28th Lida Scott Howell, American archer was born on this day in 1859. She won three gold medals in Archery at the 1904 Summer Olympics in Missouri in the double national and Columbia rounds and for the US team. Her father, Thomas Scott, is the oldest archer ever to have competed in the Olympics.  Welsh cricketer Cyril Frederick Walters was born in 1905, he had most of his success after leaving Glamorgan to do duty as captain-secretary of Worcestershire. In this role he developed his batting to such an extent that for a brief period he became an England regular and even captained them in one match as a deputy for Bob Wyatt. However, he unexpectedly completely gave up cricket soon after that, to the dismay of his country and county. The former Australian cricket captain Lindsay Hassett was born in 1913. He scored 3073 runs in 43 Tests. The inaugural running of golf’s Walker Cup at the National Golf Links of America course on Long Island New York took place today in 1922 and was won by America who beat England 8-4. An unofficial contest was held the previous year, on 21st May, held at the Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, played immediately prior to the Amateur Championship, between American and British amateur golfers.  Dutch swimmer Marianne Heemskerk was born in 1944, she won the silver medal in the 100m butterfly at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. She was also part of the 4×100m medley relay team that finished fourth. Heemskerk broke the world record in the women’s 200m butterfly on 12 June 1960 in Leipzig, East Germany. Emlyn Hughes, the former Liverpool and England football captain, was born in 1947. The son of a rugby league player, Emlyn was the driving force behind the Liverpool team in the 1970s. He later played for Wolves and won a League Cup winners’ medal with them before becoming a radio and TV personality. He was captain of the team for which Her Royal Highness Princess Anne played when she appeared on A Question of Sport.  England retain the Ashes on this day in 1956.  Top American freestyle swimmer Janet Evans was born in 1971. A world record holder at 400, 800 and 1500m, she won three individual Olympic golds in 1988 and 1992. At Brussels in 1981 Sebastian Coe broke the world mile record for the third time. His time of 3 minutes 47.33 seconds stood until 1985 when it was bettered by Steve Cram.  Born on this day in 1981 was Polish weightlifter and world record holder Agata Wróbel. She took up weightlifting after watching the men compete in the 1996 Olympics after learning that women’s weightlifting would be an event at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. At the 2000 World Junior Championships her combined total for both the snatch and clean and jerk was a record-breaking 290kg. She has broken no fewer than 11 world records in the sport. In 2002, she was voted 2nd in the world weightlifter of the year. As well as numerous Junior and World Championship successes, coming first in 2002, she has participated in both the 2000 Olympics and 2004 Olympics in the +75kg category, winning silver and bronze respectively. In 2003, she appeared in the [French] documentary“M2A – Mission to Athens”, depicting her preparation to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Today in 1987 the 2nd World Athletics Championships, held in Rome, were opened. On this day in 1992 Muttiah Muralitharan makes his Test cricket debut for Sri Lanka against Australia at Colombo.  In 2004 British athlete Kelly Holmes secured her place in Olympic history by winning the 1500m gold in Athens, only days after winning the 800m title.  She was the first Briton in 84 years to achieve the Olympic middle-distance double. Holmes also set a new British record for the distance of 3min 57.90 seconds.

                                                                             

