• March 6 down the years

Tarzan glides through the water

Johnny Weissmuller went on to play Tarzan after retiring from swimming © Getty Images

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1923
Johnny Weissmuller became the first man to swim 440 yards and 400 metres in under five minutes. His four minutes 57 seconds broke the record he set the previous year. In 2009, Germany's Paul Biedermann put on a body-hugging suit and set a world record of three minutes 40 seconds.

1981
American ice skater Scott Hamilton won the first of his four consecutive world titles. He was 19 at the time, about ten years older than doctors had once expected. He stopped growing when he was three, suffering from severe malabsorption which paralysed part of his intestines. At the age of nine, he was given only a few months to live. Tonight he began with a triple lutz, followed it with another four triple jumps, and won easily. He never grew beyond five foot two inches and seven and a half stone but retained the world title for the next three years and won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics in 1984.

2004
Paul Grayson scored his last points in international rugby. His total of exactly 400 puts him in second place on the all-time England list behind Jonny Wilkinson. Today Grayson kicked two penalty goals and converted Matt Dawson's try, but Ireland won 19-13 at Twickenham.

1976
The 17-year-old Wilfred Benítez became the youngest boxer to win a world professional title. He lasted 15 rounds to do it, winning a split decision to take the WBA light-welterweight belt from the highly respected Antonio Cervantes. Benítez won a third world title by the time he was 22, but within three years he was finished at the top level. Despite being a brilliant defensive boxer, he suffered extensive brain damage from the sport and ended up in a nursing home in his native Puerto Rico.

2004
Yelena Isinbayeva set a world record in the pole vault at the World Indoor Championships. On the same day in 2005, she set another one at the European Indoors. She set one in each of her four indoor events that year.

1999
France scored 33 points and Émile Ntamack crossed for three tries - but Wales still won in Paris. France led 18-16, fell behind 28-18 at half-time, then drew level at 28-28. With eight minutes left, Thomas Castaignède scored a try to put them 33-31 ahead, but Neil Jenkins kicked his fifth penalty goal to win it 34-33. Until April 17, 2001, no side scored so many points and lost a Five or Six Nations match. Ntamack was the only player to score three tries for the losing side in the Championship since January 7, 1893.

1884
'Molla' Mallory was born Anna Margrethe Bjurstedt in Oslo but moved to the USA in 1915 to work as a masseuse, a job that helped develop the muscles she used in hitting her famous forehand. Swarthy and determined, she was the only tennis player to beat the great Suzanne Lenglen (born May 24, 1899) after 1914. La Lenglen had her revenge in the Wimbledon Final of 1922, winning 6-2 6-0. Mallory was on safer ground in America. She beat an ailing Suzanne there and won the US Championships a record eight times, including four in a row. She picked up most of these titles during the First World War, when the standard of opposition was not much. In 1922 she beat a 16-year-old Helen Wills in the final. Wills eventually won the title seven times, including the next two, beating an ageing Mallory in the final each time. Molla was 42 when she won her eighth title, coming from match point down against doubles specialist Elizabeth Ryan in 1926.

1995
The first sinking in the 143-year history of the America's Cup. On September 26, 1983, John Bertrand had skippered the first non-American boat to win the trophy. But today his boat split in two and sank in just over two minutes. No-one was hurt and the Australians reached the final of the challenger series.

1872
Agatha Morton was born Agnes Morton in Essex. She was 42 when she won the Wimbledon doubles title in 1914 - and she did not have to play the last match to win it. She and Charlotte Sterry had a walkover in the Final over Hilda Lane and Connie Wilson.

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