Ten Breathtaking, Shocking or just Plain Brilliant Moments in Sports

Continuing on my series of Ten Amazing Moments in Sports (previous ones: here, and here, and here, and here ) ... here are another ten moments in the history of sports that made the world stand on its feet, or just get shocked for a few seconds, showed an extraordinary skill that will never be matched again. Very unusual, strange and freakish moments...

Make sure you raise the volume!


1- Monica Seles Stabbed

She was on ruling the tennis world winning one tennis tournament after another, when a psycho threw a knife at her back during a game. The man was German and he wanted the number #2 player Graf to climb to the number one spot instead of Seles. Indeed she did.

Seles came back to play 2 years later but did not reach her pre-injury level.



2- Wrong Way!! Wrong Way!!
I don't watch 'American' football, but this incident in 1964 happens once in a million years. This Vikings player grabbed the ball and ran with it without any resistance from the opposing team for a very good reason: he was running to the wrong side of the field.



3- Maradona Fighting Back
While playing for Barcelona in 1984, Maradona was deliberately injured by Atheltico Bilbao's defender Goikoetxea. Goikoetxea was proud of injuring Maradona and kept the shoes he used to injure him in a glass box. Maradona suffered severely but was able to return for the second part of the league, and this time Maradona started a terrible fight against Bilbao players. Many of his teammates joined him and the field was a mess.

It took an intervention by the Spanish King, yes the King Juan Carlos to end the war between both campaigns after he called both players together to his palace days later and asked them to shake hands.

Here's the fight:


4- Panenka's Precious Penalty
It was the final game of the 1976 European Championship (Euro 76 if you like!) between Czechoslovakia and Germnay. It went to penalty shootouts. Germany missed a penalty and the Czechs had one last penalty, if scored would give them the championship. Antonin Panenka stepped up and in this critical moment decided to experiment with this new penalty kick. This type of shooting a penalty was named after him. Zidane scored from a Panenka penalty in the 2006 World Cup final.

Check the video to see whether or not Panenka scored.



Trivia: the German player who missed (Hoeness) is currently the director of Bayern Munich.

5- Three Seconds.
This is possibly the most controversial gold medal match in Olympic history. USA and the USSR played the final game in basketball. Up to that game the US had never lost a single game in their Olympic history. It was close game however with the Americans leading 50-49 with 3 seconds remaining. The Russians played those 3 seconds without scoring, however those 3 seconds were replayed three times for various reasons and following mixed decisions from different people. In the third replay the Russians scored and won 51-50. The Americans refused to accept their silver medals. They were sent to them by mail but they returned them. Today, 37 years after the game, the original players of the US basketball team still refuse to accept their silver medals.



6- Answer The Question, Jerk!

Tennis players can get pretty upset at the referee's decision, but nobody was nearly as crazy and rude as John McEnroe. This is one of his very angry moments at the refree.



7- Very Fair Play

Italian footballer Paolo DiCanio was well-known to have bad manners on the field. His career was filled with fights and red cards. However in this game for his team West Ham against Everton, the Everton goalie was on the ground after injuring his knee, and DiCanio refused to score against him. DiCanio, among all others, received the 2001 FIFA fair play award for this unexpected act from DiCanio (who happens to be a very proud fascist)




8- Samir Bannout wins Mr. Olympia

Mr. Olympia is the most elite competition for bodybuilders in the world. In 1983, Samir Bannout of Lebanon competed and won the title, becoming the first and only Arab to date to win the competition. Here is his performance in that competition. He reminds me of my body in 10th grade.





If you're wondering what Jordanian Mustafa Hassanin won, it was an amateur world competition. Great achievment, but it wasn't Mr. Olympia.

9- The Gift

West Germnay played Argentina in the 1990 World Cup final. Argentina played with 10 players after a player was sent off, defended brilliantly and the game was close for a 0-0 draw. However, 5 minutes before the end, Argentinian defender Sensini cleared the ball from Voller. Voller decided to fall inside the penalty kick and Mexican referee decided to call it a penalty. Germany scored and won the World Cup 1-0.





10- Slow, Miserable Death on the Circle.

This is a dark moment in the history of Formula One. In 1973 Roger Williamson was racing in the Dutch Grand Prix when he lost control of his car which caught fire and hit the barriers. He survived the collision but was trapped inside his car which was on fire. Another driver (Purley) stepped out and started extinguishing the fire. No emergency crew showed up to help. There was only one fire extinguisher available and Purley had used it. He heard Williamson's screams from inside asking for help. The first fire truck arrived EIGHT minutes after the accidents. Williamson by then had died of asphyxiation from the fumes.



Hope you liked them,
Hareega