[Closed] What was the most amazing sporting event you have ever witnessed?

In person: watching Britain's first yellow jersey winner secure our first TdF win in the individual TT at Chartres. We were in the crowd cheering him on the podium. Millar and Cav signed my kids jerseys. Sir Dave signed mine. The Paris stage was icing on the cake, but we watched that on TV the next day.

On TV: Must be Liverpool in Istanbul. I sent (the now, but then much younger) teen1 to bed telling him there was no point staying up!

On TV; still the RWC 2003 - I was living in Germany and i was up at silly o'clock after a major session the night before to watch it. My breakfast was a neat double jim beam and a beer

In person; probably one of my favourites was a Halifax vs Wigan game back in the 90's at thrum hall. Wigan were on an unbeaten run and were favourites for the game. It was the Edwards/Offiah/Robinson/Farrell/Tuigmala/Connolly era and Fax beat them.
I was in the scratching shed with my dad and sisters, not sure why as we pretty much always watched from the cricket ground end, but the atmosphere and the noise in the ground was insane. Huge chants of YORKSHIRE, YORKSHIRE, YORKSHIRE.... drowning out anything the fairly large contingent of Wigan fans who'd headed over could come up with.

Another one was the Fax vs Australia touring game in 1994 again at thrum hall. Brilliant game even though we lost, but the aussies had to play some proper rugby to win it.

Shrewsbury Town vs Everton, January 2003

We were pretty much bottom of the league, they were about 6th in the premier league. We had just been battered 5-0 by Rushden & Diamonds, they had a lot of hype building around this kid 'Wayne Rooney'.

Then, at a corner, Nigel Jemson bundled in a header in the 89th minute. I was on the terraces at the other end trying to work out whether it had actually gone in 😀

In person - 1987 World Athletics Champs in Rome.
In the space of about an hour, Ben Johnson won the 100m Final (new world record, since banned of course), Stefka Kostadinova won the Womens' High Jump in a new world record, and a local boy (Francesco Panetta) won the 3000m steeplechase.

On TV.
Cav being lead out by Wiggo in yellow in the final stage of the 2012 TdF

And how about Bruno having the audacity to wobble Tyson – had he followed that up rather than stand back thinking 'ohh shit, I have hurt him, he'll be properly mad now' the outcome *could* have been different.

In person: London 2012 Paralympics velodrome - including when Jamie Cundy lost it big time after his false start that wasn't.
There's something humbling when you realise that you'd get royally beaten by an amputee.

Mississippi State Bulldogs against Ole Miss rebels at the Hump (Humphrey Coliseum - the toughest venue in the Southeastern Conference). 10,645 people in an indoor stadium! It was loud, and lively, and Bulldogs won!
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There's lots of great moments and a lot of them have been covered above so I'm going to go for one that altered my long term perception as well as being brilliant in the moment.

Ellie Simmonds winning the 400m freestyle in the London 2012 Paralympics. That was the event that made me think differently about Paralympic sport, the first time I can recall not giving the disability a thought and just marvelling at the effort and the sheer excellence of the execution. It was a beautifully timed effort, on the shoulder of the lead swimmer right up to the last length then one almighty effort to overhaul her.

Race starts at 3:55

I was at the Munich olympics in 72 and the marathon was going on and there was intermittent commentary going on but our main focus was in the stadium Mary Peters was winning a gold medal and there was an epic pole vault struggle going on between the last 2 men left in . All of a sudden the crowd went wild as the leader of the marathon entered the stadium although he wasn't expected to be leading . It turned out that he was a random bloke who just dressed as an athlete and ran into the stadium just before the leaders and he was arrested as he crossed the line . Looking back it just seems so surreal that it was possible to do that in a world before mobile phones , LCD screens in stadiums etc . It was also a bit of light hearted fun in an olympics in which so many athletes lost their lives .

Beckham and Greece, isn't that a case of massive overhype, he ran around for half the game like a headless chicken so the team had no shape, missed 7 "trademark freekicks" before finally getting one in to secure a draw so we scraped qualification from what should have been a relatively easy group.

That's how I recalled it too! 😐

Some great choices above, but I'd also add Redgrave's 5th Olympic gold as that was far closer than everyone would have hoped.

