• October 4 down the years

Rindt wins from beyond the grave

Jochen Rindt dominated the 1970 season © Sutton Images

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1970
Jochen Rindt became the only Formula One driver to win the world title posthumously. When he died just before the Italian Grand Prix (September 5), he'd already accumulated enough points to leave Jacky Ickx needing to win both the last two races. Ickx did win the second, in Mexico, but by then he'd finished only fourth in today's United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. He started on pole, but Jacky Stewart had taken a big early lead by the time Ickx came into the pits with a broken fuel line. The race was won by 23-year-old Émerson Fittipaldi, one of the youngest drivers to win a World Championship Grand Prix.

1895
The inaugural US Open was staged on an island and won by a golfer from another one. Horace Rawlins went from the Isle of Wight to Newport on Rhode Island - and must have felt at home: there were no Americans in their first Open! The field was made up of British professionals and a Scottish amateur who finished joint third. Willie Dunn junior, who'd won the unofficial US national championships the year before, came second, two shots behind Rawlins. The whole tournament was completed on a single day, with four rounds of nine holes each. Rawlins shot 41 in his third and fourth and won $150, five times the prize money for the winner of the British Open that year.

The same date in 1873 saw the highest-scoring round by any British Open winner. This was the year the great event moved from Prestwick to St Andrews, and several days of rain made the greens soggy and left pools of water elsewhere - so scoring was high. Again it was all decided in one go, with two rounds of 18 holes - and only two golfers broke 90 all day. Tom Kidd's opening round of 91 was enough to give him a share of the lead with two others, and his 88 in the second was the lowest score of the tournament. Jamie Anderson shot 89 to finish second, one shot behind - then went on to win the Open three times in a row, the last in 1879 (September 27).

1998
To regain the World Superbike title, Britain's Carl Fogarty went to the wire - where he enjoyed a great slice of luck. The last races of the season were held at Sugo in Japan, and Championship leader Troy Corser broke three ribs when he crashed during the warm-up, which kept him out of both rides. So Foggy came third in the first race and fourth in the second and still finished ahead of New Zealand's Aaron Slight, who managed only seventh and sixth. Fogarty had won the world title in 1994 and 1995 and went on to retain it in 1999, when he set a record for most WSB race wins (September 12). Corser, the 1996 champion, didn't win it again until 2005.

1997
One of Lennox Lewis' quickest wins. After regaining the WBC heavyweight title by taking revenge on Oliver McCall (February 7), Lewis treated himself to some nice easy defences, beating British beanpole Henry Akinwande before taking on controversial Polish boxer Andrzej 'Andrew' Golota in Atlantic City tonight. Golota already had a reputation for punching below the belt (he was later disqualified in consecutive fights: and Lewis 'wanted to beat him before he could commit any fouls'. Lewis had just similar trouble with Akinwande, who'd been disqualified for persistent holding. But Lewis's trainer, the famous Emmanuel Steward, didn't think Golota would be around long enough for any skulduggery: 'When he feels the power of Lennox's punches, I think he will fold.' And Golota was ready to do that from the start: 'There was too much pressure. I was too nervous.' Lewis put him out of his misery with a left hook. When Golota got up, the referee surprisingly allowed him to carry on - but another series of punches dropped him again, and that was enough. It was all over in 95 seconds.

1995
This was the year Miguel Indurain won the Tour de France for the fifth year in a row (23 July). Today he followed that by winning the time trial at the outdoor World Championships. Britain's defending champion Chris Boardman was ruled out by the effects of his horrific crash during the Tour, so Big Mig had things all his own way. Undeterred by Colombia's high altitude or a constant headwind, he was in front at every time-check and cycled 49 seconds faster than fellow Spaniard Abraham Olano, who won the road race at these Championships and the time trial three years later. The women's race was won by the legendary Jeannie Longo, who finished more than a minute clear of the field.

1982
At the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia's Raelene Boyle delighted the crowd by winning the last individual race of her career. She'd won the sprint treble in both 1970 and 1974, and now moved up to the 400 metres to win her seventh Commonwealth Games gold medal and her fifth in individual events, equalling the records for a track and field athlete. Five days later, she won her 9th medal, an athletics record which still stands alone.

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