It was a 12 months crammed with extraordinary sporting moments, together with a shocking Olympic Video games in Paris, however there was additionally devastating heartbreak.
We have compiled a short abstract of 2024 via a few of ABC Sports activities’ most-read tales of the 12 months.
January
Novak Djokovic was sad along with his efficiency on the United Cup, the place he misplaced to Alex de Minaur. (AAP Picture: Richard Wainwright)
Tennis and the Australian Open took centre stage in January, with the world’s consideration centered on Melbourne Park and the occasions main as much as it.
With Rafael Nadal beginning his prolonged farewell tour in Brisbane and Novak Djokovic falling earlier than the ultimate, Jannick Sinner claimed victory within the males’s draw and Aryna Sabalenka received back-to-back titles within the girls’s.
There was additionally the thriller of retiring Check opener David Warner’s lacking dishevelled inexperienced, which was the one actual drama as he helped Australia full a 3-0 hammering of Pakistan.
The cricketers did not have all of it their very own manner although, as Australia’s shock loss to the West Indies on the Gabba confirmed.
Nonetheless, the beginning of the 12 months was additionally rocked by the heartbreaking dying of Olympic bike owner Melissa Hoskins.
- Learn extra:David Warner’s Check numbers put him alongside Australian cricket’s greats, however a better look tells a unique story
- Learn extra: Gold medallist Michael Diamond’s gun ban upheld, dashing hopes for 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers
February
Taylor Swift was a significant a part of the Chiefs’ Tremendous Bowl win. (AP: John Locher)
The Tremendous Bowl led the best way in February, helped by a wholesome dose of Taylor Swift, whose relationship with Travis Kelce continued to intrigue nearly everybody.
The Olympics began to grow to be a spotlight, because the Matildas soared their method to a straightforward qualification victory in opposition to Uzbekistan.
The prospect of the Paris Video games was clearly making some individuals giddy with pleasure, however Shane Rose and his mankini most likely took issues too far.
There was extra heartbreak although, as marathon world file holder Kelvin Kiptum died in a automobile crash.
- Learn extra: Matildas star Katrina Gorry reveals how she overcame her ‘darkish place’ after delivery of her daughter
- Learn extra: Samantha Murphy’s disappearance goes to the guts of ladies’s fears about working alone
March
Sam Kerr had a deeply irritating begin to 2024. (Getty Photos: FIFA/Maddie Meyer)
Sam Kerr was the largest story of the month after she was arrested for abusing a police officer in London.
On the pitch, Australia and New Zealand battled throughout the ditch in an entertaining Check sequence.
Domestically, the soccer codes obtained underway, with the NRL upping sticks to Las Vegas, the place a racial slur marred what had been a vastly profitable occasion, and the AFL introduced a newcomer to the league out of Tasmania.
- Learn extra: The insurgent and the rule follower: How siblings Min Woo and Minjee Lee grew to become superstars within the golf world
- Learn extra: Train might help deal with despair, however what works finest is dependent upon age and gender: examine
April
Caitlin Clark was drafted by the Indiana Fever. (AP: Ashley Landis)
Because the NRL and AFL continued apace, the sporting world was coming to phrases with the dying of controversial former NFL participant and actor, OJ Simpson.
Additionally within the states, Caitlin Clark’s star continued to rise, however her wage after being drafted to the WNBA left loads of individuals speechless.
And in athletics, a Chinese language half marathon runner was disqualified after his opponents let him win and the Stawell Reward was postponed because of flooding.
- Learn extra: The dispute over Brisbane’s Olympic stadiums might have implications for the way forward for the Video games
- Learn extra: The world watched an undesirable kiss. Now court docket paperwork have revealed allegations about what occurred subsequent
Could
Scottie Scheffler’s mugshot. (Provided: Louisville Metropolitan Division of Corrections)
Going to the soccer is a font of pleasure for thus many individuals in Australia, however Brisbane Broncos fan Hayley Mabbett confirmed the darkish aspect of attending a match in a harrowing video that she captured on her manner house from a sport.
There have been unbelievable scenes on the PGA Championships when the world’s finest golfer Scottie Scheffler was arrested exterior the gates of Valhalla Golf Membership, earlier than occurring to shoot a really credible five-under for the second spherical.
There was but extra sporting heartbreak, with former Docker Cam McCarthy dying aged 29 and golfer Grayson Murray additionally passing away aged 30 after withdrawing from an occasion.
