• October 9 down the years

Age no barrier for Foster

Mark Foster was a force in shorter pools © Getty Images

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2004
Britain's Mark Foster became the oldest swimmer to win gold at the World Short-Course Championships. Foster was 34 by then, and he'd just been left out of Britain's team for the Olympic Games - but he was a force in shorter pools, and today he swam the 50 metres freestyle in 21.58 seconds to beat Stefan Nystrand of Sweden and the USA's Nick Brunelli. It was the fourth time Foster had won the event, including gold at the inaugural Championships in 1993: his winning span of eleven years is another World Short-Course record. At these 2004 Championships in Indianapolis, Foster also won silver in the 50 butterfly, an event he'd won twice. Four years later, he became the Championships' oldest ever medallist (April 11) - and he did get to the Olympics that time, carrying the flag at the opening ceremony.

On the same day that Foster became the oldest man to win a World Short-Course title, Jenny Thompson of the USA became the oldest female champion. She was 31 when she added gold in the 4x 100 metres freestyle to the one in the 50 butterfly the previous day. It was her 11th World Short-Course title, the most by any swimmer.

1982
On a busy final day at the Commonwealth Games, a young Steve Cram added to his growing CV by winning the 1500 metres. In a rough tactical race, he had the nerve and confidence to turn round just after the bell and ask the two Australian runners to cut out the rough stuff. On the final bend, Cram walked the walk by sprinting clear to an easy win. Not bad for someone nursing a torn hamstring! New Zealand's former Olympic champion John Walker allowed himself to be boxed in and had to settle for silver as in 1974 (February 2). The race suffered from the absence of Cram's fellow British giants Seb Coe and Steve Ovett. Olympic champion Coe had suffered from glandular fever at the European Championships, while Ovett had endured a year of injuries, beginning with a collision with some church railings on a training run. Today's final was run on his birthday!

1988 A better day for Australia as they won the rugby league World Cup. The final was played in Auckland, but home advantage - what home advantage? New Zealand trailed 21-0 at half-time, 25-0 soon afterwards, and tries by the Iro brothers Kevin and Tony only painted over the cracks. Australia scored four in a 25-12 win, and there might well have been more if their captain Wally Lewis hadn't broken his arm after only eight minutes! He stayed on until the 33rd, long enough to set up Allan Langer's first try. Australia held the World Cup from 1975 to 2008.

1999
England couldn't beat New Zealand in the World Cup - even though they played them at Twickenham again (October 3 1991). They matched the All Blacks up front, where Lawrence Dallaglio had a tremendous match - but New Zealand had infinitely more penetration in midfield. And they had Jonah Lomu again. After his four traumatising tries in the previous World Cup (June 18 1995), he managed only one here, but he was the same giant wrecking ball, smashing gaps for his team mates to exploit. The opening try was a graphic illustration. Lomu came in from the wing, attracting defenders like ants; this left England thin out wide, and Jeff Wilson scored in the corner. Jonny Wilkinson missed a couple of penalty attempts before landing one, but Andrew Mehrtens restored the ten-point lead. To their credit, England came right back in the second half. Jeremy Guscott rolls-royced through the middle, and Phil de Glanville scored from his grubber kick. Another Wilkinson penalty and England were level. But then Lomu barged past four tacklers to score a try, substitute Byron Kelleher added a third, and the All Blacks won 30-16. That 1991 defeat hadn't affected England too much: they'd qualified easily from the group. But today's result wrecked their chances. They were forced into an extra match, a group play-off someone had arranged without thinking things through - which added to their problems when they faced South Africa in the quarter-finals (October 24).

1965
The USA didn't lose the Ryder Cup between 1957 (October 5) and 1985 (September 15). Here at Birkdale, another of their strong teams completed an easy win over Britain & Ireland, who were padded out with virtual unknowns: Jimmy Martin, Lionel Platts, Dave Thomas, George Will, Jimmy Hitchcock. Platts beat Tommy Jacobs today, and Will drew with Don January - but the hosts won only five of the 16 singles. Peter Alliss beat Major winners Billy Casper and Ken Venturi, but the US won the match 19½-12½.

1991
Five matches in the rugby union World Cup, including three wins for countries from the British Isles.

Scotland and Ireland had been drawn in the same group. Today they reached the quarter-finals with the usual facile victories over the two minnows. At Murrayfield, Ivan Tukalo scored three of Scotland's eight tries in a 51-12 win. Captain and full-back Peter Dods kicked five conversions and two penalties, while Zimbabwe's points came from two converted tries by giant prop Adrian Garvey, who later played for South Africa.

Ireland had a tougher time in Dublin, out-scoring Japan by only four tries to three and needing four penalty goals from Ralph Keyes to stretch the final score to 32-16.

Over in Pontypool, Western Samoa were playing again, only three days after their shock win over Wales (October 6). Group favourites Australia had two days' more rest, which may have made all the difference in a gruelling grind of a game. The worst conditions of the tournament - mist and heavy rain - turned the match into one long rolling maul. No back play to speak of, and no tries. Australia adapted better than people thought they might, and were satisfied to win only 9-3, Michael Lynagh kicking three penalty goals, the last with only a few minutes to go. The win came at a cost: early knee damage for scrum-half Nick Farr-Jones, which kept him out of the last group match against Wales...

...who beat Argentina in Cardiff today. But they were unconvincing again, glaringly short of quality. Mark Ring kicked three penalties but missed several others. Hardly surprising, given that he'd recently hurt his knee by practising place kicks too much! Luckily for Wales, Argentina couldn't land their goals either. They dominated possession after half-time, forcing their hosts to defend for long periods - but lost by the same margin they started the half with. Ring kicked his three penalties in the first, Mike Rayer another one in the second, and both sides scored a try. The 16-7 scoreline wasn't enough to lift Welsh confidence before the dreaded encounter with Australia (October 12).

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