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Reactions Your most memorable 2002 World Sport momentsPosted: Thursday January 02, 2003 5:14 PMWe asked you to share your most memorable sporting moment of 2002, and the following is a selection of the responses. You have to consider France's surprise rugby Grand Slam this year as a great event. Not only did they beat England, whom everyone seemed to consider invisible, they became the first team to accomplish the sweep in the six-team tournament.
Lance Armstrong's fourth straight Tour de France victory, hands down, nothing comes even remotely close this year in sports.
Most memorable sporting moment is probably the second Ronaldo touched the ball for the VERY first time in the World Cup in the first-round game against Turkey. All the glory that was to follow emerged from that one moment. Also in the soccer realm: Real Madrid winning the European Champions League and Super Cup, especially with Zidane and Roberto Carlos "rediscovering" their feet!
Twelve years and 12 Grand Slams after defeating Andre Agassi to claim his first U.S. Open and Grand Slam Title, Pistol Pete defies the odds and claims his 5th U.S. Open title and Grand Slam number 14 against non-other than Agassi him self in what could be a storybook ending to an illustrious career.
The sight of Cafu lifting the World Cup trophy for an unprecedented fifth time by Brazil will forever remain in my memory. This is after all the trouble I went through to convince people around that Brazil are still the best when it comes to entertaining football, popularly called samba. Ronaldo also came back with a bang after most people had written him off. Brazil, thank you and may we see more of our stars doing what they do best in 2003.
The best moment of 2002 was the United States men's soccer team outplaying Germany in every way during the quarterfinals of the World Cup. We showed the world that the United States is awesome at everything we do! Players like Landon Donovan just go to show that everything coming from the U.S. is amazing!
My most memorable sporting moment of 2002 is the penalty kick of David Bechkam against Argentina. Besides all the pressure he kept his cool and scored. I also won't forget this moment because I was watching the game in movie hall and when he turned the penalty to goal I poured 2 liters of Coke on a person standing in front of me.
For me the most memorable moment concerning sports in 2002 was actually directly after the final of the soccer World Cup when Oliver Kahn, world's greatest goalkeeper, was consoled by Pierluigi Collina (the referee), for his mistake that caused finally the loss of the final, striking Ronaldo straight into our hopes to become world champion. This mistake showed that also people like Kahn CAN make mistakes and show emotions. The gesture of Collina also symbolizes that soccer is still sports and its fascination spreads all over the world.
For me, it was the U.S. beating Mexico at the World Cup. For years, the U.S. has been beating Mexico regularly but the usual Mexican response was that the "games did not count." Here, on the biggest stage, the Mexicans rolled over and died.
In fact it was worse, as it became clear they were outplayed, they reacted like an L.A. street gang on a wilding. The sheer joy and happiness on the faces of the U.S. players (and mine also!) was priceless.
My most memorable sporting moment of 2002 was the skydiving world record 300 person freefall formation completed in Eloy, Arizona on 14 December. The degree of dedication, skill and commitment shown by the organizers, participants, pilots and support crew means it is highly unlikely this mark will ever be bettered.
I think most memorable sporting moment of 2002 was the Russian team's Davis Cup victory. It was an absolutely interesting and memorable moment.
Pete Sampras winning the U.S. Open. Written off by all the critics so-called tennis "experts," not having won a tournament since Wimbledon and facing a barrage of young guns, Pete proved once and for all he's got all the makings of a true champion. To defeat Agassi, Haas, Rusedski, Roddick et al and lift that trophy will always remain as one of the highlights of the year. Sure, Serena and Lleyton confirmed their status as queen and king of the courts but they're young and have a good 10 more years left in them. But to come back from Neverland and win his 14th Grand Slam, Sampras proved his pedigree with such class and mastery, it's mind boggling.
When the U.S. went up 3-0 on Portugal, I fell to my knees and screamed. My soccer-hating roommates woke up (at 4:00 AM) and watched the rest of the game with me. Then they watched the rest of the Cup with me and we played small-sided games in the afternoon. We had a blast and I converted some naysayers.
Later on in the year, I was watching the L.A. Galaxy in the MLS Cup with the same friends. When Ruiz won it, we all fell to our knees (just like Ruiz did! aaahh thinking of that still gives me goosebumps) and then went nuts.
The most memorable world sport moment of 2002 had to be the gold medal victories by Canada's Olympic Men's and Women's Ice Hockey teams in Salt Lake City. The Women's team was a definite underdog going into the gold medal game against the U.S. women. History and the Canadian team's past performance dictated that they would be relegated to a silver medal behind the U.S. The American team held a decided edge in previous meetings and was playing on home ice. However the Canadian women defied all odds and were victorious in a great 3-2 victory and had every Canadian on this planet wearing the maple leaf with pride. The Men's team were under more pressure by there citizens to bring home nothing but the gold medal. It had been 50 years since the country that created the greatest game on earth had won gold. With each goal right down to the fans in arena signing the national anthem in the closing minutes of the game, a celebration of national joy and pride erupted from the East to the West of Canada. The celebrations in this country were equivalent to a country winning the World Cup of Soccer. The American public can relate to this feeling when there men's team won gold in Lake Placid in 1980.
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