The year 2014 has been a massive one for sports with major events combining with annual title bids to keep the armchair sports fan enthralled.
It seems a lifetime ago that we started the year watching the Winter Olympics in Sochi, a coastal town offering some of the most amazing venues which we saw again later in the year for Russia’s inaugural F1 race.
Canada, previous Olympic hosts, continued where they left off four years back, dominating the team events by capturing both the men’s and women’s ice hockey and curling titles.
Focus in the group stages was on the mighty clash between the USA and Russia, which was dramatically won when TJ Oshie scored in the shootout. However, this was eclipsed in the women’s final when Canada equalised against the US with only 55 seconds left before winning in overtime, although the excitement levels were run close in the Paralympic men’s equivalent with the US reversing the result with a 1-0 victory.
The US can thank their freestyle skiers for achieving such a productive run of gold medals, although it was not their superstar ‘Flying Tomato’ who painted Sochi with the stars and stripes.
In the new slopestyle event America dominated securing a clean sweep of the podium positions for only the third time in history while Belarus won the ariels and France the women’s ski cross. However, the star performer was Canadian, Alexandre Bilodeau, who, competing in the moguls, claimed gold to become the first freestyle skier to claim to back-to-back Olympic titles.
Bode Miller became the oldest alpine medalist in history by securing a shared-bronze in the Super G while at the opposite end of the spectrum Mikaela Shiffrin became the youngest gold medalist by winning the slalom. Multiple winners included Slovenia’s Tina Maze and the US’s Ted Ligety.
Russia topped the overall medal table with 13 golds and 33 in total, primarily thanks to their ice skating where they won the pairs as predicted although controversy followed as 17-year-old Adelina Sotnikova out-pointed the favourite, Yuna Kim, in the South Korean’s farewell. Meryl Davis and Charlie White became the US team’s first ice dance champions, capping a two-year undefeated run.
The individual star was Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen who won two gold medals in biathlon aged 40, bringing his overall haul to a record 13 earned throughout his career. Vic Wild was the most successful US-born athlete although he was competing for the hosts having married a Russian snowboarder.
Germany dominated the luge although the most one-sided event was speed skating where the Dutch won 23 of a possible 32 medals with Ireen Wuest winning five medals.
The summer had a number of major events, starting with the World Cup in Brazil before moving to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games and then swinging to Gleneagles for the Ryder Cup.
Brazil witnessed one of the most remarkable semi-final performances in the history of the World Cup, although the hosts were on the receiving-end of a record drubbing. Germany scored four goals in the space of only six minutes, using the momentum from this crushing victory to deny Lionel Messi and the remainder of the Argentina squad in the final.
Argentina had qualified on penalties thanks to the first ever goal-less semi-final in a World Cup with Tim Krul not permitted to repeat his feat in the earlier round by Dutch coach Louis van Gaal.
After the Brazuka was legally put in the back of the net 171 times in 64 matches the Jules Rimet trophy was finally decided by a solitary goal from Mario Götze.
The hosts were not the only team to be on the receiving end, with holders Spain humiliated 5-1 by Holland in the opening stages.
Brazil was also the launch of the referee’s magic disappearing spray used to mark the distance of a defensive wall from the free-kick, the success of which has seen it introduced across Europe. Unfortunately, this World Cup may well be remembered for Luis Suarez’s bite!
Glasgow played host to the ‘standout Commonwealth Games in the history of the movement’, selling 1.2 million tickets and attracting over 3m visitors to the city with many cheering the home nation to a record haul of 19 gold medals and fourth place overall.
Billed as a friendly Games, some begrudgingly cheered England to top spot – although none of those appeared to be amongst the record number of spectators at the rugby sevens, under the spotlight as a new Olympic sport.
Suffering from a withdrawal of some ‘big names’, the new generation demonstrated they may not have been successful anyway. Poster-boy Michael Jamieson was defeated by compatriot Ross Murdoch while Nijel Amos beat David Rudisha in the 800m.
Usain Bolt did make an appearance in the cold, wet conditions to anchor Jamaica to the 4x100m relay gold while Paddy Barnes retained his light-flyweight boxing medal. Chad Le Clos (with all eyes on his father’s celebrations in the stands) won a record-equalling seven medals.
