The year that was. - Free Online Library (2024)

Aug. 10 - Padraig Harrington rallied from three shots behind to win the US PGA Championship, closing with a 4-under 66 at Oakland Hills to become only the fourth player to win the British Open and U.S. PGA in the same year. Harrington closed out Sergio Garcia with a 15-foot par on the 18th for a two-shot victory. The Irishman became the first European to win consecutive majors.

Aug. 11 - In Beijing, Michael Phelps got his second gold medal - thanks to a late comeback in the 400-meter freestyle relay by Jason Lezak, who lunged to the wall just ahead of the French anchor. The U.S. team's time of 3:08.24 shattered its world record of 3:12.23 set the night before in preliminaries. With a furious final kick, Rebecca Adlington pulled off an improbable comeback to defeat favored American Katie Hoff in the women's 400-meter freestyle, and become Britain's first female gold medalist in swimming in 48 years.

Abhinav Bindra won the 10-meter air rifle, India's first-ever gold medal in an individual sport.

Aug. 12 - Michael Phelps won the 200-meter freestyle for his third gold medal at the Beijing Games. It was his ninth career gold, tied with Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi for most ever.

Aug. 13 - Michael Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals - and five world records in five events at the Beijing Games. He won the 200-meter butterfly, then swam the leadoff of a runaway victory by the U.S. 800 freestyle relay team, which shattered the world mark by more than four seconds.

Aug. 14 - In Beijing, Tuvshinbayar Naidan of Mongolia won his nation's first gold medal ever, defeating Askhat Zhitkeyev of Kazakhstan in the men's judo 100-kilogram class. Kosuke Kitajima of Japan became the first man to sweep both breaststroke events at consecutive Olympics, winning the 200 meters. He took the 100 meters on Aug. 11.

Aug. 15 - Michael Phelps won his sixth gold medal with his sixth world record, this time in the 200-meter individual medley at the Summer Olympics. American Nastia Liukin, whose father was a double gold medalist for the Soviet Union 20 years ago, won the gold in women's gymnastics; friend and teammate Shawn Johnson was second.

Aug. 16 - In Beijing, Michael Phelps touched the wall a hundredth of a second ahead of Serbia's Milorad Cavic to win the 100-meter butterfly. The win gave Phelps his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Games, tying Mark Spitz's performance in the 1972 Munich Games. Usain Bolt of Jamaica ran the 100-meter dash in a stunning world-record time of 9.69 seconds for a blowout win that he started celebrating a good 10 strides before the finish line.

Aug. 17 - At the Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps and three teammates won the 400-meter medley relay for Phelps' eighth gold medal, eclipsing Mark Spitz's seven-gold performance at the 1972 Munich Games. Of his five individual races and three relays, Phelps set world records in seven and an Olympic record in the eighth.

Rafael Nadal defeated Fernando Gonzalez of Chile to win the men's tennis singles. Elena Dementieva defeated fellow Russian Dinara Safina to win women's singles. Shelly-Ann Fraser led a Jamaican sweep of the women's 100 meters track event that featured a dead heat for second, giving her teammates, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, a silver medal apiece.

Aug. 18 - In Beijing, Angelo Taylor became the first 400-meter hurdler since Edwin Moses to win gold medals eight years apart. He led the first sweep of the event since the US did it in 1960. Stephanie Brown Trafton won the women's discus, the first gold medal of the Beijing Games for the US. Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia broke her own world record in winning a second consecutive Olympic pole vault gold medal. Already assured victory over rival Jenn Stuczynski of the United States, Isinbayeva set the mark of 5.05 meters on her third and final attempt.

Aug. 18 - A day after winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing, Rafael Nadal officially unseated Roger Federer to become the world's No. 1 tennis player when the ATP rankings came out. Federer had been atop the rankings for 235 weeks, but Nadal has won six tournaments this year and heads into next week's U.S. Open as the favorite to win his third straight Grand Slam. He has won 38 of 39 matches on tour and beat Federer in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon this summer. Nadal beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in straight sets to win a gold medal for Spain in men's singles.

