On This Week in Sport & Leisure History
~26th August-1st September 2019~

26^th

• The first recorded ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain in Serbia, was achieved in 1778, on the initiative of the industrialist and polymath Sigmund Zois. According to the most commonly cited report, published in the newspaper Illyrisches Blatt in 1821 by the historian and geographer Johann Richter, these were the surgeon Lovrenz Willomitzer (written as Willonitzer by Richter), the chamois hunter Štefan Rožič, and the miners Luka Korošec and Matevž Kos. According to a report by Belsazar Hacquet in his Oryctographia Carniolica, this happened towards the end of 1778, by two chamois hunters, one of them being Luka Korošec, and one of his former students, whose name is not mentioned.
• Surrey batsman Percy Fender made the quickest 100 in first-class cricket against Northamptonshire at Northampton in 1920, rattling off the runs in 35 minutes. His record was equalled by Lancashire’s Steven O’Shaughnessy in 1983.
• Hungarian water polo player. Kálmán Markovits was born in 1931 and competed in the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics. Markovits was part of the Hungarian team which won the gold medal in the 1952 tournament. He played six matches and scored three goals. Four years later he was a member of the Hungarian team which won again the gold medal in the 1956 Olympic tournament. He played six matches and scored at least three goals (not all scorers are known). At the 1960 Games he won the bronze medal with the Hungarian team. He played four matches and scored one goal.
• Showjumper Malcolm Pyrah was born in 1941. Twice winner of the King George V Gold Cup at Wembley, his best-known horse was Towerlands Anglezark.
• German Olympic weight-lifter Gerd Bonk as born in 1951.He won a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics, a bronze medal at the 1972 Games, set two world records and achieved numerous other top-three ranks at World Championships and European Weightlifting Championships. He was also a master mechanic.
• On this day in 1963 the West indies beat England 2-1 to become the first holders of the Wisden Cricket Trophy.
• German light middleweight boxer Torsten Schmitz was born in 1964. He represented East Germany at the 1988 Olympics. Schmitz was an amateur standout and fought in several notable European tournaments, compiling a record of 215-35.
• Dutch field hockey player and two-time Olympic gold medallist Jacques Brinkman was born in 1966.  With the national squad he won his Olympic golds in the 1996 and 2000 Games. Brinkman made his debut on May 1st 1987 in a friendly match against West-Germany. As a midfielder, he played 337 international matches for Holland, in which he scored 84 goals, making him Holland’s most capped player. Brinkman surpassed the previous record holder Cees Jan Diepeveen, in 1998. He won the Hockey World Cup in 1990 and 1998, and also the annual Champions Trophy (1996, 1998 and 2000). In the Dutch League he played for Kampong, Amsterdam H&BC and Stichtse Cricket en Hockey Club. Since the summer of 2003 he has been head coach with his former club from SCHC, Bilthoven.
• In 1971 Bobby Orr signed a five-year contract with the Boston Bruins, worth one million dollars, it was the first million-dollar contract in NHL history.
• The most tragic Olympic Games in living memory opened in Munich in 1972. The Games would be marred by the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes at the hands of Arab terrorists.
• Therese Alshammar, Swedish Olympic swimmer was born in 1977. She won three Olympic medals, 25 World Championship medals, and 43 European Championship medals. She is a specialist in short distances races in freestyle and butterfly. Coached by former Swedish swimmer Johan Wallberg, she is the first female swimmer and the third overall (after Lars Frölander and Derya Büyükuncu) to participate in six Olympic Games.
• On this day in 1984 Czechoslovak Zdena Silvaha threw a new women’s discus world record, recording a mark of 74.55m.
• Today in 1985 the controversial athlete Zola Budd smashed the 5000m world record. The bare-footed runner completed the distance in a time of 14 minutes and 48.07 seconds – 10 seconds faster than the previous record. She came in nine seconds ahead of second-placed Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway – the former 5000m record holder. It was the second time she had broken the 5000m world record. The first time was in her homeland of South Africa in 1984 where her achievement could not be recognized as the country was banned from international sport because of its policy of apartheid. Her participation in the race at Crystal Palace in London was not publicised beforehand to avoid protests by anti-apartheid campaigners. The fast-tracking of South African-born and bred Budd’s application for British citizenship – on the strength of a British grandfather – caused uproar the previous year. Critics said it was a ruse to allow her to compete in the upcoming Olympic Games. Controversy followed her to the event in Los Angeles in 1984 when she collided in the 3000m with US favourite, Mary Decker, who fell and failed to finish. Budd came in seventh. Since then Budd’s cause wasn’t helped by her refusal to publicly condemn apartheid. Protests at her British citizenship did not abate with time and anti-apartheid campaigners sometimes forced Budd off the course during races.
• In 1995 Brian Lara completed his 7^th Test century at The Oval.
• Today in 2000 Australia clinched the first Tri Nations Rugby Series with a 19-18 win over South Africa in Durban; Wallabies centre Stirling Mortlock landed 4 penalties and a conversion
• Félix Sánchez won the men’s 400m hurdles  in 47.63 at the Athens Olympics on this day in 2004, the Dominican Republic’s first ever Olympic gold medal. Germany son its first ever Olympic women’s field hockey gold medal with a 2-1 win against the Netherlands
• Today in 2012 the 15-year-old New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko became the youngest LPGA Tour event winner and the first amateur winner since 1969.
• On this day in 2016 San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick knelt in protest during the US national anthem at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium while playing against the San Diego Chargers, in objection to racial injustice and police brutality in the US