On TV: 1991 world champs 4x400 relay

In person: TDF London 2007

In person, The World Speedway final at Wembley Stadium in 1972.
Watching Le Tour just outside Reeth.

On tv it has to be the 2001 Stanley Cup final where Joe Sakic the Colorado Avalanche captain, received the cup & instead of traditionally raising it above his head, turned around & handed it to Ray Bourque. (who up to that point had won just about everything ice hockey has to offer, except Lord Stanleys legacy) Very moving moment.

In person, 1999 European Cup Final. I didn't even see Ole's winner as I was still celebrating the equaliser 😳

On TV, any of the individual track golds won by Jason Kenny or Chris Hoy.....they leave me an emotional wreck.

Best on TV

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F.A Cup Final[/url]

Best live

2014 and the Tour came to Harrogate ... rumours had built for a year or so but until it actually came to town I never thought it would happen.

Though this may be beaten in 2019

Cleland v Soper at Silverstone final race of the1992 BTCC. Truly epic.

Probably doesn't count as an event, but Leicester winning the league is the most amazing thing I've seen happen in sport. 2005 Ashes was also a fantastic series with more twists and turns than a twisty turny thing. As a one off, probably Aguerrrooo. In person, watching Southend beat Newcastle 4-0, briefly topping the second division (still their highest ever spot).

Agree on track cycling. I've seen World Cup events in Manchester and saw the World Champs in London last year when the mens pursuit team (and our local boy Ed) got beaten by the Aussies which whilst on the night was a disappointment fired them right up for Rio. Trott on the other hand didn't disappoint.

Soooo intense.

Mansell on Piquet, Silverstone, 1987

Our girls breaking the world record 6 (iirc) times in 6 consecutive heats/finals in the pursuit in the velodrome (think 4 were in the limpicks, and 2 in prior event?)

Dennis Taylor

Jonny Wilkinson

All the above are more "memorable" than most amazing (although the team pursuit girls were certainly amazing).

Best live, without a doubt the Tour in Yorkshire 2014, amazing atmosphere.

Second hand/telly the Ashes series of 1981.

Women's hockey final Rio 2016.

Women's hockey final Rio 2016.

Yeah! That good...

I'm not a huge football fan but I follow Everton. Went to watch them by chance vs Arsenal in 2002 when Rooney scored *that* goal to mark his arrival and take the win. Atmosphere was amazing, might have got carried away singing...

Dennis Taylor

Was at Wembley when Frank Bruno beat Oliver McAll. Nigel Benn on the undercard too! Not up there as a great fight but a fantastic achievement for Bruno. Shame about the following years of decline!

When I was 9, watching my old man burst out of the pack in a road race with about 300 metres to go to the line.
Didn't know it was him until he was much closer and you could see his yellow and black crash hat.
Hearing people around me shouting and cheering his name as he came past in full flow to win made the hairs on the back of neck stand up. Proud moment

We've all watched stuff on TV so my three greatest "in person" ones are:

Davis Cup, Glasgow 2015 James Ward v John Isner. Andy Murray had just won and the crowd expected number 100+ Ward to put up a brave fight but lose pluckily to huge serving, 20th ranked, Isner.

In the first two sets Ward battled but lost 7-6, 7-5 - making no impression on the American's serve. In the third he finally got a break and took it 6-3. The crowd lifted and the noise started rising. The fourth went to a tie break. Isner was still hammering down aces but Ward, instead of floundering after the big serves was ready, on his toes, anticipating them. Ward played out of his skin to take the tie break.

The crowd was now going ballistic. I thought the roof was going to come off. Both men were playing phenomenal tennis. Every point had to be won with something extraordinary. Every success or failure greeted by a huge roar or groan. At one point I went up to the very top of the stand and gazed down at the two gladatorial figures - it could have been the Colisseum in ancient Rome.

THe fifth set went on and on. Neither man yielding his serve. Both players were giving their all to the extent that, by about 10 games all, I no longer really minded who won. Both deserved to. Finally, Ward glimpsed a chance and broke to win 6-7, 5-7. 6-3, 7-6, 15-13 in exactly 5hrs. 6,000 Scots roaring their heads off for an Englishmen - I've never seen the like.

I was at Silverstone for Mansell/Piquet 1987 as well.

