On This Week in Sport & Leisure History ~ 19-25th August 2019

 19^th

• The Weisshorn was first climbed today in 1861 by the Irish physicist John Tyndall, accompanied by the guides JJ Bennen and Ulrich Wenger.
• Thomas Wentworth Wills, the sportsman who is credited with being Australia’s first cricketer of significance and a founder of Australian rules football was born today in 1835.  At the age of 14, Wills was sent to England to attend Rugby School, where he became captain of its cricket team, and played an early version of rugby football. After Rugby, Wills represented the Cambridge University Cricket Club in the annual match against Oxford, and played at first-class level for Kent and the Marylebone Cricket Club. An athletic all-rounder with exceptional bowling skills, he was regarded as one of the finest young cricketers in England. Returning to Victoria in 1856, Wills achieved Australia-wide stardom as a cricketer, captaining the Victorian team to repeated victories in intercolonial matches. He played for, and was secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, in 1858 he called for the formation of a “foot-ball club” with a “code of laws” to keep cricketers fit during winter. After founding the Melbourne Football Club in 1859, Wills co-wrote the first laws of Australian rules football. He and his cousin HCA. Harrison spearheaded the sport’s development as captains, umpires and administrators. In 1861, at the height of his fame, Wills joined his father on an eight-month trek into the Queensland outback to establish a family property. Two weeks after their arrival, Wills’ father and 18 others were murdered in the largest massacre of settlers by Aborigines in Australian history. Wills survived and resumed playing sport upon his return to Victoria in 1864, and in 1866–67, led an Aboriginal cricket team on an Australian tour as its captain-coach. In a career marked by controversy, Wills challenged cricket’s amateur-professional divide, and was frequently accused of bending rules to the point of cheating. An admitted “chucker”, Wills was no-balled out of top-class cricket in 1872. He failed in an 1876 comeback attempt, by which time his glory years belonged to a colonial past that seemed “like a distant land” The rest of his life was characterised by social isolation, flights from creditors, and heavy drinking, in 1880, suffering from delirium tremens, he committed suicide by stabbing himself in the heart. Wills fell into obscurity after his death, but has undergone a revival in Australian culture since the 1990s. He was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, and today he is described as the archetypal tragic sports hero, and as a symbol of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Controversy surrounds a theory that Wills incorporated features of an Aboriginal game into early Australian football. According to biographer Greg de Moore, Wills “stands alone in all his absurdity, his cracked egalitarian heroism and his fatal self-destructiveness—the finest cricketer and footballer of the age”.
• On this day in 1900 in Paris the first and only Olympic cricket match took place, it finished the following day, Great Britain beating France to take the title.
• On this day in 1909 the first car race took place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Carl Graham Fisher was an Indianapolis businessman who made car parts as well as developed highways for America. He visited France in 1905 and helped with friends who were racing their cars. He noticed the cars were of better design and craftsmanship. He wanted to make it possible to improve American cars and that took testing grounds. At the time, races were held at horse tracks or on public roads, but that was dangerous. The races were also ineffective for testing the abilities of the cars. The spectators were also not given much for their money as they could only see a short portion of the entire race. He proposed a racetrack be built for cars, with a circular track with a smooth surface between 3 and 5 miles long and 100 to 150 feet wide. Manufacturers could use the track to test their cars when races were not held.
• America’s most successful jockey, Willie Shoemaker, was born in 1931. Known as “The Shoe”, he won 11 US Triple Crown races, including four Kentucky Derbys.  He rode a record 8833 winners from 40,350 starts between 1949 and his retirement in 1990. A year later he suffered horrific injuries in a car accident that left him severely paralysed. He continued to train horses despite his disability.
