• March 9 down the years

A final win for Coulthard

David Coulthard secured his 13th win in Australia © Getty Images

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2003
David Coulthard won a Formula 1 race for the last time. At the Australian Grand Prix, he took advantage when Juan Pablo Montoya spun off under no pressure with eight laps to go. Coulthard raced for another five seasons after this one, finishing with 13 wins from his 246 Grand Prix starts.

On the same day in 1997, Coulthard won the opening race of the Formula 1 season, the Australian Grand Prix. It was McLaren's first win in exactly 50 races, since the last time Ayrton Senna drove for them. Jacques Villenueve, who retired on the third lap in his Williams, won the title at the end of the season. Coulthard won in Italy but finished a distant fourth in the Championship.

1970
Martin Johnson was born in Solihull. Like all denizens of the scrum, he was a master of the black arts, no stranger to disciplinary committees. Exactly the kind of player a team wants as its rock. He captained the 1997 Lions before he captained England, leading them to a series win in South Africa. In 2001 he became the only player to captain the Lions twice, but they lost to Australia after winning the first Test. Johnson being outjumped at the last lineout was a big moment but hardly the decisive one. His lineout work was normally right up there, and he made good ball available in ruck and maul. Once the England selectors realised what they had in their midst, they made him captain 39 times, culminating in 2003, which brought the Grand Slam and a small gold pot. The World Cup Final was the last his 92 international matches. He also captained Leicester to consecutive Heineken Cups and four league titles in a row, leadership qualities that made him England national coach in 2008 despite his complete lack of previous experience. His toughest ask...?

1952
Bill Beaumont was born in Lancashire and would have beaten Johnson to it but for injury. In 1980 he captained England to their first Grand Slam since 1957, which made him the only choice as Lions captain in South Africa that summer. They had their doubts in Wales. Beaumont might not even make the Test team, they opined. By the end of the tour, the rumblings were replaced with respect. The Lions lost 3-1 even though Beaumont's forwards were dominant throughout. He would have been Lions captain in 1983 if he hadn't suddenly retired after one blow too many on January 30, 1982. He came into the England team when they were in their 1970s slump, so he finished on the winning side in only 14 of his 34 matches for them, though things were looking up in the new decade. Like Johnson, he was a good front jumper in the lineout, but his main strength was in the scrum: scrum-half Steve Smith christened his backside the team's outboard motor. Beaumont led the North of England to a famous victory over the All Blacks on November 17, 1979 and helped Lancashire win two County Championships: the trophy was renamed the Bill Beaumont Cup in 2007. As a team captain on A Question of Sport, he played to win.

1987
George Foreman had his first fight since March 17 ten years earlier. Big George was Very Big by now. He weighed 19 stone, 50 pounds more than when he won the world title on January 22, 14 years earlier. He was also 38 years old. Still good enough to stop Steve Zouski in the fourth round - but Zouski lost 18 of his 49 fights (a young Mike Tyson had stopped him in three) and never beat anyone of any consequence. This didn't look a meaningful stepping stone towards a world title fight on November 5, 1994...

1980
The last non-African country to win the men's team title at the World Cross-Country Championships. So long ago it was still known as the International Cross-Country. And England were good enough to be champions. Nick Rose came within 600 yards of becoming the last British runner to win the men's individual event, only to be overtaken first by Hans Orthmann of Germany then Craig Virgin, who became the first American to win the men's senior race. Grete Waitz of Norway won the women's event for the third year in a row. She and Virgin retained their titles in 1981.

1997
Wilson Kipketer won the 800 metres at the world championships, breaking the world record he set in a heat two days earlier. Britain's Fiona May, now competing for Italy, won the long jump. And in the 60 metres hurdles, Colin Jackson won his third silver medal after being penalised for a false start he was sure he didn't make. He won gold at last on March 5, 1999.

1915
Pete Gray was born in Pennsylvania. He played only one season in big-time baseball, for the St Louis Browns in 1945, because pitchers soon learned to throw nothing but curve balls: he simply couldn't adjust his swing. Doesn't sound much of a player - until you realise he couldn't adjust because he didn't have a second hand to do it with. Gray was the only one-armed man to play Major League baseball. By all accounts, he was a very good outfielder.

1907
In rugby union, Wales brought in Percy Bush at fly-half, and he ran the show against Ireland in Cardiff. He made two tries, one with a run from behind his own goal line, scored another himself, and dropped a goal. Wales won 29-0 (worth 46-0 today), all their six tries coming from their backs. Johnny Williams scored three on the left wing and new cap 'Ponty' Jones one on his debut on the left. Williams scored another hat-trick of tries against Ireland two years later.

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