As 2015 draws to a close, Osman Samiuddin picks his best moments from the year in sport.
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Best celebration — Shapoor Zadran
Can there have been any celebration more heartfelt, from deeper inside the core of human happiness than Zadran’s football-style run after flicking a boundary to seal Afghanistan’s first World Cup win? So what if it came against another Associate in Scotland? Not only did it seal a thrilling one-wicket win, it was the first culmination of one of sport’s most amazing stories.
Best fall — Usain Bolt
You could feel the tension of the entire sporting world descend on Beijing in August. Bolt was taking on Justin Gatlin, a battle between good and evil, in the 100m and 200m sprints. The future of athletics, people worried, depended on Bolt winning. He won both and the world was still exhaling with relief when unexpected comedy cut through the tension. Bolt was taking a lap of honour when a Chinese cameraman, on a Segway crashed into his back, knocking him over. It could be the ungainliest Bolt has ever looked publicly.
Best goal — Lionel Messi
You could compile an entire list of Barcelona goals from this year, let them fight it out to see which is best and nobody would complain about the goal that comes out top. What goal, though, can better Messi’s second, in the Uefa Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich? Messi himself has scored from further, or beaten more players to goal but there was something in how he dinked and left Jerome Boateng on his backside, before chipping the best goalkeeper in the world like he was a 12-inch porcelain doll. Genius.
Best hype — Mayweather v Pacquiao
The fight had been years and years in the making. Forget that every year it did not happen and with each loss for the challenger, the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao lost a little lustre. Pacquiao could have been boxing with one arm and the spinmasters on both sides would have turned this into the greatest fight of the century. Ultimately, it was not a great fight, but with that kind of build-up, did it really matter?
Best gesture — Sonny Bill Williams
Athletes are derided for how removed they are from the general public and usually with justification. But if there is a better exception to the rule than Williams this year, then we have not seen it. After helping the All Blacks to the World Cup, he spotted a 14-year-old fan running on to the field to celebrate, only to be tackled by security guards. Williams intervened before, in a remarkable gesture, he handed the fan the medal he had won moments earlier.
