If Thursday was the United States’s day, then Friday was definitely Russia’s, as led by extraordinary pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva they won three titles at the World Athletics Championships. The 23-year-old broke her own world record for the ninth time this year — vaulting 5,01m.
United States teenager Tianna Madison stunned her more experienced rivals by taking the women’s long-jump title at the world athletics championships in Finland on Wednesday. The 19-year-old jumped 6,89m in her first major championships to beat Olympic bronze medallist Tatyana Kotova of Russia (6,79m) while defending champion Eunice Barber of France took the bronze (6,76m).
Kenenisa Bekele and Lauryn Williams, two athletes who have confronted personal tragedies in their lives, raced to world title glory at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki on Monday. Bekele’s fiancée died earlier this year and Williams won despite her father’s long-running battle with leukaemia.
A controversial header late in the second half by Chelsea captain John Terry gave the Premiership leaders a remarkable 4-2 win over Barcelona in their Champions League first knockout-round clash on Tuesday. Elsewhere, the dream of Sir Alex Ferguson to give Manchester United a second Champions League title under his stewardship ended — perhaps for good.
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/ 24 February 2005
The controversial sending-off of Chelsea striker Didier Drogba saw Barcelona come back from 1-0 down to beat the English Premiership leaders 2-1 in their Champions League first knockout round first-leg clash on Wednesday. Chelsea’s defeat was somewhat softened by the fact they have an away goal, whereas Manchester United lost 1-0 to AC Milan at Old Trafford.
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/ 8 December 2004
Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich suffered two rare defeats on the football pitch on Tuesday as reigning champions FC Porto downed his Chelsea side 2-1 to ensure they avoided the ignominy of becoming the first titleholders to exit in the first round. Benni McCarthy’s late goal for Porto also denied the Russian a second interest in the knockout phase.
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/ 16 September 2004
A missile-throwing incident at the AS Roma-Dynamo Kiev match overshadowed Bayer Leverkusen’s outstanding 3-0 victory on Wednesday over Spanish giants Real Madrid. Liverpool eased past last season’s Champions League finalists Monaco 2-0 and Manchester United were outclassed but came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Lyon.
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/ 14 September 2004
Real Madrid will try to revive memories of their last glorious moment on the Champions League stage when they face German side Bayer Leverkusen away in their first match of this season’s tournament on Wednesday. David Beckham will be looking to build on his fine free kick in the 1-0 victory over Numancia on Saturday.
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/ 14 November 2002
All Blacks scoring machine Andrew Mehrtens said on Wednesday he hoped France would be at the receiving end of a similar performance from New Zealand in Saturday’s one-off test as they produced on Armistice Day in 2000.
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/ 9 November 2002
Should the Springboks fail to win any of their three tests on the current European Tour it won’t be because of any racial disharmony unlike the Hollywood-style sheen they gave to their 1995 World Cup triumph.