29th – On this day in 1842 the eminent Victorian cricketer and rugby footballer Alfred Shaw was born. He bowled the first ball in Test cricket and was the first to take five wickets in a Test innings (5/35). He made two trips to North America and four to Australia, captaining the English cricket team in four Test matches on the all-professional tour of Australia in 1881/82, where his side lost and drew two each. He was also, along with James Lillywhite and Arthur Shrewsbury, co-promoter of the tour. He also organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888. On this day in 1885 the first heavyweight title fight with 3ox gloves and 3-minute rounds was fought between John L Sullivan and Dominick McCaffrey.  In 1889 the first American International professional lawn tennis contest took place at Newport, Rhode Island. The forerunner of the Rugby League, the Northern League, was born out of a meeting of 21 Lancashire and Yorkshire clubs at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, in 1895. The members of this breakaway league wanted to make so-called ‘broken time’ payments to their players for taking time off work to play the game.  Indian field hockey player Dhyan Chand, considered one of the greats field hockey players of all time, was born today in 1905. He is known for his extraordinary goal-scoring feats, in addition to winning three Olympic gold medals (1928, 1932, and 1936), during an era where India was the most dominant team in Hockey. Known as “The Wizard” for his superb ball control, Chand played his final international match in 1948, having scored more than 400 goals during his international career. The Government of India awarded him the third highest (then second highest) civilian honour of Padma Bhushan in 1956.His birthday, i.e. 29th August, is celebrated as National Sports Day in India. The 3rd modern Olympic Games were opened today in St Louis in 1904. Hungarian discus thrower Jolán Kleiber-Kontsek (née Kontsek) was born in 1939. In 1964 she finished sixth in the Discus at the Olympics. She competed for Hungary in the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City where she won bronze. She was named Hungarian Sportswoman of The Year in 1965 after having won the Summer Universiade the same year held in her hometown, Budapest. World record long-jumper Robert “Bob” Beamon was born today in 1946. His world record set at the Olympic Games in 1968 at Mexico City stood for almost 23 years until broken by Mike Powell in 1991, his Olympic record still stand to this day. They were the first games to be held In America.  British motor-racing driver James Hunt was born in 1947. After starting his F1 career with Hesketh, he captured the world drivers’ title by one point from the unfortunate Niki Lauda. Hunt died suddenly in 1993 aged 45.  Today in 1966 The Beatles gave their last paid concert.  The performance was held at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. They performed eleven songs in front of an appreciative audience. A rough recording of the concert was not released, however much of the audio has found its way online. The audio cuts out during the last few minutes, leaving “Long Tall Sally” a little short. Film of the concert was taken by a 15-year-old in attendance and has been seen in a documentary called The Unseen Beatles. Other official footage from news teams from San Francisco and Sacramento are also included. On this day in 1987 Portuguese athlete Rosa Mota won the Women’s Marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Rome in a time of 2hr 25:17mins.  In 1999 the 7th World Athletics Championships came to a conclusion at Seville in Spain and in 2004 the 28th Olympic Games, held in Athens, also came to its end.  Today in 2012 the USADA claimed to have stripped cyclist Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles.

 

            

