went the distance, with mutual respect enhanced, & Fury took a well-deserved points victory.

In my last blog I introduced a new feature, which, given the frequency which I write this blog, I’m going to rechristen:

Performance of the Month

For pure sporting achievement, Cadel Evans win in the Tour de France, after twice finishing second, could take top spot. Honourable mention to Mark Cavendish for winning five stages & the green jersey for the first time.
It wasn’t just Cav, July was a great month for the Brits. There was British success at the world swimming championships with golds for Becky Adlington, Liam Tancock & Keri-Anne Payne; Michael Phelps also added to his extensive medal collection, though Ryan Lochte got the better of him twice (200 free & 200 IM).
Lewis Hamilton & Jenson Button won the German & Hungarian GPs respectively.
The England cricket team are 2-0 up in the Test series against India, Stuart Broad in particular has stood out with both bat & ball, taking up the all-rounders mantle of Botham & Flintoff.

But my perf of the month goes to Darren Clarke. The amiable Northern Irishman has had to deal with well documented personal tragedy, & his win at the Open was his first major at the age of 42, having been a 200-1 shot with the bookies before the tournament.

Form is Temporary

Roger Federer: An Apology

In my post of 12 July I had dared to suggest that Roger would never win another Grand Slam. In the US Open final Monday against Murray, he was back to his imperious best. On this form, he could match Sampras all-time record of 14 Slams as early as January in Melbourne. The runner-up was the first Brit in a Slam final since the Gregster in 1997(L to Rafter, also at the US).This has been Murray’s breakthrough year. He had never gone beyond a Slam fourth round before this year, but then reached the quarters of Wimbledon. He then beat Djokovic twice, including winning TMS Cincinnati, and beat Nadal for the first time to reach the final at Flushing Meadows, taking him up to no. 4 in the world rankings. Murray has all the ingredients-talent, guts, focus & fitness- to reach, & win, more Slam finals in the future.

Serena Williams regained the no. 1 ranking by becoming champ again (beating Venus in the quarters). The Williams sisters seem to have been around forever, so the tendency is to become blasé about their achievements, but they have now won 16 Slam singles titles between them (the US was Serena’s 9th). Arguably they are the most successful sporting siblings ever, though you could also make a case for the Charlton brothers or the Waugh twins.

Olympics review

So many highlights to pick from. Apart from the obvious candidates, Phelps & Bolt, my personal faves: Lezak overhauling a body length deficit in the last 50 in the 4x100 free relay. The GB rowing four overhauling the Australians in the last 250 m. Amazing final lap sprints from the Ethiopian men & women in the 5 & 10 k track races. From a British perspective, the ‘sitting-down’ sports exceeded expectations, but the underperformance of the athletics is a worry. The athletes need to raise their level or there will be a lot of finals at 2012 with no home representation. However, the Team GB result to finish fourth in the medals table was a fantastic achievement, behind only the superpowers (China, USA, Russia)

Beijing 2008

I was discussing the Olympics with a friend this morning. He thought two weeks of it was mostly a bore, though he might catch some of the boxing & the football. I tried to convince him otherwise.

How can you not be excited by the Olympics? Michael Phelps will again be trying to match or better Mark Spitz's record haul of seven gold medals in a single games. In the mens 100 metres the current & former world record holders, Usain Bolt & Asana Powell (Jamaica) v Tyson Gay, who ran a wind-assisted 9.68 in the US trials. Nadal, Federer, Djokovic & the Murray brothers in the tennis. If you need the patriotic angle to stir your interest, prospects for a good haul of British gold medals are excellent. British cycling has never been stronger & will hope to match their superb performance from the worlds. Shanaze Reade & Vicky Pendleton will be the favourites in the BMX & sprint respectively. Rebecca Romero, previously a rowing medallist will try to medal on the track. Bradley Wiggins is the favourite for the Individual Pursuit. Mark Cavendish, fresh from winning four stages in Le Tour, will ride the Madison & possibly the IP. The coxless four rowers will try to retain their title. Triple jumper Philips Idowu has the world leading jump this year & won the world indoor title. Sailor Ben Ainslie is the favourite in the Finn class. Last but not least (except in stature) what a story it would be if 14 year-old Tom Daley could win a medal in the diving.

The new Premiership season could be boring if The Big Four monopoly can’t be broken. The only team who appear to have a chance of making the breakthrough this season are Spurs. Although they have sold Keane, & it’s rumoured Berbatov is on his way, they’ve bought Modric & Giovanni & have an outside chance of getting Arshavin.