 

27^th

• German gymnast Hermann Weingärtner was born today in 1864. He started his career in his hometown Frankfurt at the local gymnastics club Frankfurter Turnverein 1860. Later-on he moved to Berlin to compete for the Deutsche Turnerschaft. He competed at the 1896 Olympics in Athens. Weingärtner was a member of the German team that won two gold medals in the team events, the parallel bars and the horizontal bar. He also won a number of individual medals, taking the gold in the horizontal bar, silver in pommel horse and rings, and bronze in the vault. He competed in the parallel bars, but did not win a medal in that event. His six medals made him one of the most successful competitors at the first modern Olympic Games. After his return to Germany he and most of the other German gymnasts were suspended, because the Deutsche Turnerschaft (at this time the governing body of German gymnastics) boycotted the Olympic games because they considered that competing was “ungerman” (un-German) So he moved back to Frankfurt to manage the open-air swimming pool founded by his father on the Ziegenwerder island. He drowned trying to rescue a person from drowning in the Oder on December 22, 1919 at the age of 55.
• The English classical composer and violinist Rebecca Clarke was born in 1886, best known for her chamber music featuring the viola. She was born in Harrow and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London, later becoming one of the first female professional orchestral players. Stranded in the United States at the outbreak of World War II, she settled permanently in New York City and married composer and pianist James Friskin in 1944. Clarke died at her home in New York at the age of 93 in October 1979.
• Today in 1890, at the 10^th edition of the US Men’s National Championship, Henry Slocum succumbed to Oliver Campbell; 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
• One of the greatest batsmen of all time, Don Bradman, was born in 1908. He scored 28,067 runs in first-class cricket between 1927 and 1949 and inn 52 Test matches scored 6996 runs at a rate of 99.94 runs per innings.
• Belgian cyclist Sylvère Maes was born today in 1909. He is most famous for winning the Tour de France in 1936 and 1939. In 1937, Maes left the 1937 Tour de France together with his Belgian team while he was leading the general classification, in response to actions from French spectators and decisions from the jury.
• Alice Coltrane née McLeod, was born on this day in 1937, also known by her adopted Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda or Turiya Alice Coltrane, was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, singer, composer, swamini, and the second wife of jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. One of the few harpists in the history of jazz, she recorded many albums as a bandleader, beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s for Impulse! Records and Universal Distribution.
• The BBC has transmitted it’s first ever live television pictures across the Channel, on this day in 1950. A two-hour programme was broadcast live from Calais in northern France to mark the centenary of the first message sent by submarine telegraph cable from England to France. British viewers were able to watch the town of Calais “en fete”, with a torchlight procession, dancing and a firework display all taking place in the Place de l’Hotel de Ville. Presenters Richard Dimbleby and Alan Adair gave commentaries on the festivities and interviewed local personalities in front of the cameras.
• On this day in 1952 Emil Zatopek won his 12^th Olympic marathon in a time of 2:23:03.2.
• British tennis player John Lloyd was born in 1954. He twice won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon with Australian Wendy Turnbull, but is perhaps better known for his short marriage to top American players Chris Evert.
• English racing driver Derek Warwick was also born on this day in 1954. 
• German golfer Bernhard Langer was born in 1957. One of the top money-winners in Europe, he won the US Masters in 1985 and 1993.
• Australian motor-racing driver Gerhard Berger was born in 1959. 
• On this day in 1960 19-year-old British swimmer Anita Lonsbrough swam a new world and Olympic 200m freestyle record, stopping the watch at 2:49:5, ahead of West German Wiltrud Urselmann. She was also the last British woman to win an Olympic swimming gold until Rebecca Adlington in the 2008 Games, 48 years later.
• Dutch rower Jeroen Duyster was born in 1966, who won a gold medal with the Holland Acht (Holland Eights) as a coxswain at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the older brother of former Dutch field hockey international Willemijn Duyster, who won the bronze medal at the same Olympic tournament.
• Today in 1967 saw the death of The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. The 32-year-old was found dead at his Belgravia home by friends. At the time it was not clear how he died but a later post mortem showed Epstein had died of an overdose of sleeping pills, officially deemed accidental, however there is still speculation that it was suicide.
• Denise Lewis retired English heptathlete, was born in 1972. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Lewis was honoured as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2001 New Year Honours. Since retiring from athletics, she has undertaken various television and media work and is now a regular athletics pundit for BBC Television, including during London 2012 and Rio 2016.
• Transsexual Renee Richards was barred from competing in the US Tennis Open on this day in 1976.
• Today in 1985 Mary Joe Fernandez, at the age of 14 years and 8 days became the youngest to win a US Tennis Open match when she beat Sara Gomer in the first round.
• In 1990 Graham Gooch scored 88 in England’s second innings in the third and final Test against India at The Oval, taking his total in the six Tests that summer to 1058 runs. Sir Donald Bradman’s old record of 974 for a series had stood since 1930. Ironically, Gooch set the new record on Bradman’s 82^nd birthday.
• China’s first ever gold in Olympic Games men’s track and field came on this day in 2004 when Liu Xiang won the  110m hurdles in Athens, equalling Colin Jackson’s 1993 world record time of 12.91 seconds. Timothy Mack vaulted an Olympic record 5.95m to win the pole vault gold medal from fellow American Toby Stevenson
• Today in 2011 the 13^th World Athletics Championships were opened at Daegu in South Korea.
• Welsh professional golfer and renowned golf course architect David Charles Thomas died on this day in 2013 at the age of 79. He was one of Britain’s leading golfers during the 1950s and 1960s with many tournament victories around Europe, including the News of the World Match Play and the Belgian, Dutch and French Open championships. He was runner-up at The Open Championship in 1958 and 1966. Thomas was elected Captain of the Professional Golfers’ Association during their centenary year in 2001, and in 2006 was recognised for his contribution to golf by being made an honorary life member of the PGA. After retiring from tournament golf due to back and eye problems. Thomas set up a golf course design business. He has designed over 100 courses around the world and his work includes Hacienda Del Alamo, the Brabazon, Derby and PGA National courses at Ryder Cup venue The Belfry.
• At the 2015 World Athletics Championships Usain Bolt added the 200m title to his earlier 100m win.
• Former five-weight world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated MMA fighter Conor McGregor in his debut match in the 10th round in Las Vegas on this day in 2017