The Games welcomed para-sport for the first time and David ‘Weir-wolf’ coasted to his first title in the T54 1,500m.
There were two special moments in the Games for the ‘nearly-men’. Geraint Thomas won a first cycling gold, battling through ‘special’ Scottish storms as other competitors threw in the towel, while Euan Burton came out of retirement after missing Olympic gold to win the judo crown in Glasgow to a rapturous reception from the home crowd.
There is one name that springs to mind as the star of the Games – Claudia Fragapane. The 4ft 6in gymnast became the first British woman to claim four gold medals in the 84-year history of the Commonwealth’s competition and she will be hoping to repeat the feat in four years on Australia’s Gold Coast.
The Ryder Cup at Gleneagles was a spectacular event and close throughout despite the one-sided final score. With several stalwarts faltering, new stars were made with Jamie Donaldson sinking the winning putt although Victor Dubuisson reignited the spirit of the Cup with magic around the greens reminiscent of Seve Ballestros in his prime. Justin Rose also demonstrated Major-potential by winning three and halving two of his five matches while notching, in partnership with Henrik Stenson, a remarkable 21 birdies in his Saturday afternoon match. Afterwards there was no need for Phil Mickelson to ‘throw Tom Watson under a bus’ by blaming him for defeat.
Yet, the stand-out golfer was Rory McIlroy who won two Majors and finished the year ranked No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic. Also, keep an eye open for Lydia Ko on the LPGA Tour as the 17-year-old won three events in her debut season.
In motorsport, Lewis Hamilton managed to fight off the close attentions of his teammate, Nico Rosberg, to deservedly be crowned champion for the second time in his career after winning 11 of the 19 races, while in MotoGP Marc Marquez re-wrote the record books despite a resurgence from ‘the Doctor’ Valentino Rossi.
Hamilton may also claim the award for funniest moment of the year when he was refused entry to the paddock in Australia, despite wearing his racing overalls, for not being able to show his security pass! He would be run close by the Sri Lankan cyclists who were training on the motorway in Scotland without benefitting from the same safety concerns as organisers of Bahrain’s Challenge triathlon!
Other highlights for the year include the demolition of the marathon world record, Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto setting a new mark of two hours two minutes 57 seconds in Berlin. Jo Pavey, 11 months after giving birth, became the oldest winner of gold at a World Championships when she won the 10,000m.
One of the greatest sporting spectacles was the Tour de France receiving a warm Yorkshire greeting with 4.8m spectators lining the re-named streets (for example le Col de Buttertubs). Remarkably ‘them there ‘ills’ produced the steepest climbs of the race although it failed to produce a British winner.
La Liga produced the closest finish ever with three clubs, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid all able to clinch the title on the final day. The lesser-known team from the capital prevailed and looked on course for a remarkable double in the Champions League final against their city rivals, only to be undone in the 93rd minute by Sergio Ramos. Bale, Marcelo and Ronaldo emphatically ensured Real sailed home on the turning tide.
Possibly even tighter was the ending to the Six Nations when the French looked to have scored a last-ditch try to hand the title to England, only for it to be disallowed for a forward pass ensuring the European championship headed to Ireland.
Stateside, the Seattle Seahawks overcame 39 years of upset to record their first Super Bowl victory in franchise history.
The Denver Broncos froze in the first outdoor final to be played in a cold-weather city and were on the wrong side of a 35-point deficit, the third largest in history.
The San Antonio Spurs again claimed the NBA title thanks to the ever-green point-scoring of Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, although the sporting moment everyone will recall for the year is the retirement of 40-year-old Derek Jeter after 20 years in baseball.
Jeter, the 14-time All-Star, could have had a Hollywood ending by retiring after hitting a ninth-inning winning single in his last appearance at Yankee Stadium. However, out of respect to the fans, he decided to play his last game against bitter rivals, Boston Red Sox, at Fenway Park. Fittingly he retired with grace and dignity.
Sport has many highs although there are always reminders of the perils of participation. The tragic death of Phil Hughes and the serious injuries to Michael Schumacher and Jules Bianchi shocked the world.
Cricket Australia has demonstrated how to deal with tragedy responding to a massive outpouring of sympathy and grief before doing what sportsmen do best – bounce back by delivering emphatic victories.
Overall 2014 has been an amazing year of sport and I can’t wait for 2015 to begin.