• Renée Richards, American tennis player, who had some success in the 1970s, was born today in 1934.In 1975 Richards underwent male-to-female sex reassignment surgery. She was then denied entry into the 1976 US Open by the United States Tennis Association, which began that year requiring genetic screening for female players. She disputed this policy, and the New York Supreme Court ruled in her favour in 1977 in a decision in favour of transsexual rights. As one of the first professional athletes to identify as such, she became a spokesperson for the transgender community.
• After a gap of 19 years England recaptured The Ashes at The Oval in 1953 to end Australia’s dominance of them. Denis Compton hit the deciding stroke to give Len Hutton’s team an eight-wicket victory in the fifth and final Test, the only win after four drawn matches in the series.
• Belgian high-jumper Maria-Christine Soetewey was born on this day in 1957. She became Belgian champion in 1979, 1980 and from 1982 to 1987. Her personal best was 1.94m, achieved in July 1983 in Brussels.
• Mary Joe Fernández Godsick who was born María José Fernández today in 1971 is a former American tennis player. She reached a career-high ranking of world Number.4 in both singles and doubles. Fernández was the runner-up in three Grand Slam singles tournaments and won two Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and two Olympic gold medals.
• Iban Mayo Diez  Spainish cyclist was born in 1977. Renowned as a climber, Mayo turned pro with Euskaltel–Euskadi in 2000, and became one of the Basque Country’s prospects for glory. He stayed with Euskaltel-Euskadi throughout 2000–2006. The biggest result came in the 2003 Tour de France, when he won a stage up Alpe d’Huez and finished the Tour in sixth place. In 2004 Mayo won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, regarded as preparation for the Tour de France. He beat Lance Armstrong by two minutes in a time trial on Mont Ventoux, breaking the record. Mayo won the 19th stage of the 2007 Giro d’Italia. On July 30, 2007, the UCIconfirmed he had failed a test for EPO during the Tour de France, in which he finished 16th. On October 22, the Spanish federation cleared Mayo after a second test proved negative.The UCI president Pat McQuaid stopped short of clearing the rider, pending further tests. On December 19, a French laboratory confirmed the positive test.In 2008, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld Mayo’s two-year ban, which ended on 31 July 2009. On 13 September 2009, Mayo decided not to make a comeback to professional cycling, thus effectively ending his career.
• Belgian pole-vaulter Kevin Rans was born in 1982, he finished eighth at the 2000 World Junior Championships and tenth at the 2005 World Championships. He also competed at the 2006 World Indoor Championships and the 2006 European Championships without reaching the final round. His personal best jump is 5.70m, achieved in July 2007. With this performance, he equalled the national record of Thibault Duval, Rans does hold the national junior record with 5.60m, and is also a former Belgian junior record holder in the 200m with 20.82 seconds.In March 2009 he tested positive for Corticosteroids. He was first cleared by the Flemish Doping Tribunal,but it was overturned by IAAF and he was handed a 3-month ban.
• Today in 1993 Sally Gunnell set a 400m hurdles world record at 52.74 seconds.
• Today at the 2004 Olympics in Athens US gymnast Carly Patterson becomes the 2nd American woman to win the all-around gold medal, and 1st to win at a non-boycotted Olympic games. In the swimming pool Michael Phelps wraps up a 200/400m IM double, Aaron Peirsol wins the men’s 200m backstroke in Olympic record 1:54.95, giving him the 100/200m backstroke double and Jodie Henry records 53.84 to win the blue ribband 100m freestyle gold medal ahead of Dutch star Inge de Bruijn.
• At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, today’s happenings include – Chris Hoy encapsulating British dominance of track cycling by beating team mate Jason Kenny to win the sprint, adding to his keirin and team sprint gold medals and Victoria Pendleton beat Anna Mears in the women’s cycling sprint final. GB dominates the Olympic velodrome winning 7 of 10 gold medals. On the athletics track Reigning world champion, Christine Ohuruogu won the women’s 400m, which was GB’s 50th gold medal in Olympic track & field competition.
• Norwegian sprint canoeist of the late 1930s and 40s, Ivar Iversen died today, aged a few days short of his 98^th birthday, in 2012. He won a gold medal in the K-1 4x500m at the 1948 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in London. Iversen also competed at the 1936 Olympics finishing eighth in the K-1 1000m. The K-1 4×500 m was separate from the canoeing competitions at the 1948 Olympics. The K-1 4x500m was only held once at the 1960 Games in Rome.
• On this day in 2016 Tajikistan’s Dilshod Nazarov throws 78.68m to win the men’s hammer throw gold medal the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the first gold medal for Tajikistan in Olympic history