30th  – On this day in 1884 Jack ‘Nonpareil’ Dempsey won the middleweight title, the first fight with boxing gloves.  Ed “Tedda” Courtney, Australian pioneer rugby league player and coach was born in 1885. He played club football for the North Sydney Bears, Western Suburbs Magpies and representative football for the New South Wales state and Australian national sides. He is considered one of the nation’s finest footballers of the 20th century, renowned for his fearless tackling style and ability to harass the opposition with this defence. Today in 1904 Thomas Hicks takes the Olympic Marathon title, over 40km in 3hr 28:53.0 seconds. World Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis was taken the distance in the first of 25 defences he would make of his title. His opponent on this day in 1937 was Welshman Tommy Farr, who proved the pundits wrong by surviving 15 rounds in the same ring as the “Brown Bomber” at New York’s Madison Square Garden. French skier Jean-Claude Killy was born in 1943. In 1967 Killy became the first overall World Cup champion as well as winning individual titles in all three disciplines: Downhill, Slalom and Giant Slalom. A year later he won three Winter Olympic golds.  Scottish ice-dancer Sinead Houston Kerr was born in 1978. She teamed up with her brother John in 2000. They are two-time (2009, 2011) European bronze medallists and the 2004–2010 British national champions. They placed 10th at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, and 8th at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. The Kerrs retired from competitive skating in April 2011.  In 1979 Ian Botham makes 1000 runs/100 wickets in Tests in his 21st match. On the very same day in 1979 Kathy Horvath makes history by becoming the youngest player in the US Tennis Open at 14years 5 days.  Chinese Olympic slalom canoer Tian Qin was born in 1983. Chess Grandmaster and  Women’s World Chess Champion (Nov 2012-Sept 2013), Anna Yuriyivna Ushenina was born in 1985 in Ukraine.  Éva Risztov, Hungarian Olympic swimmer was born today in 1985.She won four silver medals at the 2002 European Aquatics Championships and three silver medals at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships. She won a further silver medal at the 2004 European Aquatics Championships and competed at the 2004 Olympics where she came 4th in 400m individual medley. At the European Short Course Swimming Championships she won six gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal between 2002 and 2004.She retired in 2005, but announced her comeback in 2009 as an open water swimmer and she competed at the 2010 European Aquatics Championships in Women’s 10km where she came 7th. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London she competed in the 400m freestyle (16th), 800m freestyle (13th), 4×100m freestyle relay (15th) and the 10km marathon, in which she won the gold medal, having dominated the race from the outset. Britain’s Lloyd Honeyghan knocked out America’s Gene Hatcher at Marbella, Spain, in 1987, to retain his world welterweight title. The knockout was achieved in only 45 second, then the shortest world title fight on record. Also on this day in 1987 Stefka Kostadinova of Bulgaria sets a new high-jump record at 6 feet 10½ inches. Bob Beamon’s 22-year-old world long-jump record was broken during the world championships in Tokyo in 1991. Many expected Carl Lewis to break the record, but it was Lewis’ team-mate Mike Powell who obliged, and in dramatic fashion. Lewis broke Beamon’s record with a leap of 8.91m but this was disallowed because it was wind-assisted. Powell then jumped a massive 8.95m, it was Carl Lewis’ first defeat in 66 long-jump competitions going back ten years.  In 1997 Greg Rudaski becomes the first to serve a tennis ball at 141 mph. Today in 2015 saw the close of the 15th World Athletics Championships, held in Beijing. 