Aug. 20 - In Beijing, Usain Bolt of Jamaica broke the world record by winning the 200 meters in 19.30 seconds, becoming the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to sweep the 100 and 200 gold medals at an Olympics. Bolt is the first man to break the world marks in both sprints at an Olympics - a feat that neither Lewis nor Jesse Owens accomplished. He beat the record of 19.32 set by Michael Johnson at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Aug. 21 - At the Summer Olympics, Pitcher Yukiko Ueno went 28 innings in two days, including seven to shut down the U.S. softball team, 3-1, and give Japan the gold medal. It was the first loss for the Americans since Sept. 21, 2000 - 22 straight games. LaShawn Merritt upset defending champion Jeremy Wariner to lead a U.S. sweep of the 400 meters track event. The US men and women both dropped the baton in the Olympic 400-meter relays and failed to advance out of the first round. The US women's football team won the gold medal by beating Brazil 1-0 in extra time. Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown easily won the 200 meters to cap the first sweep of all four men's and women's Olympic sprints in 20 years.

Aug. 22 - Usain Bolt helped Jamaica win the 400-meter relay final in 37.10 seconds for his third gold medal and third world record of the Olympics. Bolt became only the fourth man, and the first since Carl Lewis in 1984, to win all three Olympic sprint events. Bryan Clay of the United States won the decathlon. Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine was stripped of her heptathlon silver medal, the highest-profile athlete kicked out of the Beijing Games for doping.

Aug. 23 - In Beijing, Sanya Richards anchored the United States to a gold medal in the women's 4x400-meter relay track event. Jeremy Wariner ran the anchor leg as America won the men's 4x400-meter relay in an Olympic record time. Led by Lisa Leslie, the U.S. women's basketball team beat Australia 92-65 to win a fourth straight gold medal. Angel Matos of Cuba and his coach were banned for life after the taekwondo athlete kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification against Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov.

Aug. 24 - On the final day of the Beijing Games, Kobe Bryant hit two 3-pointers in a big fourth quarter to help the United States defeat Spain 118-107 and win the gold medal for the first time since 2000. Samuel Wanjiru pulled away over the final few kilometers to become the first Kenyan to win the Olympic marathon - and he did it an Olympic record time of 2:06:32. The US men's volleyball team won the gold medal, defeating defending champion Brazil to complete a perfect run through a tournament struck by tragedy hours after the opening ceremony. The US surge to the title came after coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-in-law was fatally stabbed the day before competition started. McCutcheon missed the team's first three games to be with his wife, a former volleyball Olympian whose mother was also wounded in the attack. China had one of the most dominating and diverse performances at an Olympics ever, winning a games-leading 51 golds and an even 100 overall. The United States finished with 110 medals and trailed well behind the Chinese in golds with 36, the first time since 1992 it didn't lead the category.

Aug. 24 - Danny Lee of New Zealand became the U.S. Amateur's youngest champion, supplanting Tiger Woods by holding off Drew Kittleson 5 and 4. The 18-year, 1-month-old Lee was six months and 29 days younger than Woods when he won the first of his three Amateurs in 1994.

Aug. 28 - In one of the biggest upsets in tennis history, top-seeded Ana Ivanovic was ousted from the U.S. Open, stunned by 188th-ranked Julie Coin 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round. Never before in the Open era that began in 1968 had the No. 1 woman lost this early in the tournament.

Sept. 7 - Serena Williams outlasted Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5 to win her third U.S. Open and ninth Grand Slam title. Four times a single point from heading to a third set, Williams was simply relentless. She took the final four games, and 13 of the last 19 points.

