• September 28 down the years

Crashgate

Felipe Massa drove away with the fuel hose still attached © Getty Images

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2008
Crashgate at the Singapore Grand Prix. This was the first Formula One World Championship race to be staged at night, but of course it wasn't about that. The race's infamy rests on the 14th lap, when Nélson Piquet junior spun his Renault and crashed. Out came the safety car, in went the drivers for a pitstop. When pole sitter Felipe Massa re-emerged, his fuel hose was still attached. He dropped to last place and didn't score any points - which cost him the world title in the last race of the season. Piquet's team-mate Fernando Alonso had pitted before the safety car came out, and he sped away to win the race. So Piquet's crash had been very useful to him. But as details emerged It began to kick off. Piquet claimed he'd been ordered to crash deliberately by Renault boss Flavio Briatore and chief engineer Pat Symonds. Renault disgraced themselves further by threatening to take legal action against Piquet - then admitted the charge a year after the race. They were relieved to receive only a two-year suspended sentence, while Briatore and Symonds left the team. Briatore was banned from FIA events for life, but had the ruling overturned by a French court and was even granted compensation. He and the FIA settled out of court, but they'll always be in the dock.

On the same day as this nefarious race, there was another one in Berlin. In the Marathon there, legendary Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie set the world record that stood for three years. His time of 2 hours 3 minutes 59 was 27 seconds faster than the world best he'd set the year before and meant that the last three world records had all been set in Berlin, including the one by Kenya's Paul Tergat in 2003. Tergat was the first to go under 2 hours 5 minutes, but Gebrselassie was the first under 2 hours 4. He also beat Tergat in two 10,000-metre finals at the Olympic Games ( September 25, 2000). Three years later, Patrick Makau shattered Gebrselassie's record, again in the German capital, shaving 21 seconds off Gebrselassie's record.

1997
Europe's golfers retained the Ryder Cup they'd won two years earlier ( September 24). At the Valderrama course in Spain, they built up such a big lead after the first two days that they survived a typical American comeback in the singles. Leading by five points, Europe suffered some big defeats: Ian Woosnam was crushed 8&7 by Fred Couples, Ignacio Garrido 7&6 by Lehman, Jesper Parnevik lost 5&4 to Mark O'Meara. But Costantino Rocca beat a 21-year-old Tiger Woods, and Bernhard Langer's win over Brad Faxon was enough to retain the trophy with five matches left. At the end, Colin Montgomerie wasn't chuffed when captain Seve Ballesteros told him to concede a 20-foot putt to Scott Hoch, who halved their match. The decision eventually stopped Monty becoming the only player to win seven Ryder Cup singles matches. While the Tiger was playing his first Ryder Cup, Nick Faldo was playing his last, 20 years after his debut. He still holds the records for most appearances (11), matches (46), points (25), and wins (23).

2003
At the Texas Open in San Antonio, Tommy Armour III won a PGA tournament for the first time in 13 years. Having waited so long, he made it a memorable success, setting a new Tour record of 254, 26 under par. The total would have been even lower if he hadn't made a bogey at the last hole, one of only four he made in the four rounds. His grandad Tommy Armour senior won the Open in 1931 ( June 5).

1988
A memorable day in track and field at the Olympic Games.

In the 110 metres hurdles, Britain's Colin Jackson reached three Olympic finals, the last in 2000 ( September 25). He won only one medal, in his first here today. But he was still a slip of a young man, and his smooth style was no match for the power of defending champion Roger Kingdom, whose time of 12.98 seconds was the first under 13 at the Games. Jackson finished three yards behind in second place. If there had been a hurdles team race, Britain would have won it: Jonathan Ridgeon and Tony Jarrett were fifth and sixth. Jackson had his best chance of gold four years later ( August 3).

Superstar pole vaulter Sergei Bubka always had big trouble at the Olympic Games. Massive favourite every time, he didn't clear a height in 1992 and dropped out with an inflamed Achilles in 1996. The Soviet boycott kept him out in 1984 when he was the reigning world champion. And here in Seoul, Bubka was one vault away from missing a medal. But he won gold by clearing an Olympic record 5.90 metres at the third attempt.