 

     

                                                                                         

31st-American athlete Frank Jarvis was born on this day in 1878. Jarvis, an AAU champion in the 100 yards, was among the pre-race favourites for the 100m at the 1900 Olympics in Paris, but the hot favourite was American Arthur Duffey, who won the British Championships just prior to the Games. In the heats, however, Jarvis and another American, Walter Tewksbury, posted times of 10.8, equalling the World Record. All three Americans qualified for the final, complemented by Stan Rowley of Australia. After a close first half of the final race, leading Duffey pulled a muscle, fell, and retired the race, leaving the three others to decide for the victory—Jarvis won. At the same Olympics, Jarvis also competed in the triple jump and the standing triple jump (with no run-up), but did not win any medals. After his running career, Jarvis became a lawyer. Bombardier Billy Wells, who won 15 British heavyweight boxing title bouts – more than any other man – was born in 1889. The first professional game of US Football was played on this day in 1895 when Latrobe and Jeanette met in Pennsylvania. The top Japanese golfer Isao Aoki was born in 1942. Former West Indian Test cricketer captain Clive Lloyd was born in 1944. He scored 7515 runs in 110 Test matches between 1966 and 1985. American athlete Ed Moses was born in 1955. The world record-holder for 400m hurdles, he was also Olympic champion in 1976 and 1984. He once went 122 races without defeat. French rugby union player Serge Blanco was born in 1958. He won a world record 93 caps between 1980 and 1991, and scored 38 tries. Romanian long-jumper Valy Ionescu (later Constantin), was born in 1960. She won the European title in 1982 and an Olympic silver medal in 1984. Ionescu spent her entire career with the athletics club Rapid Bucuresti, and later worked there as a coach and official.  Norwegian cross-country Olympic skier Anita Moen, sometimes known as Anita Moen-Guidon was born in 1967. She won five medals at the Winter Olympics: three silvers (4 x 5km: 1994, 1998, 2002) and two bronzes (15km: 1998, Individual sprint: 2002). Moen also won four 4 x 5km medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with three silvers (1995, 2001, 2003) and one bronze (1993). Her best individual finish at the World Championships was 5th in the 30km event in 1997. Moen won eighteen races in her career at all levels from 1992 to 2002. Cricketing history was made at the St Helens Ground, Swansea, in 1968 when Gary Sobers of Nottinghamshire became the first man to score six sixes off one over.  In 1971 Adrienne Beames sets a new World Record for the Marathon of 2 hours 46:30 seconds. Lasse Viren ran an Olympic and World Record time for the 10,000m (27:38.4) today in 1972. A year later in 1973 Olga Korbut of Russia wins Olympic gold. Today in 1973 the first heavyweight championship fight takes place in Japan, Foreman beats Roman. On this day in 1976 Waldemar Cierpinski wins the 18th Olympic Marathon in 2 hours 09:55,0 seconds.  In 1979, 16 years-old Tracey Austin defeated the 14 years-old Andrea Jaeger at the US Open Tennis. The former Tottenham Hotspur full-back Cyril Knowles died in 1991 at the age of 47 after a long illness. He played 401 games for Spurs between 1964-75 and won four England caps. Another death on this day in 1991 was that of Canadian world champion marathon swimmer Cliff Lumsdon, at the age of 60. He turned professional when he was 16 and would later say that the only regret in his career was giving up his amateur status before the 1948 Olympics. In 1949, at the age of 18, Lumsdon won the world marathon championship in Toronto, defeating 46 competitors in the annual 15-mile race at the Canadian National Exhibition. He won $6,300, $5,500 for winning the race and $800 for leading all laps and swimming the fastest lap. On the strength of that victory, he was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s top athlete of 1949. Lumsdon would go on to win four more marathons at the CNE, including a 32-mile race along the Lake Ontario waterfront in 1955.He was the only one of 29 starters to complete the course, no other swimmer even made it to the half-way point. Lumsdon was accompanied for part of the race by his fiancee, and by fellow Lakeshore swimmer Marilyn Bell, riding in a boat. Lumsdon won $15,000 for his victory, plus thousands more in bonus money. After two second-place finishes in previous years, Lumsdon won the 26-mile Atlantic City marathon in 1956. On August 17th  of that same year, he became the second swimmer to cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca in British Columbia. He retired in 1965 with career earnings of $152,000. He coached his daughter, Kim Lumsdon, who was also a top marathon swimmer, and accompanied her during her swim across Lake Ontario in 1976. He was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1976, Etobicoke Hall of Fame in 1986, and made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1982. In March 1988, a park in Toronto was named Cliff Lumsdon Park in his honour and he was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. Throughout his career, Lumsdon’s name was frequently misspelled as Lumsden.  In 2003 the 9th World Athletics Championships closed at Saint-Denis in France.