Sept. 8 - Roger Federer salvaged his 2008 season by easily beating Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 to win his fifth consecutive US Open and 13th major title overall. Federer is the first man since Bill Tilden in the 1920s to win the tournament that many times in a row. He also moved within one major of tying Pete Sampras' career record. Federer lost in the semifinals at the Australian Open, and to nemesis Rafael Nadal in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon.

Sept. 9 - Lance Armstrong, just before his 37th birthday, ends a three-year retirement from pro cycling, announcing he wants to win an eighth Tour de France in 2009.

Sept. 12 - Russian tennis star Nikolay Davydenko was cleared by the ATP after a yearlong investigation into suspicious betting patterns on a match he lost to a low-ranked opponent. The ATP found no evidence of wrongdoing by Davydenko, opponent Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina or anyone else associated with their match in Sopot, Poland, on Aug. 2, 2007.

Sept. 14 - Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver to win a Formula One race at the Italian Grand Prix, edging McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen by 12.5 seconds in the rain at Monza to give Torro Rosso its first win.

Sept. 14 - Russia won its fourth Fed Cup in five years, defeating Spain when Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the title. The victory gave Russia an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the top team event in women's tennis.

Sept. 17 - Alex Rodriguez became the first Major League Baseball player to hit 35 homers and drive in 100 runs in 12 seasons, surpassing Babe Ruth's record by one. Rodriguez hit his 553rd homer in the eighth inning of the Yankees' 5-1 victory over Chicago. A-Rod also became the first player to have at least 35 in 11 consecutive seasons (1998-2008), snapping a tie with Sammy Sosa (1995-2004).

Sept. 17 - Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki matched Willie Keeler's major league record of eight straight 200-hit seasons, beating out an infield single in the eighth inning for his third hit against Kansas City.

Sept. 21 - The United States rode the emotion of a flag-waving crowd and their Kentucky heroes to take back the Ryder Cup with a 16.5-11.5 victory over Europe. It was the largest margin of victory for the Americans since 1981.

Sept. 21 - Alberto Contador of Spain wins the Spanish Vuelta, sweeping cycling's three biggest tours - the 2008 Giro d'Italia and 2007 Tour de France - in a record 15-month span, beating Bernard Hinault's same achievement in 26 months.

Sept. 21 - Baseball said farewell to Yankee Stadium, the home of baseball's most famous team. What began with a Babe Ruth home run on an April afternoon in 1923 ended with Mariano Rivera retiring Brian Roberts on a grounder to first baseman Cody Ransom, completing a 7-3 victory over Baltimore.

Sept. 26 - Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki matched Lou Gehrig's record with his eighth season of at least 200 hits and 100 runs. Suzuki scored his 100th run of the season in the third inning against Oakland. Gehrig reached the marks in 1927-28, 1930-32, 1934 and 1936-37.

Sept. 27 - Hakuho won his eighth title at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo with a bout to spare, then won that too to finish 14-1.

Sept. 28 - Haile Gebrselassie smashed his marathon world record by 27 seconds in winning Berlin in 2:03:59. He shattered the mark he set in Berlin last year and became the first man to win the race three times. Irina Mikitenko of Germany won the women's race in 2:19:19, the seventh fastest time for a woman.

Sept. 28 - Valentino Rossi of Italy won his sixth world motorcycle championship when he won the Japan MotoGP, his eighth title of the year, with three races to go. Rossi would add the Sepang race to his victories, while series runner-up Casey Stoner of Australia, the 2007 world champ, would finish with six race victories.

Oct. 5 - The Detroit Shock won their third WNBA title in six seasons, beating the San Antonio Silver Stars 76-60 in Game 3.

Oct. 25 - Sergei Fedorov scored twice for Washington, giving him 475 goals for his career to set a record for Russian-born players. Fedorov, who also holds the Russian records for assists (678) and points (1,153), broke the goal-scoring tie with Alexander Mogilny (473), who retired in 2006.

