• July 11 down the years

Another great Chariots of Fire moment

Eric Liddell was a great runner in his generation © Getty Images

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1924
The second great Chariots of Fire moment at these Olympic Games. After Harold Abrahams won the 100 metres on 7 July, he wasn't too unhappy to finish last in the final of the 200m two days later. Ahead of him, his British team mate Eric Liddell took the bronze. The deeply religious Liddell had to withdraw from the 100m because the final was on a Sunday. But it's unlikely he would have beaten Abrahams. The world record holder couldn't, and Abrahams won in a time Liddell never achieved. Anyway the 400m was more Liddell's thing. Strong as well as fast, a former Scotland rugby international, he'd never broken 49 seconds before these Games but won his semi-final in 48.2 - then produced one of the great Olympic moments in the final. Setting off at a suicidal pace, he reached 200m in 22.2, only slightly slower than his time in the final of that event. Then, incredibly, instead of running out of steam, he found some more, stretching his lead to five yards at the finish. Two of his opponents fell over trying to keep up with him. Liddell's time of 47.6 was only 0.2 slower than the world record. Another British runner, Guy Butler, added the bronze medal to the silver he'd won in 1920. Britain might well have retained their Olympic title in the relay if Liddell had taken part. But he was preaching a sermon at the time. The final was on a Sunday again.

2010
History for Spain in South Africa. Having been the great nearly men of international football for decades, Spain finally delivered a first World Cup under the expert guidance of Vicente Del Bosque - the man disgracefully booted out of Real Madrid years earlier for winning them the European Cup. Victory over Holland in the World Cup final was owed to a Barcelona figure by the name of Andres Iniesta, a diminutive schemer - which largely described Spain's entire midfield. Iniesta popped up with four minutes remaining in extra time to snatch a fully deserved 1-0 victory, leaving Arjen Robben to rue a golden missed chance for the Dutch.
The final did boast an English influence in the shape of referee Howard Webb, who did his best to steal the show by dishing out 14 cards, one of which was red.

1999
A British driver won the British Grand Prix - though that's not what the race was remembered for. Mika Häkkinen started on pole and set the fastest lap but couldn't get on the podium. David Coulthard held off Eddie Irvine to win by less than two seconds. Behind them, Michael Schumacher's rear brake failed and sent him off the track at 185 mph. His leg was broken in two places and kept him out of the next six races, allowing Häkkinen to retain the world title.

1970
The most famous missed putt in any British Open, at least on screen. Doug Sanders was a talented but high-living golfer whose reputation for burning the candle in the middle (the ends were for teetotallers and other wimps) got in the way of some exceptional stroke-making. Here at St Andrews, he was level with Jack Nicklaus after the first, third, and fourth rounds - but only because Sanders blew it on the last. Needing a four to win the title, he hit a safe drive followed by a fine third shot to within three feet of the hole. But not many who watched his putt believed he was going to make it - especially when he tried to calm his nerves by bending down to remove a fluff of grass. Sanders was already bending to pick the ball out of the hole when it stayed out to the right. In the play-off the day after, he exorcised a demon by birdying the last hole - but Nicklaus did the same and won by a single shot. Sanders never won a Major.

1961
The night British boxer Terry Downes won the world middleweight title. He had to do it at the second attempt. America's Paul Pender was an underrated champion who'd taken the title from the great Sugar Ray Robinson and defended it against top opposition like Robinson himself (10 June 1960), Carmen Basilio, and Downes (14 January 1961). A good boxer and crisp puncher, Pender had cut Downes so badly that he didn't survive the seventh round. This was typical of Terry, who was a crowd pleaser because he took punches to give them (his autobiography was called My Bleeding Business). Pender won that fight in his home state of Massachusetts. Tonight the rematch was in Downes' home town of London, at the Empire Pool in Wembley. It followed much the same pattern as the first, Pender catching Downes with fast counter-punches as he came forward. But Downes was stronger tonight, his punches harder. He still took his share, but this time it was Pender who suffered the cut that ended the fight. He was bleeding in the third round and pouring in the eighth, and his corner stopped it after the ninth. The following year, they met in the decider, which was held in Boston again. Pender won it on points, then retired. But gutsy Terry had deserved his time on top of the world.

1900
The first woman to become an Olympic champion at any sport. Charlotte (Chatty) Cooper was Wimbledon singles champion five times, the oldest woman to win the title (30 June 1908), and the first player to win all three events at the Championships (3 July 1901). In the Olympic final in Paris, she had no trouble with local favourite Hélène Prévost, winning 6-1 6-4. On the same day, Cooper also won the mixed with Reggie Doherty, who also won the doubles with his younger brother Laurie, who also won the singles! Prévost's father André won bronze in the men's doubles.

1908
More tennis in the Olympic Games, including another gold medal for the older Doherty. Reggie regained the men's doubles, this time with 44-year-old George Hillyard. They saved seven match points in the semi-final before winning the final 9-7 7-5 9-7 against MJG Ritchie and Ireland rugby international Cecil Parke.

Ritchie, whose first name was Major, won the singles on the same day, beating Otto Froitzheim of Germany in straight sets. And the great Dorothea Chambers won the women's singles with her usual easy win over Dora Boothby.

On the same day at these London Olympics, Britain dominated the shooting events like almost everything else, winning various gold medals - but poor Philip Plater became one of the unluckiest competitors of all time. When someone's entry form didn't turn up in time, Plater was called into the team for the small-bore rifle prone event. Then the other competitor's papers arrived after all, so Britain had a team of 13 instead of 12. Things became even more complicated during the event, when officials thought only 11 marksmen had taken part. Plater was hurriedly called into action with less than half an hour to go. In one of the great feats, he fired off 80 rounds from two positions in wind and rain, breaking the world record - only to discover that 12 others had already shot, so his score was invalid. Plater was presented with a special prize by the British Olympic Council, but his name was left off the official Olympic records.

1973
At golf's British Open, the 1932 champion Gene Sarazen was 71 years old when he hit a hole-in-one at Troon's short eighth, the Postage Stamp. He shot a very respectable 79 and 81 but played only nine holes three years later: "There are no holes here short enough for me to hole in one."

1982
The greatness of Mats Wilander. John McEnroe won their Davis Cup quarter-final match - but it took him six hours, at home, on a fast indoor court which suited his serve and volley, against a clay-court specialist who was only 17. Wilander went on to win the US and Australian singles titles on fast courts, while McEnroe never won the French on clay.

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