 

 

                                                     

1st September -Two former world heavyweight boxing champions were born on this day. James J Corbett, known as ‘Gentleman Jim’, was born in 1866. He captured the title in 1892 by knocking out John L Sullivan in the 21st round. He made one successful defence of his crown before losing it to Bob Fitzsimmons in March 1897. Corbett died in 1933. On this day in 1875, 14 year-old Agnes Beckwith swam in the Thames from London Bridge to Greenwich Pier, a distance of some 5 miles which she covered in one hour, seven minutes and 45 seconds.  She went on to become recognised as the pioneer of female swimming in the Victorian age. Joseph George Didier “Cannonball” Pitre, Canadian professional ice-hockey player was born today in 1883. He was nicknamed “Cannonball”. One of the first players to join the Montreal Canadiens, Pitre’s French-Canadian heritage helped give his line-mates the nickname the Flying Frenchmen, brought upon by his exceptional speed. As well as playing for the Canadiens, Pitre played for several other teams in various leagues such as the International Professional Hockey League, the first professional hockey league, and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. A prolific scorer, Pitre helped the Canadiens win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 1916. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963.He was the uncle of Vic Desjardins, a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. American tennis player Dorothy “Dodo” May Sutton Bundy Cheney was born in 1916, she was still actively playing into her 90s. She played most of her tennis at the Los Angeles Tennis Club. In 1938, Cheney became the first American to win the women’s singles title at the Australian Championships, defeating Dorothy Stevenson in the final. ‘Rocky’ Marciano was born in 1923. He took the title from ‘Jersey Joe’ Walcott in 1952. He was undefeated in all 40 of his professional fights, and 43 of these he won inside the distance. He retired in 1956. He was killed in a plane crash the day before his 46th birthday in 1969. Pierre de Coubertin steps down as chairman of the International Olympic Committee today in 1925.  In 1939 saw the last day of first-class cricket in England for six years.  Spanish golfer Manuel Piñero Sanchez was born this day in 1952. He turned professional in 1968 and established himself on the European Tour in the early 1970s. He won nine titles on the Tour, the most prestigious of them the 1977 British PGA Championship. He featured in the top ten on the European Tour Order of Merit five times, including back to back fourth places in 1976 and 1977. Piñero played for Europe in two Ryder Cups. In 1981 he defeated Jerry Pate 2 & 1 in his singles match. In 1985 he claimed four points out of five for the team which captured the trophy from the United States for the first time since 1957, defeating Lanny Wadkins 3 & 1 in singles. He was also a member of Spain’s two man team at the World Cup of Golf nine times, collecting the team title in 1976 and 1982. On the latter occasion, he also won the individual title. Since turning fifty in 2002 Piñero has played on the European Seniors Tour, but he has had little success at that level. Today in 1971 John Newcombe became the first male top-seed to lose in the first round of the US Open Tennis.  On this day in 1972 Bobby Fischer became the first American to win the world chess championship, defeating Russian Boris Spassky in their much-publicized match at Reykjavik. Gerd Neggo, Estonian dancer, teacher and choreographer died on this day in 1974 at the age of 82. She studied the musical response methods of É. Jaques-Dalcroze, trained under Rudolf von Laban in Hamburg, Germany, and in 1924 established her own dance studio at Tallinn, Estonia, and promoted modern dance and mime based on classical ballet. During the Soviet occupation of Estonia, she and her husband Paul Olak migrated to Sweden. Her contributions to the cultural heritage of Estonia, as the founder of modern dance and mime in her country, is recognised via a scholarship, awarded annually since 2011. In 1987 15 years-old Michael Chang became the youngest man yo us a US Open tennis match. The former Manchester City and Polish international Kayimerz ‘Kaz’ Deyna was killed in a car crash in 1989 at the age of 41. Capped 102 times, he was Poland’s captain the day they knocked out England out of the World Cup in 1974.  The 3rd World Athletics Championships came to a close in Tokyo on this day in 1991. Born today in 1991 Brazilian rhythmic gymnast Angélica Cristine Kvieczynski. She competed in the 2007 Pan American Games, won a silver medal and three bronze medal in the 2011 Pan American Games, won six gold medals in the 2010 South American Games and won the Prêmio Brasil Olímpico once. At the grand of age of 92, the Spanish goalkeeper Ignacio Eizaguirre Arregui died on this day in 2013. He played 381 La Liga games during 19 seasons, representing Real Sociedad, Valencia and Osasuna. He was a Spanish international for seven years, and appeared for the country at the 1950 World Cup.

 

                       

