CENTURY TIMELINE: 1950-1974
1975: Jimmy Connors, raging favourite at Wimbledon, is destroyed on finals day by Arthur Ashe, the first and only male black athlete to win the tournament.
1976: At the Montreal Olympics, 14year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci (right) charms the world. She also scores the first perfect 10.
1977: Red Rum wins the Aintree Grand National for the third time.
1978: The most enduring of tennis rivalries takes centre court on Wimbledon on women's finals day as Martina Navratilova defeats Chris Evert for the first of her nine Wimbledon titles.
1979: Bird v Magic: Magic Johnson's Michigan State lines up against Larry Bird's Indiana State in the NCAA national championship basketball game. It is the first time the two clash and sets the scene for their unforgettable exploits throughout the 1980s. Magic will spend his career with the Lakers, Bird with the Celtics and they will go on to transform the NBA into the global phenomenon which becomes Michael Jordan's playground in the '90s.
1980: In Potchefstroom, South Africa, the British Lions drive the length of the field in the last minute of the second Test against the Springboks. The sequence lasts for almost two minutes and the ball changes hands 33 times before the visitors finally break the line and save the test.
At home, Galway announce the emergence of hurling's new order, capturing the McCarthy Cup.
1981: NHL star Wayne Gretzky wins his third MVP award on his way to collecting a world championship with the Edmonton Oilers. He also smashes the league's goal records for a single season, netting 120.
John McEnroe (right) ends Bjorn Borg's steely hold on the Wimbledon tournament with a thrilling mixture of skill and brashness which horrifies the old school at Wimbledon. He is the first champion to be refused honorary membership to the club. At Headingley, Ian Botham torments Australia as England regain the Ashes.
1982: Late in the All-Ireland football final, Eugene McGee makes the best substitution in GAA history. Seamus Darby obligingly scores a last-minute goal for Offaly and Kerry mourn the five-in-a-row that wasn't.
1985: The BBC chalks up its highest sporting audience for the closing session of the world snooker championship final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis. Amidst agonising tension, Taylor sinks the final ball of the final frame to end the most remarkable snooker match of its time. It is the definite hour of the definite armchair sport.
1986: Six years after his last win, and seemingly in the twilight of his career, Jack Nicklaus bursts into prominence again to take the US Masters. He is 46-years-old.
1988: At the Seoul Olympics, an introverted Canadian athlete defeats sprint darling Carl Lewis in the 100 metres in 9.79 seconds. Days later, Ben Johnson is stripped off his title for substance abuse and the image of that race comes to symbolise the sick core of professional athletics.
Florence Griffith-Joyner takes three golds and one silver in the sprint events. A decade later, she dies of a heart attack and the rumours that she had used banned substances are raised once more.
1989: Arsenal's Michael Thomas breaks away to score a last-minute, championship-winning goal at Anfield. Liverpool, chasing a double and still in mourning after Hillsborough, could have afforded to lose the game 1-0, but Thomas' goal delivers the title to the Gunners on goal difference.
1991: Serge Blanco's genius: in the Five Nations Grand Slam decider against England, the French full back starts a counterattack from under his posts and the French run the field to score a glorious try. Typically, they still manage to lose the game.
Sergei Bubka becomes the first pole vaulter to clear 20 ft.
1992: Jackie Joyner-Kersee takes Olympic gold in the heptathlon and long jump in Barcelona.
1993: Australian Shane Warne bowls Mike Gatting with his first ball in the first Test of the Ashes at Old Trafford. Gatting's look of utter disbelief at the fallen bail sums up the moment. Warne, overnight, becomes cricket's new god.
1995: The image of Nelson Mandela wearing a Springboks shirt made the rugby World Cup more than just another sports tournament. South Africa duly defeat New Zealand in the final.
In New York, Michael Jordan announces his return from retirement by piling 55 points on the indignant Knicks.
1996: Irish swimmer Michelle Smith (right) wins three gold medals at Atlanta. Within two years, Smith is banned for tampering with a drug test sample. It emerges in her appeal that a banned substance was also found in her adulterated sample.
Michael Johnson becomes the first man to win gold in the 200 and 400 metre disciplines. He destroys his world records in the process.
1998: The shot! Michael Jordan's last jump-shot as an NBA player, in game six against Utah, delivers his sixth championship to the Chicago Bulls.
Mark McGwire slugs his way into the record books, eclipsing Babe Ruth with 70 homers in a season.
Tiger Woods, at 21, becomes the youngest winner of the US Masters.
1999: Manchester United complete an astonishing league, FA Cup and European Cup treble. The manner of their win over Bayern Munich, with two goals in the last two minutes, is the stuff of fantasy.
In November, France defeat New Zealand in the semi-final of the rugby World Cup, causing the biggest upset of the competition.
Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie wins his fourth 10,000 metres world championship.
Pete Sampras wins his sixth Wimbledon title, eclipsing Bjorn Borg's record.