20^th

• American tennis player Ellen Crosby Roosevelt was born on this day in 1868. She won the women’s singles title at the 1890 US Championships defeating the 1888 and 1889 champion Bertha Townsend in the final in two straight sets. That year she also won the doubles title with her sister, Grace. They were the first pair of sisters to win the US Championships and remained the only pair to do so until the Williams sisters equalled their achievement in 1999. At the 1893 US Championships she won the mixed doubles title partnering Oliver Campbell. A first cousin of Franklin D. Roosevelt, she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1975.
• Today in 1882 Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture in E Flat Major Opus 49 premiered at the 1882 Moscow Exhibition. The piece was commissioned for the consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour which was built to give thanks for a Russian victory over Napoleon.
• Indian professional footballer Gostha Pal was born on this day in 1896. Nicknamed as “Chiner Pracheer” (The Wall of China) he was one of the best defenders of contemporary Indian football. He started playing for Kumartuli AC at the age of 11, and joined Mohun Bagan when he was 16. In 1921, Gostho Paul was honoured with the captaincy of the Mohun Bagan football team, and he remained as the club captain for next 5 years. In 1924, he was also appointed as the captain of the Indian national football team. He retired in 1935.
• One of the early greats of British Lawn Tennis, H W ‘Bunny’ Austin, was born in 1906. He was four times a member of the successful British Davis Cup team in the 1930s.
• In 1900 Great Britain beat France in cricket in Olympic Games
• On this day in 1922 the first World Championships in athletics for women was held in Paris.
• Irish Gaelic footballer and manager Kevin Heffernan was born in 1929. Regarded as one of the greatest Gaelic footballers of all-time, Heffernan made his debut during the 1948 championship and was a regular member of the starting fifteen until his retirement after the 1962 championship. During that time he won one All-Ireland medal, four Leinster medals and three National League medals. An All-Ireland runner-up on one occasion, Heffernan captained the team to the All-Ireland title in 1958. At club level Heffernan enjoyed a lengthy career with St. Vincent’s. He won fifteen county football championship medals and six county hurling championship medals. In retirement from playing Heffernan became involved in coaching and team management. As Dublin manager he revived the county team and steered them to three All-Ireland titles between 1974 and 1983. Heffernan has a number of personal achievements. In 1974 he became the only non-player to be honoured as the Texaco Footballer of the Year. In 1984 he was named in the left corner-forward position on the GAA’s Team of the Century. He was moved to the opposite corner when he was named on the Team of the Millennium in 1999.
• Australian cricketer Charles Bannerman died on this day in 1930 at the age of 79.a right-handed batsman, he represented Australia in three Test matches between 1877 and 1879. At the domestic level, he played for the New South Wales cricket team. He is most famous for facing the first ball ever bowled in Test cricket, scoring the first run in Test cricket and making the first Test century. This innings of 165 remains the highest individual share of a completed team innings in Test cricket history, despite over 2,000 Test matches being played since that first Test.
• One of the most colourful characters in boxing, promoter Don King, was born in 1931. His first major promotion was Muhammed Ali’s comeback fight against Jerry Quarry in 1970. King virtually controlled all world heavyweight title bouts during the reigns of champions Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson. He once served four years in prison for manslaughter (1967-70) and in 1984 was cleared of tax evasion.
• Today in 1938 Lou Gehrig hit his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood for 75 years until it was broken by Alex Rodriguez.
• Middlesex and England off-spinner John Emburey was born in 1952. He captained England against the West Indian tourists in 1988, replacing the disgraced Mike Gatting. He played in over 60 Tests.
• Abdelatif Benazzi, French-Moroccan rugby union player who represented both Morocco and France was born today in 1968. He started out with his homeland Morocco, but his ability was quickly spotted by France’s selectors. He won his first France cap in 1990 against Australia and went on to make 78 appearances and score nine tries for Les Bleus. He played in three World Cups and was a member of the France team that reached the 1999 Rugby World Cup final. He was twice a Grand Slam winner and led Les Bleus in the 1997 tournament. His last international appearance was on 7 April 2001 against England. He finished his club career with Saracens in England, retiring in 2003 ahead of his 35th birthday.
• Cuban Greco-Roman wrestler Mijaín López Núñezwas born in 1982, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, five-time World Champion, and four-time Champion of Pan American Games, he represented Cuba at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Games, and was his country’s flag bearer during the opening ceremonies, winning the gold medal in the men’s Greco-Roman 120 kg category. At the 2016 Rio Games, López won Gold in the 130kg category. In October2010 he was rumoured to have defected and be training in Miami for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), however, Eric Castanos, the coach he was rumoured to be training with, contradicted this stating that Mijaín López was still in Cuba and had never mentioned anything to him about defecting.
• On this day in 1988 Jack Nicklaus tied for 34^th place in The International at Castle Pines, Colorado, and became the first man to take his career earnings over the $5 million mark on the US PGA Tour.
• English professional snooker player Judd Trump was born in 1989, a former world number one, he enjoyed considerable success in youth tournaments before turning professional in 2005. On 3 April 2011, Trump won his first ranking title, beating Mark Selby 10–8 in the final of the China Open. Following this success in China, he reached the final of the 2011 World Snooker Championship where he was defeated by John Higgins. He then went on to win the 2011 UK Championship where he defeated Mark Allen 10–8 in the final. In November 2012, Trump won the inaugural International Championship and in doing so became world number one, a position he held for five weeks. On 18 February 2013, he reclaimed the top spot. In July 2014, Trump won his 4th ranking title at the Australian Goldfields Open after defeating Neil Robertson 9–5. He won the inaugural 2015 World Grand Prix beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 10–7 in the final. In October 2016, he again defeated O’Sullivan 9–8 to claim the European Masters title. A prolific break-builder, he has compiled more than 450 century breaks during his career.
• Having lost 7-4 at home to Crewe on their Football League debut three days earlier in 1991, Barnet engaged in another goal glut on their League Cup debut, drawing 5-5 with Brentford.
• British track cyclist Callum Skinner was born in 1992.  He won silver in the individual sprint at the 2016 Olympics, and was a member of the British team that won gold in the team sprint.
• Today in 1993 at the World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart Colin Jackson set a 110m hurdles world record of 12.91 seconds. This mark proved unbeatable as a world record for almost thirteen years, it was equalled by China’s Liu Xiangat the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and surpassed by the same athlete in July 2006 in Lausanne when Liu lowered the mark to 12.88 seconds. Jackson’s 1993 time however still remains the world championship record.
• At the 2004 Athens Games today Ethiopian runners Kenenisa Bekele (27:05.10 OR) and Sileshi Sihine go 1-2 in the 10,000m.
• On this day in 2008 Russian long-distance swimmer Larisa Ilchenko wins inaugural women’s open water marathon (10k) in 1:59:27.7 at the Beijing Olympics and Usian Bolt completes a 100/200m sprint double
• On this day in 2012 South Africa became the top-ranked Test Cricket nation after defeating England.
• The founder of the style of yoga known as “Iyengar Yoga” Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar, also referred to as B.K.S. Iyengar, died at the age of 95 on this day in 2014. He was considered one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world. and the author of many books on yoga practice and philosophy including Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and Light on Life. Iyengar was one of the earliest students of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who is often referred to as “the father of modern yoga”. He has been credited with popularizing yoga, first in India and then around the world and in 2004 was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
• At the 2016 Rio Olympics today – British runner Mo Farah won the 5,000m in 13:03.30, wrapping up 5k/10k double which he also completed in London 2012. South African middle distance runner Caster Semenya retained her Olympic 800m title in a time of 1:55.28 and South Korean golfer Inbee Park took the inaugural Olympic women’s individual gold with a final score of 16 under par in Rio de Janeiro with Lydia Ko (New Zealand) 11 under par and Shanshan Feng (China) 10 under par