In the 200 metres, Carl Lewis came within inches of a unique double double. Having won both sprints in 1984 ( August 8), he inherited the 100 metres gold here when Ben Johnson failed his drug test ( September 23) and was hot favourite for the 200 today. But the same workload as in 1984 took its toll this time. Two days before, Lewis had retained his long jump title. Now his time of 19.79 seconds was a hundredth faster than his winning time four years earlier - but he was pipped by his training partner Joe DeLoach, whose 19.75 was an Olympic record.

The women's 400 metres hurdles final was one of the races of the Games. Tatyana Ledovskaya blasted out as usual, took a big lead with two hurdles to go, and was still well clear at the last. Behind her, double Commonwealth Games champion Debbie Flintoff-King was only fourth, but she overtook two East Germans then had enough left on the run-in to catch Ledovskaya, who didn't lean at the line. The Australian won by a hundredth of a second. Britain's Sally Gunnell was fifth, but her big day was to come in four years' time ( August 5).

1976
Muhammad Ali's third fight with Ken Norton should have been a decider. But it just muddied the waters even further. Three years earlier, Norton had broken Ali's jaw ( March 31). Ali won the rematch on a split decision which not everybody agreed with. And tonight's world title fight in Yankee Stadium left even more of an unsatisfactory taste. Ali's punches were cleaner and most of Norton's didn't get through. But it was all too clear that age had caught up with The Greatest. He spent a lot of time clowning and whipping up the crowd, anything to avoid something as tiring as actually fighting. He still dominated the last five rounds, but Norton came forward to the end, and he was so sure he'd won that he yelled 'I beat you! I beat you!' in Ali's face after the final bell, before the world champion drooped back to his corner. Ali was given a unanimous but very narrow decision, but he was on his last legs. Two years later, he lost the title to the untested Leon Spinks ( February 15). Norton was declared world champion by the WBC but lost his first defence to Larry Holmes ( June 9).

2000
The Williams sisters won the doubles at the Olympic Games. Serena and Venus dropped only one set during the tournament and won today's final 6-1 6-1 against Kristie Boogert and Miriam Oremans of Holland. Venus had won gold in the singles the day before, beating Russia's Elena Dimitrieva, who won the title eight years later.

In the athletics stadium, Britain's Dean Macey was disgracefully deprived of bronze in the decathlon. In the discus, Erki Nool of Estonia fouled his first two attempts then stepped out of the circle as he completed his third. The judge immediately flagged another foul, leaving Nool with no points from the event and out of contention. But Estonia launched an appeal, the third throw was declared legal, and Nool went on to win the gold medal by just 35 points. The next four finishers were Czech, American, and our Deano. All three countries protested, but the result - scandalously - stood. Four years later, Roman Šebrle added gold to his silver, but poor Macey finished fourth again.

Meanwhile another athlete was disqualified at these Games. Coming into the stadium, Jane Saville held a clear lead in the inaugural women's 20 kilometre walk and was about to win gold for Australia in Australia. But with only 150 yards to go, she was suddenly disqualified for 'lifting', not keeping unbroken contact with the ground. While a distraught Saville held her head in anguish, Wang Liping walked past to win the race. Saville won bronze four years later never the gold.

The men's long jump also nearly brought Australia a gold medal. Jai Taurima had an earring, a pierced navel, a Superman tattoo, and was partial to cigarettes and the odd drop of bourbon. He could jump a long way, too. Here in Sydney, he reached a personal best of 8.49 in the fifth round. But Cuba's multiple world champion Iván Pedroso came through with a last-chance 8.55. It was the first time Americans took part in an Olympic long jump and didn't win a medal.

Still at the same Games, legendary Chinese diver Fu Mingxia won her fourth Olympic gold medal. She was only 13 when she took gold on the highboard in 1992. Four years later, she won both events, and today she retained the springboard title, earning the highest marks in each of the last three rounds to beat team mate Guo Jingjing by less than twelve points. In Fu's absence, Guo won gold four years later.

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