21st Century Boys and Girls

A quarter of the way through the century already!?!

21st Century Boys and Girls

Unbelievably, we are already a quarter of the way through the 21st Century. The last 25 years have flown by (for me at least) but have also included many incredible sporting moments and showcased the talents of some huge sports stars.

I remember that around the end of 1999 and the beginning of the year 2000, some of my favourite articles and books that I read were lists of the best sports stars and events of the 20th Century. I spent probably hundreds of hours poring over the stats and figures, expanding my knowledge and learning more and more about glories from the past. Being a hoarder, I have kept most of them and still go back and look at them even now. However, things have moved on and, as mentioned above, many different things have happened since.

In celebration of this, over the course of this year, my weekly blog is going to celebrate 25 of the biggest sporting stars of the 21st Century so far. The aim will be to bring to light the achievements of these heroes whilst still staying true to my original mandate of recalling my own memories that are interlinked with each athlete.

Already, I have had huge internal debate over exactly how to choose just 25 people from a pool that could easily create a much larger list. I considered listing 25 sports and choosing just one athlete from each but decided that this may water down the field in terms of global recognition and I would also still inevitably leave out sports that lots of people love. There was also a consideration of picking one standout athlete for each year of the 21st Century so far but I felt that this may focus more on those who were successful for short bursts of time but may disregard those who have had more prolonged and consistent success.

In the end I have decided just to go for the 25 sports stars who I feel have had the biggest impact over the century so far. I realise that there will still be people that are missed out and also that there may be a larger number from some sports and that others will not be included but that is unavoidable. This does not mean that I am not valuing the achievements of others, but rather that within the realms of the rules I have set there just isn’t the room for everyone. Perhaps some day I can extend my thinking and write a book about it to be more inclusive!

To try and alleviate some element of personal bias, I also put out the question to my followers here, and through lots of the social media platforms that I engage with, to ask others who they would include if they were creating the list themselves. Inevitably, answers were varied, but certain names did begin to crop up time and again. Those names went straight onto my list and I have then filled in the remaining slots (for now) with those who I feel are most worthy.

I will spread out my recollections of each of these athletes over the course of the year and there will be no actual ranking. It may not be a weekly occurrence as there will still be other current issues that I may wish to discuss and, where possible, I will try to link a person to a big event in their sport when it occurs to keep a sense of relevance.

Over the course of the year, I may also look at other aspects of sporting greatness that have happened over the course of this century so far. This could include celebrating successful teams of coaches. I feel that it is important that achievements in these areas are celebrated too.

With this in mind, and to whet the appetite further for what is to come, I am going to open my celebration of 21st Century sport this week with some recollections of sporting events and moments that have, in my opinion, been incredibly memorable. These have all made me feel a wide range of emotions from tension and anticipation to elation and relief. Hopefully some of them resonate with you and bring back memories of your own.

London 2012

As a lover of all sports and a self-confessed Olympics fanatic, a home Olympic Games was always going to be good, but London really was fantastic. From the opening ceremony all the way through to the closing one, it was a celebration of British heritage and culture that the fans really got behind. It has also helped that it revitalised a community in London and that much that was introduced for the Games has carried on thriving since. Breakthroughs were also made in how major events can be put on whilst keeping a mind towards sustainability.

From a sporting standpoint the athletes really showed up as well and many incredible moments were celebrated across the nation from Super Saturday in the Olympic Stadium to the action in the velodrome to the boxing at the ExCel. I watched the lot in various locations from the comfort of my couch to standing at the bar in the pub to watching on my phone whilst on the move, and shared in the joy of victories by Brits such as Bradley Wiggins and Mo Farah and international stars like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.

My only regret is that I didn’t get down to see any action live myself but I still felt a part of it because the whole nation was hooked and supporting their hometown favourites (we all wanted a golden postbox after all). I have found something to love in every Olympics that I have watched but, for me, London is the best of them all.

England win the Cricket World Cup (2019)

Although I was born in England, I moved to Scotland when I was five, and have always supported my adopted nation in sporting events. However, despite a sporting rivalry between the two nations, I have never shared in the hostility towards our Southern neighbours that is sometimes shown and I always generally want England to do well in sporting events (apart from in rugby but my reasons for this are too many to go into here).

This feeling has been even more prevalent in cricket as Scotland have never really had a team to root for - there is a one day team but they are rarely shown. Due to this, cricket is one of the sports where I have always followed England in all formats. The team had grown as a test side and had won the T20 version of the World Cup but had never won the original one day version.

In 2019 they had reached the final, despite a sometimes shaky performance in the group stages and were to face New Zealand, who had defeated favourites India in the semis. England now definitely fancied their chances of winning.