 

21^st

• On this day in 1878 Middlesex and Surrey cricketer Edward Pooley completed a then first-class record 8 stampings in a match, against Kent at The Oval.
• Today in 1914, at the 20^th edition of the US Gold Open, Walter Hagan shot a 290 to take the title.
• Chris Brasher, the inspiration behind the London Marathon, was born in 1928. Brasher took the gold medal in the 1957 Olympic steeplechase after a controversial race which first saw him disqualified and then reinstated three hours later. His victory gave Britain its first track and field medal for 20 years.
• Gillian Sheen, another British Olympian who won gold in 1956, was also born in 1928. She is the only Briton to win a fencing gold medal.
• German mountaineer and extreme climber Michael Dacher was born today in 1933. In 1979 he and Reinhold Messner climbed the K2 in record time and without oxygen equipment.
• Basketball player Wilt Chamberlain was born in 1936. One of the most prolific scorers in the NFL, he is the only man to score 100 points in a single game; on 2nd March 1962 at the Hershey Sports Arena playing for Philiadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks – the final score being 169-147.
• Born today in 1959, British tennis player Anne Hobbs, who represented Great Britain in the Wightman Cup and Federation Cup from 1978 to 1989. She was ranked as the top British player for periods during her 12-year career and achieved a best WTA ranking of 33 in singles and 6 in doubles. Although primarily a doubles specialist, reaching the final of the Australian Open in 1983 and the US Open in 1984 with Wendy Turnbull and the Australian Open Mixed Doubles in 1987 with Andrew Castle, she won singles titles at Indianapolis in 1983 and in Auckland in 1985 and the British Closed in 1985. She now works as a tennis coach and consultant in sports psychology.
• Today in 1961 Motown released what would be its first number 1 hit – Please Mr Postman by The Marvelettes.
• In 1965 Charlton’s Keith Peacock was the first substitute used in a Football League game when he came on for Mick Rose against Bolton. The first substitute to score a goal in the League was Bobby Knox of Barrow, who came on against Wrexham later in the same day.
• Today in 1986 Ian Botham took a world-record 356^th Test Cricket wicket, against New Zealand at The Oval.
• On this day in 2000, at the 82^nd PGA Championships Tiger Woods became the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win 3 majors in a calendar year. He tied the to-par record fro the PGA (-18) with Bob May and won the title in a playoff.
• Today in 2004 the archery competition concluded at the Athens Olympics with South Korea dominant, taking 3 of 4 gold medals, the venue was the Panathenaic Stadium – in which the 1896 games were held
• Also on this day in 2004 South Africa clinch their 2nd Tri Nations Rugby Series on points differential with a 23-19 win over Australia in Durban. The Wallabies score 3 tries to 2, but Percy Montgomery lands 5 goals for Springboks
• At the Beijing Olympics in 2008 today, after winning the event in Athens, Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown makes it consecutive 200m Olympic titles beating American Allyson Felix by 0.19. Dutch swimmer and cancer survivor Maarten van der Weijden won the inaugural men’s open water marathon (10k) in 1:51:51.6 and an American sweep of the 400m medals saw LeShawn Merritt win gold in 43.75 ahead of Jeremy Wariner and David Neville
•  In 2016 the 31^st Summer Olympics closed at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