Also got tickets for Last years Wimbledon mens final.(No one believed they were genuine, couldn't believe it myself) That was a once in a life time event for me. Made better by the fact that the Mrs is a tennis fan and was just fit enough to go after a heart op and her birthday is close enough for this to be her present and I kept it quiet until a week before the final which Murray won. I still can't believe it actually happened.

And lastly, myself completing a lap at this years Mayhem without killing myself in the process as I'm the wrong side of 60 with 3 stents from 2 heart attacks.

Peaty world cup win I was there with my son the place just erupted

Forgot the other two....

Imola WSB 2001 - Colin Edwards beating Troy Bayliss in one of the greatest motorcycle races of all time to win one of the greatest titles of all time. Edwards only needed to finish second to snatch the title but the pair broke away from the field and battled like madmen for the entire race to prove who was the top dog, with utter disregard for anything else. I was lucky enough to watch from the pitlane.

The Earthquake Game. 1988 LSU v Auburn at Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, La. LSU's offence had been shut out by Auburn but in their final drive they got down the field and on 4th down threw a TD pass into the endzone to win 7-6. The 79,000 crowd went totally mental and it was registered as an earthquake by a seismograph located in LSU’s Geoscience Complex around 1,000 feet (305 m) from the stadium.

Oh, one more. Scotland 25 NZ 25 at Murrayfield in 1983. A last minute equalizing try by Jim Pollock sent the huge crowd wild but Peter Dods narrowly missed the touchline conversion. What an atmosphere! I can still remember it like yesterday......

I was impressed the first time I saw this in the park in the Toon.

In person Reading winning Simod Cup. As a child dad waking me up to watch Ali v Foreman.

Having moved to cowtown this year, attended my first ever rodeo on the opening day of stampede Friday gone. Totally new experience, was pretty cool/mental.

On tv, probably Button's win at the 2011 Canadian grand prix.

In person would be at Highbury when Steve Bould chipped the ball over Evertons midfield to Tony Adams to score, the most unlikely goal scoring duo! think it was around 98? and Arsenal won 4-0

@caher 🙂

Although my sister swears the semi-final against Coventry was better; Elm Park, still standing terraces, night game under lights, win on penalties (although we don't talk about THEM!) - but I was away at University so didn't see that game.

Sir Steve winning his 5th Olympic Gold in Sydney in 2000. Awesome dedication to his sport.

For me it has to be Colin McRae winning the 1995 rally at Sweet Lamb to become WRC world champion.

As he came through the bowl in Sweet Lamb, the whole place went electric. I can't remember a crowd like it since with fireworks and horns going off everywhere.

We were all listening on the radios to hear Carlos Sainz's time, knowing what the difference would have to be for McRae to win. When we heard he had won, the whole place erupted.

Had completely forgotten about that, thanks for the magical memories.

Bruno Vs Tyson.

Not just the fight itself but the build-up, etc. And perhaps more "how the hell did Bruno get to fight Tyson?"

Landis taking his emphatic heroic tour-winning stage victory in Morzine.

Must be me age, but McGuigan beating Pedroza and Honeyghan going to America and destroying Don Curry were far more amazing than Bruno-Tyson to me!

I am a McGuigan fan as well, but the whole Bruno thing just had more "theatre" surrounding the fight, etc.

And maybe just watching it live on TV with family and friends. No-one expected Bruno to stand a chance and that was evident during the fight but still great fun.

In person, Edgebaston aged 8:

That was the summer that got me hooked on cricket. Used to get in and watch it with my dad...fantastic times 🙂
Even had one of Beefy's bats as a friend of the family worked at DF making them for him and, when he found out I'd started playing, did an extra one to exact same spec as Beefy's. Bit heavy for me at the time but it broke in so well and had a middle that seemed to go from the toe to the grip. Was a sad day when it gave up the ghost after about 8 years service 🙁

every time I see those Botham films, does make me wonder if the defensive shot wasn't introduced to Australia until the 90's. They only lost by 29 runs yet four of those wickets were total swipes!

Three stand out for me.

Liverpool vs Newcastle 4-3 Stan collymore injury time winner. Such a bonkers game!

Liverpool vs Milan champions league win. Comeback of all comebacks

Miracle of medinah. Another unbelievable come back.