Oct. 25 - Raven's Pass won the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic in an upset, stunning defending champion Curlin on the new synthetic surface at Santa Anita. Raven's Pass, ridden by Frankie Dettori and sent off at 13-1 odds, won by 1.5 lengths in his first race on such a surface.

Oct. 29 - Brad Lidge and the Philadelphia Phillies finished off the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 in a three-inning sprint to win a suspended Game 5 nearly 50 hours after it started, capturing their first World Series title since 1980. Left in limbo by a two-day rainstorm, Pedro Feliz singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh and Lidge closed out his perfect season to deliver the title.

Nov. 2 - Britain's Lewis Hamilton becomes the youngest - and first black - Formula One world champion when he makes a pass on the last corner of the last lap to finish fifth in the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix and beat home race winner Felipe Massa by one point in the final standings. Ferrari claimed its seventh constructors' title in nine years.

Nov. 2 - Sebastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena of France won a record fifth consecutive world rally championship with a third-place finish at Rally Japan and a rally to spare.

Nov. 4 - Diego Maradona became coach of Argentina with little coaching experience and many skeptics among his countrymen. He replaced Alfio Basile, who resigned last month. Maradona won his first and last assignment of 2008, 1-0 against Scotland.

Nov. 7 - Jerry Sloan became the first NBA coach to win 1,000 games with one team when the Utah Jazz beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 104-97. Sloan, 1,000-596 with the Jazz, has an overall coaching record of 1,094-717 with the Jazz and Chicago Bulls.

Nov. 9 - Venus Williams won the WTA Championships for the first time, defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final.

Nov. 10 - India regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after four years with its first series win over Australia in eight years. India bowled Australia for 209 on the last day at Nagpur to win the fourth test by 172 runs. Australia failed to win a test in a series for the first time in nearly seven years.

Nov. 12 - Gamba Osaka, which knocked out defending champ and bitter J-League rival Urawa Reds in the semfinals, won the Asian Champions League after defeating Adelaide United 3-0 and 2-0, handing the Australian club its first defeat at home.

Nov. 16 - Novak Djokovic claimed the Masters Cup with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Nikolay Davydenko to end a six-month title drought.

Nov. 16 - Jimmie Johnson locked up his third consecutive NASCAR championship with a solid 15th-place run in the final race of the season, beating Carl Edwards by 69 points to join Cale Yarborough as the only drivers in NASCAR history to win three straight titles.

Nov. 22 - South Africa inflicts on England its worst home rugby defeat at Twickenham, an easy 42-6 pasting to finish its unbeaten European tour.

Nov. 22 - New Zealand upsets Australia 34-20 in the Rugby League World Cup final in Brisbane, ruining Australia's bid for a seventh consecutive world crown since 1975.

Nov. 24 - Spain clinched an improbable, come-from-behind Davis Cup victory over Argentina. Fernando Verdasco won 6-3, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 against Jose Acasuso at Mar del Plata as Spain rallied from one point down for its third Davis Cup title against the overwhelming favorites, despite losing top-ranked Rafael Nadal to injury before the final.

Nov. 29 - New Zealand eases past England 32-6 at Twickenham to complete the All Blacks' third Grand Slam of the home unions, and second in four years, without conceding a try.

Dec. 2 - Eri Yoshida, A 16-year-old Japanese girl, signed with a regional baseball team, becoming the country's first female professional baseball player. The knuckleball pitcher will play for the Kobe 9 Cruise in a new independent league starting in April 2009. The team selected her last month along with 31 male players in the league draft.

Dec. 6 - Coralie Balmy of France broke the women's 200-meter freestyle short-course world record at the French swimming championships. Balmy finished in 1:53.18, breaking the previous record of 1:53.29 set by Lisbeth Lenton of Australia in Sydney in November 2005. Earlier, Amaury Leveaux broke the 50 butterfly short-course world record. He finished in 22.29 seconds, beating the previous mark of 22.50 set by Matt Jaukovic of Australia at a World Cup in Sydney in October.