22^nd

• The Royal Yacht Squadron of Great Britain put up the One Hundred Guinea Cup in 1851 as the prize for a race around the Isle of Wight between the American yacht America and the British contestant Aurora. The Americans won the race and tool the trophy back to the United States. In 1870 this prize was offered as a challenge trophy under the name of the America’s Cup, now the best-known trophy in international yachting. The Americans dominated the contest before losing it for the first time in 1983.
• At the 5^th US Men’s National Championships in 1885 Richard Sears beat Godfrey M Brinley (6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3).
• Surrey cricketer Percy Fender, the man credited with making the fastest century in first-class cricket, was born in 1892. 
• On this day in 1930 Australia regained The Ashes on the 6^th day of the 5^th Test and on the very same day four years later in 1934, they beat England again to regain the trophy by 562 runs, when Bill Woodfull became the only cricket captain to twice regain The Ashes. To add to a happy day for Bill, 22^ndAugust 1934 was his 37^th birthday.
• Today in 1946 Mikko Hietanen won the Oslo marathon in a time of 2:24:55. Diana Nyad, née Sneed, was born in 1949, American author, journalist, motivational speaker, and long-distance swimmer. Nyad gained national attention in 1975 when she swam around Manhattan (28 miles/45 km) and in 1979 when she swam from North Bimini, The Bahamas, to Juno Beach, Florida (102 miles/164 km). In 2013, on her fifth attempt and at age 64, she became the first person confirmed to swim from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage, swimming from Havana to Key West (110 miles/180 km). Nyad was also once ranked thirteenth among US women squash players.
• Today in 1950 Althea Gibson became the first African-American competitor in a US national tennis competition. Despite her growing reputation at the time as an elite-level player, Gibson was effectively barred from entering the premier American tournament, the United States National Championships (now the US Open) at Forest Hills. (While USTA rules officially prohibited racial or ethnic discrimination, players qualified for the Nationals by accumulating points at sanctioned tournaments, most of which were held at white-only clubs.) In 1950, in response to intense lobbying by ATA officials and Alice Marble – who published a scathing open letter in the magazine American Lawn Tennis – Gibson became the first black player to receive an invitation to the Nationals, where she made her Forest Hills debut on her 23rd birthday. Although she lost narrowly in the second round in a rain-delayed, three-set match to Louise Brough, the reigning Wimbledon champion and former US National winner, her participation received extensive national and international coverage.
• On this day on 1951 the Harlem Globetrotters played in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin before a crowd of 75,052.
• One of the finest snooker players of the modern era, Steve Davis, was born in 1957. He turned professional in 1978 and made an immediate impact on the game. In 1981 he beat Doug Mountjoy for the first of his six world titles. He was the first snooker player to win more than £1 million from the sport.
• Also on this day in 1957 Floyd Patterson knocked out Pete Rademacher in the 6^th round to take the heavyweight boxing title.
• BBC TV’s Match of the Day showed highlights of the Arsenal v Liverpool match in its first broadcast in 1964.
• On this day in 1972, four days before the opening ceremony, Rhodesia was expelled from the Munich Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee for its racist policies. Two days previously the National Olympic Committees of Africa had threatened to pull out of the games unless Rhodesia was barred. The African nations were demanding Rhodesia’s expulsion on the grounds the country was an illegal regime and members of its team were not therefore British subjects.
• Today in 1989 Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson to become the first Major League Baseball pitcher to record 5,000 strikeouts. 
• In 1991 Krizstina Egerszegi swam a new 100m backstroke world record, stopping the clock at 1:00.31.
• Today in 1993 the 4th World Athletics Championships came to a close at Stuttgart, Germany.
• Arnold Gerschwiler, Swiss ice-skating coach died at the age of 89 on this day 2003. Gerschwiler joined the staff of the Richmond Ice Rink in 1937.  He was head coach there from 1938, and served as director in 1964 until the facility was demolished in 1992. He coached the Czech skater Alena Vrzanova (Aja Zanova), world champion in 1949 and 1950, as well as his own nephew Hans Gerschwiler, the 1948 Olympic silver medallist. He also coached the British skaters John Curry, 1976 Olympic and world champion, and Valda Osborn British champion in 1952 and 1953 and European champion in 1953Gerschwiler was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1997. He and his brother Jac were inducted into the Professional Skaters Association’s Coaches Hall of Fame in 2004.
•  Today in 2004 the Athens Olympic marathon was run on same route as 1896 Games, starting at site of the Battle of Marathon to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, Mizuki Noguchi of Japan wining the women’s gold in 2:26:20. American sprinter Justin Gatlin took the coveted Olympic 100m gold medal in 9.85 ahead of Francis Obikwelu of Portugal & American Maurice Greene and on the rowing lake the United States won the men’s eights with Romania taking the gold in the women’s eights.
• On this day 2008 in Beijing, the Jamaican team led by Usain Bolt smashed the world 4 x 100m relay record in the Olympic final, the team were disqualified in 2017 after Nesta Carter tested positive for prohibited substance. Ethiopian distance runner Tirunesh Dibaba completed the 5,000/10,000m double by taking gold in the 5k in an Olympic record 15:41.40.  American decathlete Brian Clay won 4 of the 10 events and finishes 2nd in 2 others to dominate field and take the Olympic crown.  Steven Hooker won the pole vault with 5.96m, Australia’s first gold medal in men’s athletics since 1968. Anne-Caroline Chausson of France and Māris Štrombergs of Latvia won the inaugural  Olympic gold medals in BMX.
• On this day in 2015 the 15th World Athletics Championships opened at Beijing, China.

 