It's obviously something delicious about the swing in emotions when victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat. Nothing like it.

It's obviously something delicious about the swing in emotions when victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat.

[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1006644.stm ]Match report[/url]

I believe the loudest ever recorded noise at a Premiership match was recorded there - and I was at the match to savour every last minute of it 🙂

It's obviously something delicious about the swing in emotions when victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat.

The English cricket team have a very good ability of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory... 😉

Liverpool vs Milan champions league win. Comeback of all comebacks

It's obviously something delicious about the swing in emotions when victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat. Nothing like it.

Indeed. its that that made the 99 Champions league final such a classic. They think its all over.....

What made the Liverpool game so outstanding was an individual performance too. Stevie Gerard was immense in that game. You'd be hard pressed to come up with a more inspiring and passionate captains performance. Incredible!

Seve winning the Open at St Andrews in 1984, the last day sitting on the grass at the 17 the road hole from 9am.
Seeing Colin Macrae in Perthshire forests flat out in an Escort a visual and audial delight

dan129 - Member

In person would be at Highbury when Steve Bould chipped the ball over Evertons midfield to Tony Adams to score, the most unlikely goal scoring duo! think it was around 98? and Arsenal won 4-0

As it turned out we stayed up by an absolute arse hair the last game of the season [drew with Coventry whilst Chelsea beat Bolton].

Slightly different. I was in the Olympic Park for hockey matches in the morning then hung around soaking up the atmosphere, before Basketball in teh evening.

We (and 10,000 others) were watching the final rounds on the show jumping on the big screens. You could have heard a pin drop. A couple of people were shouting and were hushed in case it upset the horses (who were over 5 miles away). When the final rider went clear and Team GB had gold the place went mad.

As an F1 fan it has to be Jenson in Canada.

This all reminds me of BBC2's 100 greatest sporting moments from the 80's

My two best mates in the back room at The Old Barrel on a Sunday afternoon, having an arm wrestle for a quid

In person it's got to be the finale to the Wigan v Saints Good Friday derby 2015. Tony Clubb's tackling and Saints' forgetting the tackle count added up to an awesome finish.

Haven't really watched a lot of sport, so nothing that I was really invested in, but the most "WTAF just happened" was probably Germany-Brazil in 2014.. They just kept scoring! Watched it in a hotel bar in Caen, surrounded by some sort of works trip made up of about 20 Germans and one Brazilian guy 😀

timb34 - Member

Haven't really watched a lot of sport, so nothing that I was really invested in, but the most "WTAF just happened" was probably Germany-Brazil in 2014.. They just kept scoring! Watched it in a hotel bar in Caen, surrounded by some sort of works trip made up of about 20 Germans and one Brazilian guy

For pure jaw dropping sporting incident, it has to be Sagan crashing at Flanders this year. We were on the barriers about 10ft from where he clipped a fellas jacket and he went down with Naesen and Van Avermaet. Gilbert's lead was pretty much insurmountable after that. As Inner Ring would say - it was where the race was won. We were on the peasants' side of the course with the VIPs opposite - clearly many of them had a few quid of Sagan or GVA to win - I had a fiver on Gilbert. Pure drama, adrenaline and blind panic. Awesome.

That was like a batting collapse in cricket - psychological contagion, where the whole team just collectively loses their bottle. You can see how it happens in cricket, but quite rare to see in football.

But it's also in several people's moments above - I'm thinking the Instanbul CL Final. We watched the first half in the pub and at halftime my mates said it was done and over and we should go to a quieter pub with better beer / a curry. I said let's give it 5-10 mins, if Liverpool get a goal it could all change. Then at 2 behind, another goal can come anytime and then you're a moment away, the difference between a 3 goal lead and 2 goal lead is huge.

And then Milan just collectively lost their bottle - you could see the body language was 'shit - we were 3-0 up and we might screw this up' and then panic sets in.

It's the aspect of sport that fascinates me, they ALL have the best skills, but who can do it when the pressures properly on, and who crumples. If there was no such thing as pressure, no-one would ever miss a penalty again.

In person
Gazza at Wembley

April 1989: Scores his first international goal to help England to a 5-0 win over Albania.