28^th 

• 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 21^st 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 2^nd 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.
• The 2016 Canadian Open Women’s Golf,  held at Priddis Green CC was won by Ariya Jutanugam of Thailand by 4 shots over Kim Sei-young of South Korea

29^th

• 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 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. 29^th August, is celebrated as National Sports Day in India.
• The 3^rd 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 7^th World Athletics Championships came to a conclusion at Seville in Spain
• Today in 2004 the 28^th Olympic Games, held in Athens, also came to its end. Also on this day German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher clinched his 5th straight F1 World Drivers Championship with a 2nd place in the Belgian F1 Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
• On this day in 2009 Cristiano Ronaldo made his debut for Real Madrid, scoring a penalty in the 3-2 win over Deportivo La Coruña
• While on this day in 2012 the USADA claimed to have stripped cyclist Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles.

 

30^th

• 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 21^st match.
• On the very same day in 1979 Kathy Horvath makes history by becoming the youngest player in the US Tennis Open at 14 years 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 15^th 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 Blancowas 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 18^th 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 17^th  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 9^th World Athletics Championships closed at Saint-Denis in France.

 

1^st 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 21^st 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 46^th 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.  On the same day Welshman Richard Meade, representing Great Britain,  riding Laurieston grabs the equestrian individual and team 3-day event gold medals at the Munich Olympics
• 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 3^rd 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.
• On this day in 2007 Tyson Gay helped the US win the men’s 4 x 100m relay at the world track & field championships in Osaka, Japan to join Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene as the only men to win 3 gold medals at one world meet
• 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. Also on this day Gareth Bale transfered from Tottenham Hotspur FC to Real Madrid for an estimated world record fee of £85.3 million (€100 million)
• On this day in 2018 Finnish Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen qualified, in 1:19.119, during Q3 of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, a record for fastest average lap speed in F1 (263.588 kph or 163.786 mph)