23^rd

• British first-class cricketer and notable international umpire Syd Buller, was born on this day in 1909.  As a player, he was a competent wicket-keeper and lower-order right-hand bat. He played for Worcestershire between 1935 and 1946, having played once for Yorkshire in 1930. In 1939, he was severely injured in the car crash that killed Worcestershire opening batsman Charlie Bull, on the Sunday evening of the Whitsun match with Essex, and missed the next two months of cricket. He made his debut as a first-class umpire in 1951. He umpired in 33 Tests between 1956 and 1969. He was awarded the MBE in 1965. In August 1970, Buller collapsed and died at Edgbaston during a break for rain, when officiating in a match between Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire. A fearless umpire, he repeatedly called Geoff Griffin for throwing, in the exhibition match staged following the early conclusion of the Lord’s Test between England and South Africa in 1960, after Frank Lee had called him during the Test itself. This had the effect of ending Griffin’s Test career.
• On this day in 1926 at the 40^th running of the US Women’s National Championships, Molla Bjurstedt Mallory was victorious over Elizabeth Ryan, winning in three sets; 4-6, 6-4, 9-7.
• Australian golfer Peter Thomson was born in 1929. He won a post-war record five British Open titles between 1954 and 1965, including three in succession (1954-56). He later found success on the US Seniors Tour.
• Len Hutton compiled the highest individual innings in Test cricket against Australia at The Oval in 1938. His total of 364 runs beat Walter Hammond’s old record of 336* and stood until 1958 when surpassed by Gary Sobers. Hutton’s score contributed substantially to England’s total of 903-7 declared, (a Test record), which left Australia in arrears to the tune of an innings and 579 runs at the end of the match.
• British shot-putter Geoff Capes was born in 1949. The ‘Gentle Giant’, who bred budgerigars in his spare time, was twice Commonwealth Games champion in the 1970s, twice European champion and a three-time Olympian. His British shot put record – 21.68m, which he set in 1980 in Cwmbran, stood until beaten by Carl Myerscough in 2003, however, this mark of 21.98m is not recognised due to Myerscough being subject of a drugs ban at the time. A former policeman, Capes competed in strongman competitions after retiring from athletics. As a strongman, he twice won the title of World’s Strongest Man, was World Muscle Power champion on two occasions, and also had numerous other titles including Europe’s Strongest Man and Britain’s Strongest Man. As a Highland Games competitor, he was six times world champion, first winning the title in Lagos in 1981 and held world records in numerous events. Following retirement from competitive sport he continued to be involved in strength athletics as a referee, event promoter and coach.
• On this day in 1953 cyclist Arie Van Vliet became the world champion sprinter and Phil Grate set a record for throwing a baseball, reaching a distance of 443 feet 3 inches.
• Kenyan long-distance runner Benjamin Kipkoech Limowas born in 1974. His races ranged distances from 1500m to 10,000m, but Limo mainly competed in 5000m where he has won international medals. He enlisted for the Kenyan Army in 1993, without completing his schooling and started full-time training in 1996 while based at an army camp in Ngong, near capital Nairobi. He competed in his first race abroad at the 1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Marrakech, Morocco and finished fourth in the short race.He earned his first international medals in 1999. Limo won the 1999 World Cross Country Championships and came second in the 5000m at the World Championships, less than one second behind winner Salah Hissou. His silver medal in the 5000m was earned less than 13 months after he ran his very first race at that distance.In 2002, he won silver medals at the Commonwealth Games and at the African Championships. In August 2005 he out-sprinted Sileshi Sihine to become world champion. He won a bronze medal in the 5000m at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Benjamin Limo has never participated in the Olympic Games, due to the rule which allows only three athletes from each nation to participate. His nation Kenya having an abundance of good middle distance runners, making it is extremely difficult to qualify. He made his marathon debut in October 2008 finishing 12th at the Amsterdam Marathon. Limo was awarded the 2005 Kenyan Sportsman of the Year award.
• Today in 1987 the American male basketball team lost the gold medal to the Brazilian team at the Pan-Am Games in Indianapolis, the score was 120-115.
• On this day in World Athletics Championship history two meets were opened; 1991 in Tokyo and 2003 in Saint-Denis, France while in 2009 those held in Berlin came to a close.
• Today at the 2004 Athens Olympics – British athlete Kelly Holmes won the 1st leg of her 800/1500m double, taking the gold medal in 1:56.38, an American sweep in the 400m saw Jeremy Wariner win gold in 44.00 ahead of Otis Harris and Derrick Brew
• In 2008 today  Australian diver Matthew Mitcham won the 10m platform gold with a final dive at the Beijing Olympics, thus preventing the Chinese from winning every diving event, he achieved the highest score for an individual dive in Olympic history with 112.10.
• Dutch cyclist and mountain biker Annefleur Kalvenhaar died today aged 20 in 2014. She won the U23 European Cyclo-cross Championships in 2013. She began her career at the age of 13. She participated for the first time in a World Cup in 2012. In Houffalize and La Bresse she finished in second place in the top 10.She died in Grenoble, France, due to an accident during a UCI World Cup XCE race in Méribel, France. She fell during the XC-eliminator, a mountain-bike race where 4 participants race a short track. She fell hard on a bridge, and was taken to hospital by helicopter, where she died the next day.
• Today in 2015 English Indycar driver Justin Wilson suffered a head injury when he was struck by a large piece of debris from the car of race leader Sage Karam, during a crash at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. He died the following day from his injuries, he was 37 years old. Also on the same day at the Canadian Open Women’s Golf competition in Vancouver,  Lydia Ko of New Zealand won in a playoff with Stacy Lewis for her third success in the event.