2nd-Liverpool beat Middlesborough Ironopolis 2-0 on this day in 1893 to notch up their first win in the Football League. On this day in 1908 Tommy Burns knocked out Bill Lang in the second round for the heavyweight boxing title. American horse trainer Darrell Wayne Lukas was born in 1935, a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, he holds the record for the most Triple Crown race wins with fourteen. He has also won twenty Breeders’ Cup races, received five Eclipse Awards for his accomplishments, and his horses have won 25 year-end Eclipse Awards. British Olympic athlete Janet Mary Simpson was born in 1944. She competed for Great Britain in the 1964  Olympics held in Tokyo, in the 4x100m relay, where she won the bronze medal with her team-mates  Mary Rand, Daphne Arden and Dorothy Hyman. She emulated her mother, Violet Webb, who had won bronze in the same event at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. Simpson competed for England in the 1966 Commonwealth Games in the 4×110 yards relay, where she won silver with her team-mates Maureen Tranter, Daphne Slater and Jill Hall. She finished fourth in the 400m final at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, missing bronze by only 0.32 seconds. She also was a member of the Great Britain team that won a gold medal in the 4x400m relayat the1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens, setting a world record time of 3:30.8 minutes. Running the third leg, Janet ran the joint fastest time (52.1) of the British quartet and made up 15 metres on the leader, Eliane Jacq of France. She retired from athletics in 1969 but made a comeback to compete in the 1972 Olympics, helping the Great Britain relay squad finish fifth in the final of the 4x400m in British record time (3:28.75). She later married the Swiss sprinter Philippe Clerc, 200m champion at the 1969 European Athletics Championships. She died of a heart attack on 14 March 2010 at the age of 65.  American tennis player Jimmy Connors was born in 1952. One of the greats of modern-day tennis, Connors first won Wimbledon as a 21-years-old om 1974 when he destroyed the veteran Australian Ken Rosewall 6-1, 6-1, 6-4. He won his second title eight years lateer when he beat John McEnroe in a classic five-setter.  Sticking with the tennis theme – In 1970 the first tie-break at a Grand Slam event was used – the US Open where a 9 point sudden-death system was used.  The tie-break has been ‘invented’ by Jimmy Van Alen, who also founded the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1954. In the early 1950s he proposed his Van Alen Streamlined Scoring System (VASSS) to shorten matches dominated by powerful servers.  The VASSS called for a set to be won when a player reached five points. At 4-4 a sudden-death point was played with the receiver choosing which court to receive from. In 1956 at a ibvitation event on grass at Newport Casino, a nine-point sudden-death system of VASSS was used and being the showman that he was, Van Alen would sit on the side of the court and when a set reached six games all he would wave a red flag to denote the start of a tie-break and the spectators came flocking to see the drama.  At the 1970 USS Open the tournament director decided to adopt this sudden-death scoring and for the next five years red flags were raised on the umpire’s chair, crowds loved it, players hated it. Since 1975 the 13-point tie-break (first to seven or first to lead by two points after 6-60 was adopted for all sets at the US Open. The 13-point tie-break itself was devised by Peter Johns, secretary of the Lawn Tennis Association, following discussions with Australia’s Bob Howe, a prominent doubles player of the period. Their formula, which included changing ends after six points (to maintain fairness if there was an advantage serving from one end due to sun or wind), was adopted by the International Tennis Federation, who made the tie-break an official part of the game’s scoring system in 1971. Today in 1978 British Paralympic athlete Graham Salmon set a new world record for the 100m by a blind man, stopping the clock at 11.4 seconds.  Ian Botham played his first game for Somerset on this day in 1973 when he turned out in a Sunday League game against Sussex at Hove. John Arlott, the ‘Voice of Cricket’, commentated on his last Test match in 1980, on the occasion of the Lord’s Centenary Match between England and Australia.  Today in 1994 the entertainer and television presenter Roy Castle died from cancer at his Buckinghamshire home, just two days after his 62nd birthday.  Castle was diagnosed with lung cancer two and a half years previously.  His career as a dancer, singer, comedian and trumpeter spanned over 30 years, but he is best remembered for the BBC programme Record Breakers – which he presented for more than a decade. On this day in 1995 Frank Bruno beat Oliver McCall in the 12th round to be crowned Heavyweight boxing champion. The 11th World Athletics Championships came to a conclusion in Osaka, Japan, on this day in 2007. On this day in 2014 the Polish gymnast Helena Rakoczy (née Krzynówek), also Rákóczy Rákóczi died at the age of 92. A member of the 1952 and 1956 Polish women’s gymnastics team, she managed only one Olympic medal, in Melbourne, a bronze in the Team Portable Apparatus Event, tying with the USSR team. Disappointing performances at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, particularly on the uneven bars, kept her well out of the higher-finishing individuals in the all-around (she was 43rd), failed to qualify her to any of the event finals competitions, and saw her team place 8th. Stronger performances at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics garnered her an 8th-place finish in the all-around, a 5th place on uneven bars, and saw her team to a much-improved 4th place all around with her compatriot, two-time Olympian (1956, 1960) Natalia Kot. Her real successes came at the World Gymnastics Championships in 1950 and 1954. At the former, she became the World Individual All-Around Champion, as well as becoming champion on three of the four individual apparatuses (Vault, Beam, and Floor), and at the latter, she took bronze in both the individual all-around and uneven bars. These accomplishments make her the most decorated Polish gymnast – male or female – ever. Rakoczy was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2004.

