2011 in Sport.
With the the year now over it now seems like an appropriate time to look back at all the biggest and best sporting events of 2011.
The Ashes
Strictly speaking most of the Ashes series in Australia was in 2010 however England clinched a 3-1 win with the last test starting in January of 2011. It was the first time in 24 years that England had retained the Ashes and it was also the first time ever that a touring side has won three Tests all by an innings during a single series. Alastair Cook was named Man of the Series after scoring 766 runs for England. England then went on to defeat Sri Lanka before whitewashing the number one test side, India, 4-0 which meant they took over the number one spot making 2011 a very successful year for them.
Superbowl
The Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in front of over 100,000 people at the Cowboys stadium in Texas. The Packers took an early lead and didn't look back as they won convincingly 31-25. The Green Bay Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was voted the MVP after he passed 304 yards in the game including 3 touch downs.
6 Nations Rugby
England won the tournament but a valiant display by Ireland prevented the Grand Slam. England got off to a winning start beating a good Welsh team in Wales and continued on good form to beat Italy and Scotland but their biggest test came when they played France. In what turned out to be a great game England beat France, many peoples favorites for the tournament alongside England, which left them with just Ireland to beat in order to win the Grand Slam. Ireland had nothing left to play for (except pride) while England went in to the game knowing they had already won the 6 Nations Title however a blistering performance from Ireland meant that there would be no Grand Slam for England as they beat the Champions 28-9.
Football - FA Cup
Manchester City beat Stoke City as the Sheikh owners started to see their first returns on their rather large investment. The game finished 1-0 to City, Manchester that is not Stoke, with Yaya Toure scoring the only goal of the game after 74 minutes. The 88,000 strong crowd was there in full voice especially as this was Stoke's first ever FA Cup Final and Manchester City hadn't won it since 1969. The ever controversial Mario Balotelli then swore live on ITV which was just another thing that made him stand out off the pitch.
Football - Champions League
Barcelona beat Manchester United 3-1 in the final at Wembley in front of over 87,000 fans. Pedro, Messi and David Villa scored the Barca goals which meant they won it for a fourth time. They dominated the game and had over 65% of the possession, which is rare in a cup final, however this Barcelona team was a very rare thing indeed. Messi took most of the headlines, deservedly so, but when you looked at the entire team there was quality in every position and the way in which they played the game was something of a spectacle that could only be marveled at.
Wimbledon
Petra Kvitova won the womens Championship beating Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4. The Czech became the first left handed female to win the tournament since Martina Navratilova in 1990. This was also the first time all of the 8 quarter finalists had been from Europe since way back in 1913.
Meanwhile in the men's competition Novak Djokovic claimed his first Wimbledon title after defeating Rafa Nadal in the final and also took his Number 1 Ranking in the process. The Serbian triumphed 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 which meant that Nadal had lost for the first time in a Grand Slam Final since 2007. Djokovic celebrated in an unusual fashion by grabbing a few blades of grass from the hallowed Wimbledon Center Court and he then preceded to eat them just like he'd eaten up his Spanish opponent. Djokovic then continued to make 2011 his year in Tennis after he beat Nadal again in the US Open Final in what turned out to be one of the best Tennis matches of the year.
Tour De France
Often listed as one of the toughest races there is, this years race didn't disappoint. Cadel Evans won the main race clinching the yellow jersey from the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, and the leader for most of the race Thomas Voeckler. Meanwhile in the points race Mark Cavendish won the green jersey after having won 5 stages this year which also made him the first Brit to win a jersey since 1984 and took his career stage wins in the Tour de France tally to 20.
Rugby World Cup
New Zealand made the most of home advantage to deservedly win the Rugby World Cup for the first time since 1987. They beat France in the inaugural RWC Final 24 years ago however this time, in a reenactment of this first final, the score line couldn't have been much any closer. The All Blacks won 8-7 with their fourth choice kicker Steven Donald kicking the winning points due to a number of injuries throughout the tournament. The Kiwi's had started out the tournament the best and had stayed the most consistent throughout so deserved the victory however Wales were controversially 'cheated' out of a place in the final due to the sending off of their captain in the semi final against France.
Meanwhile England made more headlines off the pitch than they did on it due to nights out which included Dwarf tossing and Jelly Wrestling and Mike Tindall, having just married into the royal family, was caught getting rather close with an ex. The headlines weren't restricted to just nights out as the players who needed to be in peak physical shape went bungee jumping and white water rafting before Manu Tuilagi (England's best player) was held by police after jumping off a ferry and swimming back to shore.
That concludes the round up of my Sporting Highlights of 2011. With the events in the next year including the London Olympics and Euro2012 as well as most of the ones mentioned above I'll be seeing you throughout the year for what looks to be one of the best Sporting Years ever.