24^th

• Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku better known as Duke Kahanamoku was born in 1890, a Native Hawaiian competition swimmer who popularised the ancient Hawaiian sport of surfing. In 1911, Kahanamoku was timed at 55.4 seconds in the 100 yards (91m) freestyle, beating the existing world record by 4.6 seconds, in the salt water of Honolulu Harbour. He also broke the record in the 220 yd (200m) and equalled it in the 50 yd (46m). But the Amateur Athletic Union AAU), in disbelief, would not recognise these feats until many years later. The AAU initially claimed that the judges must have been using alarm clocks rather than stopwatches and later claimed that ocean currents aided Kahanamoku. He easily qualified for the US Olympic swimming team in 1912. At the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, he won a gold medal in the 100m freestyle and a silver medal with the second-place US team in the men’s 4×200m freestyle relay. During the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, he won gold medals both in the 100m (bettering fellow Hawaiian Pua Kealoha) and in the relay. He finished the 100m with a silver medal during the 1924 Paris Olympics, with the gold going to Johnny Weissmuller and the bronze to Duke’s brother, Samuel Kahanamoku. At age 34, this was Kahanamoku’s last Olympic medal. He also was an alternate for the US water polo team at the 1932 Games. Between Olympic competitions, and after retiring from the Olympics, Kahanamoku traveled internationally to give swimming exhibitions. It was during this period that he popularized the sport of surfing, previously known only in Hawaii, by incorporating surfing exhibitions into these visits as well.
• Today in 1908 Tommy Burns knocked out Bill Squires in the 13^th to win the heavyweight boxing title.
• Enrique Juan Yañez González, best known under the ring name Enrique Llanes, was one of the premier Hispanic professional wrestlers in the early days of Lucha Libre when most wrestlers were imported from outside of Mexico, was born in 1919. Llanes held both the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Middleweight Championship during his career. Enrique Llanes is the brother-in-law to Gory Guerrero and uncle to Mando Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero, Sr.,Hector Guerrero and Eddie Guerrero, his brothers Mario and Sergio Llanes also wrestled as did his son Javier Llanes. Keith Savage, former England international rugby union player was born in 1940. He was capped thirteen times on the wing for England between 1966 and 1968. He scored one try for England. He was selected for the 1966 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand and the 1968 British Lions tour to South Africa. He did not play in any international matches on the 1966 tour but did play in all four internationals against South Africa in 1968. He played club rugby for Northampton and is now an English teacher in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Belgian racing cyclist Roger De Vlaeminck was born in 1947, he was described by Rik Van Looy as “The most talented and the only real classics rider of his generation”. Nicknamed “The Gypsy” because he was born into a family of traveling clothiers, he is known for exploits in the cobbled classic Paris–Roubaix race, but his performances in other “Monument” races gave him a record that few can match. His record in Paris–Roubaix earned him another nickname, “Monsieur Paris–Roubaix” (English: “Mr. Paris–Roubaix“).
• Scottish golfer Sam Torrence was born on this day in 1953. He will long be remembered by British gold fans for his great play in the Ryder Cup competition in 1985.
• Jimmy Greaves made his Football League debut for Chelsea against Tottenham Hotspur in 1957. He scored, just as he did on his debut for all the teams he played for at club and international level. On this day in 1963 American athlete John Pennel became the first man to pole-vault 17 feet. In an event that had seen the world record advance less than six inches, to the 16-foot level, over the previous 20 years, and only then after aluminium poles had replaced bamboo ones, John Pennel was in the vanguard of a group of pioneering athletes who transformed the sport in the early 1960’s. Their weapon was the new fiberglass pole, and their impact on the sport was decisive. In one five-month span in 1963, Pennel, a senior at Northeast Louisiana State, personally added more than nine inches to the record, beginning with a 16-foot-3-inch vault at the Memphis Relays on March 23 and culminating with his benchmark-shattering vault of 17 feet 0 3/4 inches (5.20m) at the Gold Coast meet at the University of Miami.
• For a bit of an ‘ahhhhh sweet’ factor – today in 1967 two penguins from Chessington Zoo were taken on a day trip to a local ice-rink to cool off during London’s sweltering temperatures. As the temperatures in the London area reached nearly 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), Rocky the Rockhopper penguin and his female companion, who did not have a name, joined skaters at Streatham ice-rink to cool off.
• Gary Sobers scores his 26^th and last Test Cricket century (150) against England at Lord’s on this day in 1973.
• On this day in 1984 golfer Pat Bradley set a LPGA record for 9 holes with a 28 at Denver.
•  Denise Annetts at Australia created a women’s cricket record in 1987 when she scored 193 runs in the Test against England at Collingham, West Yorkshire.
• Today in 2004 Kenyan runners sweep the medals in the 3000m steeplechase at the Athens Olympics with Ezekiel Kemboi taking gold ahead of Brimin Kipruto and Paul Kipsiele Koech. Moroccan super star athlete Hicham El Guerrouj wins 1st leg of his Olympic 1,500/5,000m double and future 8-time Olympic gold medal winner Usain Bolt  finished 5th in his 200m heat in 21.05, failing to qualify for the 2nd round.
• On this day in 2007 the 11^th World Athletics Championships opened at Osaka in Japan
• On the same day a year later in 2008 the 29^th Summer Olympics closed at Beijing, it was also announced that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games attracted the largest global TV audience ever. Between 8^th-24^th August, 4.7 billion viewers, 70% of the world’s population, tuned in to watch the Games, according to Nielsen Media Research.  In comparison, 3.9 billion watched the 2004 Athens Games, while 3.6 billion followed the 2000 Sydney Games on TV.
• On this day in 2018 French Open Tennis bans Serena Williams‘ black Nike catsuit from future tournaments citing ‘respect for the game and the place’

