• June 16 down the years

Tiger proves he's not human

Tiger Woods beat Rocco Mediate in a sudden-death play-off to win the US Open for the third time © Getty Images

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2008
Tiger Woods won the US Open for the third time, which proved what we thought: the man wasn't human. Two months earlier, he'd had surgery on his knee. During rehab, he fractured a bone below it. No wonder he didn't win by his usual wide margin. In the last round, he traded the lead with Rocco Mediate, who led by a stroke going into the last hole. But Woods made a birdie to force a play-off. They finished level in that too, but Woods won the first extra hole. Even on one leg, the Tiger was too good for the rest. He became only the second golfer after Jack Nicklaus to win every Major at least three times each - then missed the rest of the year to have surgery on that knee. He hasn't come close since.

1989
In the second round of the US Open, four players hit holes-in-one at the same hole: Doug Weaver, Mark Wiebe, Jerry Pate, and Nick Price at the 167-yard sixth. The odds against it happening were 332,000-1. Two days later, Curtis Strange became the first player to retain the title since Ben Hogan on the same day in 1951.

2001
When Carl Hayman came on as a sub against Samoa, he became the 1,000th player to be capped by New Zealand at rugby union. The All Blacks won as expected: 50-6 at home. Three of their seven tries went to fly-half Tony Brown, who became the first player to score 30 points in an international match three times. The next was Jonny Wilkinson on March 23, 2002.

1951
Roberto Duran was born in Panama. The boxing legends' boxing legend, he had his last pro bout when he was 50 and took part in world title fights an amazing 26 years apart. Bona fide ones too, not something for the IBO or WBF or WWF. A streetfighter first and last, he started as a knockout puncher and became the canniest conman in the game, getting inside opponents' heads as much as their guards. He did that to Sugar Ray Leonard to win the world welterweight title (June 20, 1980). Even when he gave up in the 'No mas' rematch (November 25), he showed a certain macho style. And he went the full 15 rounds with Marvin Hagler for the middleweight title, tremendous stuff from someone who started as a lightweight. Duran won a world title in that division by roughing up Scotland's Ken Buchanan on June 26, 1972, and made 12 successful defences before moving up to Leonard's level. He beat other world champions like Esteban de Jesús, Guts Ishimatsu, Carlos Palomino, Pipino Cuevas, Iran Barkley, Saoul Mamby - and nearly all his defeats came in his 30s and 40s: he lost only one of his first 74 pro fights. Duran fought his last world title fight on August 28, 1998, when he was 47, and probably wished he could go on until he was 60. Make that 70. The ultimate fighting man.

1968
In winning the US Open for the first time, Lee Trevino became the first player to win a Major by shooting every round under par and under 70. In the last, Jack Nicklaus scored 67 to Trevino's 69 but still finished four shots behind. Sam Snead, who never won the event, finished equal ninth at the age of 56.

Willie Banks' world record stood for ten years © Getty Images

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1985
In the triple jump, America's Willie Banks set a world record broken by Jonathan Edwards ten years later. Banks, who later jumped over 18 metres with an illegally strong wind, landed three centimetres short without one. Edwards jumped one centimetre further in 1995 (July 18) before breaching the 18-metre barrier on August 7. Twice.

1942
Giacomo Agostini was born in Lombardy. The rest is statistics. In his day, the motorcycling World Championships included a 350 cc class which wasn't dissimilar to the 500 - so the top riders had the chance of winning many more races. That and the superiority of his MV Agusta machines made Ago the most successful rider of all time. All these are records that haven't been broken: 15 world titles, including eight in one class; 122 race wins, including ten in one race: the Finnish 500, where he won nine times in a row; 20 race wins in a row (the next highest is 11). In 1968 he won all ten 500 cc races and all seven at 350. All that and he was the sport's pin-up too. Must have had a portrait in the attic.

1979
The great Mike Gibson won his last cap for Ireland at rugby union. He won his first on February 8, 1964, and his total of 69 was a world record at the time - and that's not including his 12 Tests for the Lions. Ireland gave him a winning send-off by beating a very average Australia 9-3 in Sydney, but a match without tries wasn't in keeping with a brilliant centre who'd been almost as good at fly-half. In the same match, Australia gave an only cap to lock forward Keith Besomo, who was deaf since birth.

1966
Jan Železný was born in Czechoslovakia and became the most successful javelin thrower of all time. He won three Olympic golds, twice relegating Britain's Steve Backley to silver - and very nearly won four. Železný went to the 1988 Games as world record holder and was in the lead with only one thrower to come. Then Tapio Korjus beat him by 16 centimetres. Železný won the next three Olympics as well as three World Championships. At the Europeans, where Backley won the title four times, Železný managed only a pair of third places, the second in 2006, when he was 40. Slim and fast rather than big and strong like Backley, he set six world records, including the leviathan that still stands from 1996 (May 25).

1979
Great Britain's rugby league tour of Australia was a disaster from the start. Top players returned home with injury, crowds were small (leading to a loss of £300,000), and all three Tests were lost. The first of those took place in Brisbane today, in front of the smallest crowd for an Australia-GB match in more than 60 years. The Kangaroos were too efficient in every department, hardly making a mistake. Meanwhile Britain kept making illegal head-high tackles which allowed Mick Cronin to kick goals. Ten in all, to go with Australia's five tries, including two each by winger Kerry Boustead and fiery flanker Ray Price. Britain lost 35-0 (worth 40-0 today), their biggest defeat in Australia at the time.

2000
American swimmer Tom Jager was a 50 metre freestyle specialist. He won Olympic silver and bronze and set six world long-course records in the event. The last of those was broken today, after more than ten years. Aleksandr Popov's 21.64 seconds bettered Jager's 21.81 and itself lasted until 2008.

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