The ashes series of 2005. A full summer of scintillating, topsy turvy cricket that went to the final day of the final test with everything to play for. After decades of decline we suddenly had a team. A bloody good team that could bat, bowl and catch the bloody ball! And we won the ashes back. I personally don't think there is a sweeter triumph in sport than that. More impressive, more valuable, more important? Perhaps. Sweeter. Nope.

and catch the bloody ball!

every time I see Strauss's catch I have to rewind it and watch again.

'I've got that...... no, it's just a bit too far....... but if I REALLY stretch then......yep!'

Scotland v France to win the grand slam in 84. Spine tingling and first time at Murrayfield.

McRae Wrc in 95 - epic And watched through kielder.

On tv, Stephen Roche almost catching Delgado.

Not everyones cup of tea, but someone mentioned Dennis Taylor above and it reminded me of Cliff Thorburn making the first ever televised 147. I was 9 at the time and seeing the players on the other table stop their match to watch around the screen made you realize just how special a moment it was.

Cleland v Soper at Silverstone final race of the1992 BTCC. Truly epic.

Cleland v Mansel 1998 Donington

Not a big sport fan but do enjoy bits. But I loved this on TV. Watched BTCC at Knockhill a few times motor sport is sometimes better on TV than picking a corner on the track IMO/

In person, Munster winning the Heineken Cup against Biarritz in Cardiff after being the nearly-boys for so many years. I remember the big screen switching to pictures of O'Connell street in Limerick which was just a sea of humanity. The crowd there knew we could all see them. And we knew they were watching us. If there's ever been a moment where a crowd hundreds of miles away influenced a game, that was it. (Of course many said it was unfair on Biarritz which was probably true; not that we gave a shite!)

Also in person, Liverpool absolutely mugging Arsenal for the FA cup in 2001. Outplayed for most of the game. The Henchoz handball and Owen's goal to make it 2-1. All in blazing sunshine, and a brilliant pre- and post-match atmosphere between all the fans.

On TV in a pub...the green machine's Grand Slam and RoI beating Romania on penalties to reach the quarter finals of Italia '90.

gawd, how could I forget this.......

I was at University, had finished my finals 4 days before the start of Italia 90 and the whole remaining term was devoted to watching the football and having fun. No-one had a TV and watching in pubs wasn't really a thing yet, so we were watching in the college TV room, while the Arts Society (tried to) stage open air Shakespeare in the grounds.

Blokes who were only watching the play to appear sensitive (and to get in girls pants) went from dropping in to check the score every now and then, to dropping in and watching a bit under the pretence of going to the bar or having a wee, to dropping in because frankly, it was rapidly becoming the only thing worth watching. So when Platty scored that goal the place went absolutely beserk, and lives were nearly lost as the audience for As You Like It suddenly decided they didn't like it and wanted to watch something else instead and stampeded for the TV room.

I never saw the restart or the final whistle, being near the bottom of a 200 man pile on. Brilliant.

On TV Stephen Roche 1987 La Plagne and Lemond winning v Fignon are up there and also England v Scotland and Gazza's goal in the pub and

In person - Peaty worlds , watching Great Britain v Brazil football with my lad at the Olympics and Graham Noyce at Farleigh Castle on the way to winning the worlds

March 1997 UEFA Cup Quarter Finals, Dundee United -v- Barcelona. United won 2-1 at home and 1-0 away.

Lee Bowyer scoring past Dida in the 2000 Champions League. I was sat parallel to the edge of the area at the Revie Stand end. Its fair to say the place errupted.

I'm a huge Leeds fan and theres not been too much to cheer about in my lifetime but the most amazing sporting event I've not quite witnessed but was listening to on the radio was when Johnny Howson scored against Brizzle to send Leeds up a few years back. My youngest was about 2 at the time and I remember him screaming because he thought something had gone wrong with his dad!

Since I grew up in South Africa:

1992 Cricket World Cup Semi-Final vs England: 22 off 1 ball

1995 Rugby world cup vs New Zealand

Other than that, the comeback by Team Oracle against NZ in the last Americas Cup.

few great northern Irish sporting moments

1982 World Cup beating the hosts Spain with 10 men.
Barry McGuigans world championship fight 1985 and Dennis Taylor's World championship the same year.
Joey dunlops 26th TT

NI qualifying for the euros
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3pATNG0RlxA