25^th

• On this day in 1804 Alice Meynell essentially becomes the first woman jockey after riding in a 4-mile event in York. Alice owned three large hunting horse and loved to riding to hounds –  riding fast over uneven, unpredictable terrain wasn’t easy in a side saddle, but Alicia did it, and did it very well too.  After losing a couple of ad hoc races to Alice, her bother-in-law Willian Flint challenged her to ride at a real race, namely the Newmarket Race Track. He also named a prize of 1,000 guineas. If he thought that the she’d decline, he was disappointed. Alicia was all too eager to accept. News spread fast and, on the appointed day, a big crowd gathered to see a woman race, not a spectacle you saw every day. The crowd grew so big that the 6th Light Dragoons were called in to keep everyone under control, the crowd behaved, it was the betting that went crazy, with the equivalent of £6 million in today’s terms being placed in bets. In fact, as soon as the match was announced all sorts of bets were placed – on what she would wear, how she wold ride and of course whether she would win or not. Her appearance didn’t disappoint her admirers – She turned up in a dress designed to look like leopard-skin, with blue sleeves, a buff-coloured vest and a blue cap, her adversary was all in white. For the first three miles of the race Alicia kept the lead. “Never,” declared a newspaper, “did a woman ride in better style.” Nonetheless after three miles Flint pushed ahead on his mount, took the lead and kept it. Seeing that all was lost, about 500 yards from the post Alicia pulled up and conceded defeat. Her friends said she bore her defeat with admirable good humour. Actually, she responded to the loss with a rather sharp wit. A letter soon appeared in the York Herald of September 1804, in which she insisted that Flint had not treated her with the proper courtesy. She had wanted to be escorted by a gentleman rider in case the ladies’ side-saddle she used should slip, but this was refused. And at the start of the race, with “some sort of word of command” he had told her, “Keep that side, Ma’am,” depriving her of her whip hand. Really, she pleaded, with such behaviour anyone could win against ladies. She challenged him to race again when she could be mounted on a better horse. Flint accepted but the rematch never took place.
• In 1875 Captain Matthew Webb made history as the first man to swim the English Channel, he covered the 21miles form Dover to Calais in 21 hours and 45 minutes.
• On this day in 1890, the would be start of the England v Australia Test match at Old Trafford was washed out. In 1904 James J Jeffries scored a technical knock-out in the second round of his heavyweight title bout against Jack Munroe.
• Today in 1920 Ethelda Bleibtrey became the first American woman to win an Olympic swimming title and also the first woman, from any country, to win three Olympic gold medals. In each of her Olympic victories in Antwerp, 300m, 400m and 4x100m freestyle relay, she set a new world record.
• One of the best-known football terraces in the world, the Spion Kop at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium, was opened on this day in 1928. Liverpool celebrated the occasion by beating Bury 3-0 in a first-division game.
• Today in 1948 Don Bradman scored 150 in 212 minutes in his last innings at Lord’s.
• On this day in 1960 the 17^th Summer Olympics were opened in Rome.  
• In 1964 Worcestershire, led by Don Kenyon, beat Gloucestershire at Worcester to win the county cricket championship for the first time.
• In 1968 Arthur Ashe became the first African American to win the US single championships.
• On this day in 1974 21-year-old Mary Connors was fired from a cannon in Bristol but failed to break the English record for the second time. She aimed to be shot further than anyone else had as yet achieved in England by clearing the River Avon and landing in a safety net. Before the attempt, Ms Connors said she was confident of success. “We’ve been working flat out on the cannon ever since Wednesday (her previous attempt at the feat) and I think we’ve ironed out all the faults,” she said, adding that she was persevering in spite of her previous failure because “it’s a challenge to get to the other side”. She claimed not to have taken out personal insurance for the attempts, but added that she had taken “a few swimming lessons”. In the event they came in handy as Ms Connors again fell short and ended up in the water. Events took a farcical turn when two men in a rescue boat also fell in the water as they attempted to pull her out. The three then had to be rescued by another boat which was standing by with a frogman aboard.
• On this day in 1990 Li Hui Rong of China set a woman’s world triple jump record when she hop-stepped and jumped 47 feet 8½ inches.
• American Carl Lewis set a new 100m world record time of 9.86 seconds during the world athletics championships in Tokyo in 1991. In that race the world record, African record, and European record were broken by Carl Lewis, Frankie Fredericks, and Linford Christie respectively. The then world record holder Leroy Burrell, who was second, also bettered his previous mark of 9.90 seconds while Ray Stewart set the Jamaican record for the event. How many of these times were subsequently down to possible drug enhancements is a matter of record and not one that I have time to go into here…..
• Today in 2004 at the Athens Olympics –   Greek athlete Fani Chalkia came out of retirement to compete in her home Olympics to win the 400m hurdles gold in 52.82, Gal Fridman becomes Israel’s first Olympic gold medallist when he wins the Mistral One Design windsurfing event and Olga Kuzenkova of Russia recorded an Olympic record 75.02m to edge the field and take the women’s hammer title
• The first human to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, died aged 82 on this day in 2012.
• This day in the following year, 2013 Gylmar dos Santos Neves, known simply as Gilmar, Brazilian footballer who played goalkeeper Corinthians and Santos and was a member of the Brazil national team in three World Cups, died at the age of 83.  He was elected the best Brazilian goalkeeper of the 20th century and one of the best in the world by the IFFHS. He is remembered for his sober style on the pitch and his peaceful personality. In the book by Alex Bellos, Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life, it is reported that Gilmar is named after his parents, Gilberto and Maria. Gilmar was the starting goalkeeper for Pele’s world-famous Santos and Brazilian national teams of the 1960s. Therefore, he’s famous around the world as “Pele’s goalkeeper.” In 1998, he was awarded the FIFA Order of Merit.