• April 26 down the years

Foreman's final win

George Foreman ended Lou Savarese's unbeaten record © Getty Images

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1997
George Foreman's last title fight (if you can call it that) and last win. At the age of 48, he retained his WBU heavyweight title with a split decision that ended Lou Savarese's unbeaten record. Big George had lost a lot of his punching power by then, so Savarese stayed on his feet, though he finished with his face cut and swollen and was docked a point for low blows in the 11th round. Foreman had one more fight, which he lost to Shannon Briggs later in the year, before ending a professional career that began in 1969.

2009
The first swimmer to go under 21 seconds for 50 metres. Clad in one of the go-faster bodysuits, Fred Bousquet of France swam the 50 free in 20.94 to break the previous best of 21.28 set by Eamon Sullivan of Australia the year before.

1998
David Coulthard won the San Marino Grand Prix from pole position. He nursed an overheating oil cooler to hold off Michael Schumacher, who set the fastest lap.

1902 and 1913
The first two players to score three tries in a Challenge Cup final. In 1902, Broughton Rangers captain Bob Wilson had one of the best games of his career. Seriously fast and a hard tackler, he played Salford on his own in the first half of the final, sidestepping full-back Dai Smith to score the opening try, making the second, then dummying poor Smith to score again before half-time. Another long run ended with his third try. Broughton scored five in all and won 25-0.

In 1913, Huddersfield reached the final for the first time - and didn't change their attacking style on a rainy windswept day. Their opponents Warrington had a well-drilled defence, and they led 5-0 at half-time through a try superbly converted from the touchline by Ben Jolley. But Warrington were weak in attack, and they faced the wind in the second half. Stan Moorhouse had a try disallowed before scoring his three, including two in two minutes. He was Huddersfield's only scorer in a 9-5 win.

1918
Fanny Blankers-Koen was born Francina Koen in Holland. At the 1936 Olympics, she showed her all-round promise by finishing equal sixth in the high jump and helping Holland reach the sprint relay final. Two years later, she won bronze in the 100 and 200 at the inaugural women's European Championships, each time behind an athlete who was later found to be as much a man as a woman. It was that kind of era: one of the high jumpers who beat Koen in 1936 was a man in disguise! The Second World War then cut a great gash in her athletics career. She married her coach Jan Blankers, who'd won the AAA triple jump in 1931 and 1933 - and broke world records in the 80 metres hurdles, 4x100 relay, high jump, and long jump. By the time the War ended, she was at her peak - and even though the 1946 European Championships took place soon after she gave birth, she won golds in the high hurdles and relay. But of course her biggest stage was still to come. At the 1948 Olympics in London, she was world record holder in the 100 metres as well - but also pregnant again, which meant she had to forego the two jumps. So she won gold medals in four other events. Her long legs and powerful physique gave her a great advantage over the British girls who won silver medals behind her. She completed the sprint treble with a ferocious anchor leg in the relay on August 7, and won a close 80 meters hurdles on the 4th. Meanwhile the winners of the high jump and long jump didn't break her world records. She remains the only woman athlete to win four gold medals at one Olympics - and she wasn't finished yet. At the 1950 Europeans, she collected the same three individual titles she won in London but couldn't quite catch the Brits in the relay. That year, Blanker-Koen set world records in both sprints, then another in the pentathlon in 1951. At the 1952 Olympics, she crashed out of the hurdles final after hitting the first two - but she was 34 by then, with nothing left to prove.

Kevin Sinfield was pivotal despite Leeds' defeat © Getty Images

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2003
Both teams scored three tries in the rugby league Challenge Cup final. But Paul Deacon kicked five goals for Bradford Bulls and Kevin Sinfield four for Leeds Rhinos. So Bradford won 22-20. One of their try scorers was Robbie Paul, who'd scored three for them in the final on April 27, 1996. Danny Ward of Leeds was the son of David, the club's winning captain in 1977 (May 7) and 1978 (May 13).

1998
World champion Abel Antón of Spain won the London Marathon in 2 hours 7 minutes 57, only two seconds short of the event record set the previous year. Antón's time was equalled at the London race the following year. Here in 1998, the women's race was won by Ireland's Catherina McKiernan, who finished second in the World Cross Country Championships four years in a row.

1981
A British discus record that still stands. In a Californian town with the fun name of Walnut, where a men's world record was set in 1976, Scotland's Meg Ritchie threw 67.48 metres for a Commonwealth best that lasted until 1994. For various reasons, don't expect any British girls to break it in the near future...

1898
Eddie Eagan was born in Denver and became the only competitor to win gold medals in Summer and Winter Olympics. He was the inaugural light-heavyweight boxing champion on August 24, 1920 and part of America's four-man bobsleigh team on February 15, 1932. At the 1924 Games, his defence of the boxing title ended after only one fight. Born into a poor family, he had a rich life, working his way through Yale, Harvard Law School, and Oxford University, and married an automobile heiress.

1930
Roger Moens was born in Belgium. In 1955, he broke the 800 metres world record set by the great Rudolf Harbig 16 years earlier. This made Moens the natural favourite for the 1956 Olympics - but now came the first of two self-inflicted wounds. A few months before the Games, he went training on a dark tennis court - and ran into a net pole. He also had to miss the next major international tournament, the 1958 European Championships, because a dispute with his club left him suspended. He was still a gold medal contender in 1960, having lost no races since 1956. But Moens was a slight figure, and some new powerhouses were coming through. At the Rome Olympics on September 2, he ran into (figuratively this time) the great Peter Snell, who was unknown until then. After a silver medal that hurt, Moens became a TV reporter (he interviewed Snell about his two Olympic golds in 1964) before making a career in the police.

1926
David Coleman was born. One of the top sports commentators in British TV history, especially in athletics and football, he was much satirised and greatly admired as the first of the modern breed. You can divide the history of the job into BC and AD. Before Coleman and After David.

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