• August 27 down the years

Lonsbrough leaves it late

Anita Lonsbrough didn't panic under pressure © Getty Images

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1960
The day Anita Lonsbrough (born August 10 1941) won Olympic gold. Britain's only hope in the swimming pool, she was Commonwealth Games champion in the 220 yards breaststroke. In the final of the 200 metres in Rome, she faced 18-year-old Wiltrud Urselmann of West Germany, who'd taken Lonsbrough's world record a few weeks earlier. But the two girls were so well matched that when Urselmann held a two-second lead at halfway, Lonsbrough didn't panic and try to close the gap too fast. Bit by bit, she reeled her in before hitting the front with 25 yards to go. Urselmann, to her credit, came back right at the end, but Lonsbrough held on to win in 2 minutes 49.5 seconds, the first woman to go under 2 minutes 50. She was the only British swimmer to win the event since the very first (July 18 1924).

1976
The first British woman to swim 100 metres in under a minute was a 13-year-old girl. Cheryl Brazendale trained in a 20-yard hotel pool in Blackpool. At the national championships at Crystal Palace, she clocked 59.58 seconds. In second place, 15-year-old Moira Houston also went under 60 seconds.

2005
Tony Rickardsson of Sweden won the world speedway title for the sixth and last time, equalling the all-time record set by New Zealand's Ivan Mauger in 1979. Winning five of the first seven races of the season meant he clinched the title by finishing only 9th in Poland tonight. He went on to win the final race in Italy. He was champion for the first time in 1994.

On the same day that Rickardsson won the title, the rugby league Challenge Cup final took place at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Leeds Rhinos went in as favourites, which seemed justified when they converted an early penalty try. But Hull had reached the final by beating Super League champions Bradford Bulls and Cup holders St Helens, and they never let Leeds get away. Danny Brough converted tries by Motu Tony and Gareth Raynor to put Hull 12-6 up, and although Leeds levelled with a try by Danny Ward, Hull were given the lead back by an error from Marcus Bai. Brough added a drop goal to make the score 19-12. But then Leeds remembered they were supposed to be winning this thing. Two converted tries, the second a redeemer by Bai, put them 24-19 near the end. Even then, the seesaw wouldn't keep still. Paul Cooke scored under the posts, leaving Brough an easy conversion to win the match for Hull 25-24. No fun for Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington, whose wife Kath was the Hull chairman!

1936
Three weeks after winning Olympic gold in the 110 metres hurdles, American heart throb Forrest Towns set Oslo on fire. In the semi-finals at the Berlin Games, he'd equalled his own world record of 14.1. Today he flew over the first hurdle and never landed. When he hit the tape, he turned and saw that the next man only just clearing the last barrier. Someone slapped him on the back and shouted that he'd broken his own world record. Oh good, said Towns. What did I do: 14 flat? Not quite, said the informant. You've just run 13.7. It was fast enough to win Olympic gold as late as 1960.

2004
German canoeing icon Birgit Fischer (born February 25 1962) made history with her last Olympic gold medal. It was her 8th, and she was the only woman in any sport to win Olympic titles 24 years apart. She began with the 1500 metres in 1980 and added gold medals at every Games except 1984, when East Germany boycotted Los Angeles. Today, at the age of 42, she was part of the kayak four who won the 500 metres

Liu Xiang surprised Colin Jackson by equalling the Brit's world record © Getty Images

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In the athletics stadium, Liu Xiang of China used his height and excellent technique to win gold in the 110 metres hurdles. His time of 12.91 seconds equalled the 11-year-old world record set by Britain's Colin Jackson (August 20).

Poland's Robert Korzeniowski became the first to win any Olympic walking event three times, finishing more than four minutes clear in the 50 kilometres. In 2000 he'd completed a unique double by winning the 20k.

1903
A landmark in tennis history as the great Laurie Doherty won the US singles. The best player in the world, he was Wimbledon champion five times in singles and eight in doubles with his brother Reggie. A few weeks earlier, the Davis Cup selectors got it right at last by picking him for the singles, and Britain lifted the trophy for the first time (August 8). Now Laurie mopped up at the US Championships. In the All-Comers' final, he beat future champion Bill Clothier for the right to take on the holder in the Challenge Round. Here Doherty faced Bill Larned, champion for the past two years - and Little Do was on a mission. The previous year, Larned had beaten Reggie in the Challenge Round. Big Do had been Wimbledon singles champion four times, but his health was never good. Against Larned, he'd won the first set but lost in four. Plus he was past his best when he went to America (Laurie was Wimbledon champion by then). Family honour was thoroughly avenged today. In the Davis Cup, Larned had lost the deciding match to Laurie - but only 7-5 in the fifth set. So his confidence should have been high in front of his own crowd. But maybe he was short of match practice: as champion, he didn't play until this Challenge Round. Whatever, he made about as bad a start as he could, dropping his serve to love in the very first game and losing the set 6-0. Of the 30 points Doherty won, 24 came from unforced errors. Laurie kept hitting his precise shots to Larned's weak backhand, taking the second set 6-3 and leading 5-3 in the third. Larned did well to break back for 5-5 and reach 8-8 - but Little Do was one of the great match players, tenacious as well as accurate. He held serve by retrieving a whole series of good shots, then Larned's errors returned and cost him the last game. Doherty was the first overseas player to become US champion and the first player to win the singles title at more than one Grand Slam tournament.

1920
The first four times water polo was included in the Olympics, Britain won the gold medal. Today was the fourth, which would have been a fifth if the 1916 Games hadn't been cancelled by the First World War. In the first ever final, Britain had beaten Belgium easily (August 12 1900). They beat the same country 9-2 in the 1908 final in London. But Belgium were at home this time, and the final went to the wire. Bill Peacock opened the scoring for the British Isles, but Belgium were faster swimmers and the half-time score was 2-2. With three minutes to go, the versatile Paul Radmilović (born March 5 1886) scored the winner. It was his third gold medal in the sport and fourth in all, and the last medal Britain ever won in water polo. Belgium lost the 1924 final too, to their French neighbours and hosts.

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