Typically, after watching most of the tournament, on the day of the final I actually had plans as my now wife and I were beginning a holiday and staying in Durham. Luckily for me, we ate early that day and returned to the hotel in plenty of time to see Ben Stokes’ heroics in the run chase and then Jofra Archer restricting the Kiwis in the super over to allow England to win on boundaries scored. A truly special and incredibly dramatic moment!

Usain Bolt wins gold in record time (Beijing 2008)

Unlike in 2012, in 2008 I did not have the luxury of watching most of the action at the Olympics but I had very good reason for this as I was travelling around New Zealand at the time. In the midst of skydiving, black water rafting and taking in the jaw dropping sights though, I did make some time to take in the showpiece event, the men’s 100 metre final.

Myself and many other backpackers filled the hostel common room to watch Usain Bolt beat his own world record to take his first Olympic gold medal in a moment for the ages. He went on to do a lot more, but this is the one that I will always remember most both for his own achievements and for what I was doing myself at the time.

LeBron finally wins it with the Cavs (2016)

LeBron James is unquestionably one of the greatest basketball players of all time and has done virtually everything there is to do in the game but in 2016 there was still something major missing - winning the championship with his beloved Cleveland Cavaliers. He had been drafted by his home state team in 2003 and had spent seven years trying to help them win the big one (including reaching the finals in 2007) but was ultimately unsuccessful. He had then left for Miami where he had won two titles as part of a dream team before returning to Cleveland with unfinished business in 2014.

The Cavs had reached the finals in 2015 but had been overcome by Steph Curry’s dominant Golden State Warriors. In 2016 the Cavs won their first 10 playoff games and reached the finals again with relative ease but would be challenged by the Warriors again, this time coming off the back of the best regular season ever.

Things did not start well as the Cavs found themselves 3-1 down in the best of 7 series and no team had ever come back from this far down in the finals. Destiny was on hand this time though and I watched from my bedroom (via replays as I was working and couldn’t stay up to watch live) as they came back to not only level the series, but win the final match and the title with LeBron’s incredible block on Andre Iguodala being the standout moment that turned the tide right at the end. Surely one of the greatest comebacks of all time.

Scotland qualify for Euro 2020

This is an intensely personal one for me but as this is my blog I feel I am allowed a little self-indulgence every now and again (and to be fair I could have indulged further by adding Dundee United’s Scottish Cup win in 2010 also). Being a Scotland fan over the years has been hard going. There have been a few moments of joy (McFadden’s goal against France, beating Holland at home) but most of it has been turgid performances and one false dawn after another meaning that there had be no qualification for any major tournament since 1998.

Come 2020 though and things genuinely looked to be improving. Steve Clarke was building a decent team who worked together and actually had some genuine stars that were performing consistently at a high level. Group qualification had not exactly gone well, including a 3-0 humiliation in Kazakhstan, but Scotland were handed a second chance via the Nations League playoffs. A 0-0 draw with Israel led to a victory on penalties in Scotland’s first ever shootout and a game in Serbia to determine who would finally qualify.

A Ryan Christie goal had put Scotland ahead and it looked like that would do it but, this being Scotland, it was never going to be that easily and Luka Jovic headed an equaliser right at the death to take it to extra time. Nothing further occurred and it would be penalties again.

Nerves were shredded all across the country and to make things worse, we were still in the midst of COVID restrictions which meant pubs had strict closing times. The added game time led to the unbelievable sight of punters being asked to leave but the pubs leaving their TV’s on for them to watch the shootout through their windows. Luckily for me I had decided to watch from the comfort of home but still celebrated as wildly as anyone when David Marshall saved from Aleksander Mitrovic to send Scotland on their way. Yes sir, we all boogied.

England’s Lionesses win Euro 2022

Women’s sport has made great advances across the 21st Century so far and, in most sports, women are now largely viewed as being on a level playing field to their male counterparts. Football is one area where parity was always going to be a struggle due to the huge global appeal of the men’s game worldwide and particularly in the UK.

Teams had tried hard to improve their women’s sides and companies like the BBC had strived to give more opportunities for coverage but it was going to take something big for a real change to occur. This took place in 2022 when the Euros were held in England. There was a huge advertising campaign to boost interest but it was also up to the host country to perform well to maintain this.

Perform they did and, by the time Chloe Kelly wheeled away spinning her shirt around her head after scoring the winning goal in the final against Germany, it seemed like a real change had been made. Audience numbers had been fantastic and supporters, both male and female, had really invested in the players and team. Now, backed by coverage from both the BBC and Sky Sports, further investment from clubs, and far more widespread media coverage, the women’s game continues to go from strength to strength.

As usual, I am fully aware that there are hundreds of other moments that I could have mentioned that may well have been far more valuable to other people but hopefully I will cover many of these over the course of the coming year. As mentioned, I have certain sports stars nailed on for the list to come but there are still other spots up for grabs so suggestions are still welcome.

I hope you enjoyed this brief look back today and I hope you will join me for the further recollections to come. Happy New Year to all when it comes this week.