 

                

 

3rd – On this day in 1875 the first official game of polo is played in Argentina, after being introduced by British settlers, who started practicing the game in their free time. David Shennan is credited with having organised this game at Estancia El Negrete in the province of Buenos Aires. On this day in 1881 the inaugural Men’s National Tennis Championships (later US Open) were held where Richard Sears was victorious over William E Glyn, taking the title in 3 sets: 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.  Today in 1895 John Brallier became the first openly professional American football player, when he was paid $10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12-0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association.   At the 13th running of the America’s Cup, the American boat Resolute beat Shamrock III from England to claim the trophy. The St Louis Olympic Games came to a close on this day in 1904. Today in 1917 the Dutch football team Utrecht is formed. Austria beat Germany 6-3 in the first international handball match in 1925. Swiss cyclist Carlo Clerici was born in 1929, the highlight of his career was his overall win in the 1954 Giro d’Italia. West Indian cricketer Basil Fitzherbert Butcher was born in 1933, he played in 44 Tests from 1958 to 1969. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1970. Butcher was a wristy batsman and was a consistent number 4 and 5 in the West Indies side. He made an immediate impact on the international scene with 64 not out on debut against India in 1958-59 and finishing with 486 runs at 69.42. He struggled until the 1963 tour of England, where he rediscovered his form by making 383 runs which included an innings of 133 from a team total of just 229, helping the West Indies to a draw at Lord’s. The innings became legendary because during the interval he had received news through a letter that his wife had had a miscarriage back home in Guyana. Butcher was an occasional leg-spinner. He took 5 Test wickets which all came in the one innings, 5 for 34 against England at Port-of-Spain in 1967-68. At Bonneville Flats, Utah, in 1935, Malcolm Campbell became the first man to travel at 300 mph on land when he powered his Bluebird to a new world record of 301.13 mph (484.5 km/hr).  On this day in 1938 it was announced that the 1940 Olympic site had been changed from Tokyo to Helsinki in Finland.  Former New Zealand rugby union captain Brian Lochore was born in 1940. One of the game’s great forwards, he played for the All Blacks 25 times between 1964 and 1971. Today in 1950 Giuseppe “Nino” Farina became the first Formula One World Drivers’ Champion. The 1950 season was the first FIA World Championship of Drivers and was a series of seven races held between May 13 and this date. The series had six Grand Prix races in Europe and the Indianapolis 500 (run to AAA National Championship regulations). There were a number of other Formula One races held, but they did not count towards the World Championship. Alfa Romeo dominated the season with their supercharged 158 which won all six European Grands Prix. None of the regular drivers who competed in Europe competed in the Indianapolis 500 since it did little at the time to attract European drivers. To be fair, few of the 500 racers entered any of the Grand Prix races. Points were awarded to the top five places in each of the Grand Prix races with first places getting 8 points and later places getting 6, 4, 3, and 2 and 1 point was awarded for the fastest lap of each race. Points were shared evenly between shared drivers, regardless of how many laps each drove. The first was the British Grand Prix and Farina won it and took the fastest lap as well. In the Monaco Grand Prix, Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina won the race and had the fastest lap. Farina was in second place when a wave from the harbour flooded the track and he spun out and crashed and eight more cars were involved in the pile up (out of 19 drivers).  A dramatic finale to the pentathlon at the 1972 Munich Olympics saw Northern ireland’s  Mary Peters pip West Germany’s Heidi Rosendahl to the gold medal by a mere 10 points, 4801 to 4791. The result was in doubt until the final event, the 200m, which Peters ran in 24.08 seconds, has she been one-tenth of a second slower she would have lost the gold medal.  On this day in 1985 England regained the Ashes by beating Australia at The Oval. Sarah Jean Burke, Canadian freestyle skier, was born today in 1982, who was a pioneer of the superpipe event. She was a four-time Winter X Games gold medallist, and won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005. She successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee to have the event added to the Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was considered a medal favourite in the event. Burke died following a training accident in Utah, in January 2012 at the age of 29. English athlete Jane Tomlinson died today in 2007 aged 43. She raised £1.85 million for charity by completing a series of athletic challenges, despite suffering from terminal cancer. Having had treatment for breast cancer in 1991, aged 26; the disease returned in 2000 throughout her body. During the next six years, Tomlinson completed the London Marathon three times, the London Triathlon twice, the New York Marathon once and cycled across Europe and the United States