Magic Moments

Editor-in-Chief Elgar Johnson shares his 8 magic moments in sporting history.

Usain Bolt – 2009

In 2009 I was in Ibiza sitting in a bar with some friends readying ourselves for the men’s 100m final, the headline event of the World Athletics championships held in Berlin (we were also getting ready to go out – I’m not so boring that I would go to Ibiza just to watch sport on TV). The previous year Jamaican star sprinter Usain Bolt had almost strolled to a new world record at the Olympics, and even slightly eased off before the line. At 6ft 5, Bolt defied all the rules of being a sprinter: he was too tall and way too gangly… but he effectively re-wrote the rulebook in 2009 after slightly unfair accusations that he was a lazy athlete. Bolt took to the 100m final and ran through the line taking apart his previous WR of 9.69 seconds with a ridiculous 9.58s, leaving a world-class field looking like they were running backwards. The record still very much remains today. Oh, and just to note he also obliterated Michael Johnson’s long-standing 200m world record of 19.32s replacing it with 19.19s a few days later. Usain Bolt was the rawest of talents with the world at his feet.

Liverpool Istanbul –  2005

I was living in the Docklands when this game took place, and at half time I was pretty close to chucking myself in the Thames. My team Liverpool were 3-0 down to a good but not spectacular AC Milan, inspired by the brilliant Kaka. This felt like the longest evening ever. I was sitting in a flat that had been broken into a few weeks earlier and I was thinking, “God, life is rubbish”. Then step forward Steven Gerrard. I wouldn’t go as far to say that Steven Gerrard changed my life, but the way he single-handedly dragged his team back into a game they were well and truly out of, did make me think anything is possible. I had been banging on about Gerrard being the best player in the world at the time (remember how he reverted to right-back to mark Serginho out of the game at the same time as dominating the midfield), so I felt well and truly justified as Liverpool created the greatest comeback in a football match ever (until they did it again against Barcelona in 2019). This was one of the greatest nights of my life and I’m pretty certain I’m still blocked from some people’s phones because of it.

Flo Jo – 1988

The soundtrack was Nenéh Cherry, Soul 2 Soul and Mantronix. The movies were Coming To America , Die Hard and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The trainers were LA Gear, SPX and British Knights. The style was Buffalo and FLO JO!

Not for want of trying, but no track and field athlete had brought a sense of style and glamour to the sport like Florence Griffith Joyner. Still the fastest women over 100m and 200m, Flo Jo’s iconic outfits and nails were like the perfect mash-up of Mary J Blige and Diahann Carroll.

The Seoul Olympics, slightly scarred by the drug taking of Ben Johnson, belonged to Flo Jo. The world watched in shock as she smashed the 100m record and then the 200m record, firstly in the semi-final and then again in the final. This was nothing less than extraordinary, especially as both records still stand and despite leaving a trail of beaten athletes in her wake, she never looked out of breath. Flo Jo was the king and queen of sprinting.

Torvill and Dean – 1984

This was the year of the Bolero. Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean basically gave us Dynasty on Ice. It screamed everything about the 1980s. It had sexual overtones,  it was joyously camp and wildly dramatic. Actor Michael Crawford (of Phantom Of The Opera the musical fame) was added to their team to teach them how to perform. I think it’s fair to say he did a good job. Over 24 million people in the UK alone tuned in to watch Torvill and Dean at the Winter Olympics, which wasn’t far off the 30 million that watched Den serve divorce papers to Ange in EastEnders – my barometer for any type of TV ratings success. Aside from the dramatics, Torvill and Dean’s scores were incredible, securing 12 perfect 6.0s and six 5.9s from the judges, and let’s not forget the clean sweep of 6.0 from all the judges for artistic impression. Is there anything more British and nostalgic than talking about how we all watched the Bolero on Grandstand?