Dec. 7 - Sebastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena of France complete their world champion season by winning the Wales Rally, their 11th title of the year and 48th of their career, and securing Citroen the manufacturers' crown.

Dec. 7 - Alain Bernard set a world record in the short-course 100-meter freestyle at the French swimming championships. He finished in 45.69 seconds, beating the previous mark of 45.83 seconds set by Stefan Nystrand of Sweden in November 2007 in Berlin.

Dec. 11 - Four world records were broken at the European short-course championships, with the Italian men's 200-meter medley relay team setting two on its way to winning gold. Mirco Di Tora, Alessandro Terrin, Marco Belotti and Filippo Magnini finished in 1:32.91, 0.85 seconds faster than the world record set by the Russian team earlier in the day. In Thursday's first heat, the Italians broke the world record of 1:34.06 set by Germany in Helsinki, Finland in 2006. The Russians broke that mark in the following heat. Amaury Leveaux of France set a world record in the semifinals of the 50 freestyle, finishing in 20.48 seconds to beat the mark of 20.64 set by Roland Schoeman of South Africa on Sept. 6 in Germiston, South Africa.

Dec. 12 - Three world records were set at the European short-course championships, with Amaury Leveaux of France breaking his second in as many days. Alessia Filippi of Italy set a world record in the 800 freestyle, along with the Netherland's 200-meter relay team. The 23-year-old Leveaux won his 100 freestyle semifinal in 45.12 seconds, shaving 0.57 seconds off the mark set five days ago by Olympic champion and teammate Alain Bernard. Filippi won in 8:04.53, more than three seconds faster than the mark set last year by Kate Ziegler of the United States. Hinkelien Schreuder, Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Marleen Veldhuis finished in 1:33.80, 1.02 seconds faster than the record set last year by the Netherlands in Debrecen, Hungary.

Dec. 13 - Nikolay Skvortsov of Russia, Amaury Leveaux of France and Sanja Jovanovic of Croatia set world records at the European short-course championships. Skvortsov won the 200-meter butterfly in 1:50.60, breaking the 2002 mark set by Franck Esposito of France by 0.13 seconds. Leveaux won the 100 freestyle in 44.94 to become the first swimmer under the 45-second mark, breaking his own mark set a day earlier. Jovanovic broke her own world record in the 50-meter backstroke by 0.14 seconds, clocking 26.23 seconds in the final.

Dec. 14 - Six more world records were set at the European short-course championships, bringing the total to 16 at the four-day event. Amaury Leveaux set his fourth world record in Rijeka and fifth in nine days by winning a heat of the men's 50-meter butterfly in 22.18 seconds. The 23-year-old Frenchman, who broke the record he set Dec. 6, later won the race for his fourth gold medal at the meet. Leveaux was also part of the French team that set a record in the 4x50 freestyle relay, first in 1:22.38 in a heat, and later in 1:20.77 in the final. His teammates were Frederick Bousquet, Alain Bernard and Fabien Gilot. Earlier at the championships, Leveaux broke the record in the 50 free and twice in the 100 free. Stanislav Donets of Russia set a world record in men's 100 backstroke in 49.32, Mireira Belmonte Garcia of Spain did the same in the women's 400 individual medley in 4:25.06, and Federica Pellegrini of Italy in the women's 200 freestyle 1:51.85.

Dec. 21 - Aschwin Wildeboer broke the men's 100-meter backstroke world record at the Spanish short-course championships in 49.20 seconds, .13 faster than the mark set by Stanislav Donets of Russia last week in Rijeka, Croatia.

Dec. 25 - The Los Angeles Lakers beat Boston 92-83 to end the Celtics' team-record winning streak at 19 games. Lakers coach Phil Jackson reached 1,000 victories. Jackson, the sixth coach to reach 1,000, has a career record of 1,000-423 with Chicago and the Lakers.