Tiger Woods – 1997

Tiger Woods won his first golfing major at the tender age of 21, and simultaneously became the fastest player ever to ascend to the top of the world rankings. I’m not the biggest fan of golf, but this sensational moment in sport encouraged me to take part, getting all the gear and the clubs (with no idea what I was doing), and buying all things Tiger Woods/Nike-related that I could possibly get my hands on. Tiger was a true sporting phenomenon and a child prodigy, first profiled on the iconic TV show Transworld Sport as one to watch, and he changed the sport forever. Tiger Woods would go on to dominate the sport for years to come, racking up 15 majors and coming second only to Jack Nicklaus with 82 PGA wins. 

Injury and personal problems slowed Tiger’s pace down, but he did make one of sport’s greatest comebacks in 2019, winning the Masters. Tiger’s impact on the sport will most likely never be equalled for various reasons, and he will be remembered forever as the man who brought golf into popular culture.

Serena Williams – 2017

Emma Raducanu – 2021 

Technically these are two moments but as it’s the same sport it would be wrong not to mention both.

First up, arguably the greatest tennis player ever, Serena Williams. Serena and her sister Venus burst onto the scene in the late 90s and brought a new style of tennis, with a physicality never seen before and they went on to dominate the sport and became global superstars. Despite all their incredible success it was Serena Williams’ victory at the Australian Open in 2017 that really hit home, especially when she announced months later she was 20 weeks pregnant which meant, after doing the math, that she was eight weeks pregnant at the time of her latest grand slam success. This confirmed Serena as not so much a superhuman, as many referred to her, but as the highest possible level of athlete. Serena has inspired so many and continues to do so but I don’t think any of her many achievements could equal this incredible moment.

As for Emma Raducanu, let’s be clear that if she doesn’t win another game, tournament or Grand Slam, she has achieved something nobody else could. A qualifier at the 2021 US Open at the age of just 18, Raducanu went all the way and won the final grand slam of the year. The sporting world was shook and overnight she became a household name. There are so many things to unravel here. Firstly, she was the first British woman to win a grand slam since 1977 and no one ever really came close. Her ranking was in the 300s which meant she had to go through qualifying rounds before even getting to the official event and to top it off completed her first Grand Slam victory without even dropping a set! So this was a behemoth of an effort and we all need to remember that tennis players can go through their whole career without achieving what she has in a remarkably short amount of time.

Tyson v Buster Douglas – 1990

I think I actually cried in 1990 when the previously unbeatable Mike Tyson was defeated and shocked by one of the biggest outsiders in sport history, Buster Douglas. 

Tyson had created this almost mythical superhero persona: he was indestructible, untouchable and the greatest boxer of his generation (which incidentally was one of the greatest generations of heavyweights). Staying up late to watch a big fight on a Saturday night had become a treat growing up. I felt like an adult although I was usually so tired when the fights started, I would get quite emotional and probably quite awkward towards the end especially if the result didn’t go the way I wanted. Buster Douglas entered the ring as a nobody and then within an hour the whole world was talking about him. The fight went back and forth, with Tyson knocking Douglas down in the 8th round, but it was in the 10th round when a stunned Tyson was sent crashing to the mat for his first ever knockout. I was one of the many calling for a rematch which for whatever reason never happened. Douglas would go on to lose his title in his next fight with Evander Holyfield. This was Boxing at its finest, all the bravado and glamour and a late Saturday night staying up with my family and friends pretending to get drunk on bass shandy.

Jonah Lomu – 1995

At 6ft 5 and almost 19 stone, Jonah Lomu was a true eighth wonder of the world. He could run the 100m in 11 seconds. Nobody that big should be able to move that quick. The 1995 rugby world cup will be remembered unfortunately for England (Mike Catt in particular) witnessing Lomu steamroll his way through the majority of their team on his way to leading the All Blacks to another World Cup final which they would eventually lose to a very well-equipped South Africa. 

Lomu is joint holder of the record of most tries (15) scored in a World Cup (this was over just two tournaments), and he would go on to play for numerous teams with varied success, but always getting massive audience numbers everywhere he went. He influenced me to believe that I should play rugby, although that lasted precisely one game when I realised I wasn’t him and was more of a football-head. New Zealand’s greatest secret weapon unfortunately passed away in 2015 at the tragically young age of 40, but his impact on the sport but all of us who witnessed that performance, will live on in memory forever.  

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