- Learn extra:NSW Police cost three A-League gamers together with Sydney’s Macarthur FC captain Ulises Dávila over betting scandal
- Learn extra:‘Profitable week-to-week at all times helps’: Jakara Anthony’s magical season
June
Cate Campbell bowed out after failing to qualify for the Paris Olympics. (Getty Photos: Chris Hyde)
State of Origin dominated headlines, with the sequence left at 1-1 following a surprising send-off in Recreation I after which a mighty Blues response in Recreation II.
Within the first-ever sequence decider, girls’s Origin lastly had its first style of considered one of rugby league’s nice experiences as Queensland retained the Defend after saving the sequence in a Recreation II epic.
The Australian Olympic swimming trials happened in Brisbane, with Ariarne Titmus breaking the ladies’s 200m freestyle world file and legend Cate Campbell bowing out.
In the meantime, in Barbados, India claimed the lads’s T20 World Cup after Australia had been eradicated on the expense of Afghanistan.
And within the south-west, a monster swell gave us a number of the most spectacular photographs of huge wave browsing in Australia.
- Learn extra:The Olympics have been speculated to unite Paris, however forward of the Video games, town is break up
July
Ariarne Titmus was surprised to retain her 400m freestyle title. (USA TODAY Sports activities through Reuters: Rob Schumacher)
Bienvenue à Paris!
It was Olympic time and, as anticipated, the Video games dominated the information cycle.
From the groundbreaking opening ceremony alongside the Seine, Ariarne Titmus’s unbelievable 400m freestyle swim, to the heartbreak of Anabelle Smith and Maddison Keeney’s blown dive in 3m synchronised springboard remaining, it was a Video games that opened with a bang.
Away from Paris, there was a altering of the guard in males’s tennis as Carlos Alcaraz received Wimbledon, with Barbora Krejčíková profitable the ladies’s title, Tadej Pogačar received the Tour de France, and New South Wales edged Queensland to assert victory in State of Origin Recreation III.
- Learn extra: How a secret compartment in an Eiffel Tower mannequin in Brisbane helped Ariarne Titmus and Dean Boxall declare Paris Olympics gold
- Learn extra:Jess Fox lastly will get the gold medal second she deserved, surrounded by inexperienced, gold and love
August
Jessica and Noémie Fox each lit up the Paris Video games. (Getty Photos: Carl Recine)
The Paris Video games continued apace, however because the sporting competition entered its second week, issues took a flip in the direction of farce.
Raygun baffled international audiences along with her wild efficiency within the breaking, resulting in all kinds of recriminations from nearly everybody concerned within the Video games.
Questions over Algerian boxer Imane Khelif’s intercourse grew to become a sizzling subject, and Kookaburras participant Tom Craig embarrassed his nation by being arrested making an attempt to purchase cocaine.
That being mentioned, there have been nonetheless loads of unbelievable moments, together with Noémie Fox’s wonderful gold medal and Nina Kennedy’s magnificent pole vault gold.
Away from the Video games, Australian racing was in mourning following the dying of champion horse Black Caviar.
- Learn extra:The shortest race and the longest of glories, how a brash American bent time to assert 100m Olympic gold
- Learn extra: In one of many nice Olympic moments, Duplantis raises his personal bar and touches the sky to create sporting historical past
September
The Lions roared on the MCG. (AFL Photographs through Getty Photos: Robert Cianflone)
The Brisbane Lions received the AFL Premiership, overcoming a stodgy begin to the season to complete sturdy by battering the Sydney Swans on the MCG.
In the meantime, Patrick Cripps received his second Brownlow Medal in a landslide.
The Paralympics concluded in Paris with Madison de Rozario profitable silver within the marathon.
And, at a heart-breaking street biking World Championships that noticed younger Swiss rider Muriel Furrer tragically lose her life, Tadej Pogačar rewrote historical past to grow to be simply the third man to win the triple crown.
- Learn extra: Gout Gout exhibits he’s a prodigy, as Australia completes file Athletics World Underneath 20 Championships
October
The Panthers have a monopoly on the Provan-Summons Trophy. (Getty Photos: Quinn Rooney)
The Penrith Panthers received the NRL grand remaining, beating the Melbourne Storm in Sydney to cement their standing as one of many biggest sides in league historical past.
At first of the 12 months, Brodie Kostecki was embroiled in a vastly controversial battle for his seat with Erebus Motorsport. By October, he’d received the Bathurst 1000 for the primary time.
Tim Tszyu although, suffered a crushing, catastrophic defeat within the ring in opposition to Bakhram Murtazaliev in Orlando, leaving his profession at a crossroads and Australia’s reign as cricket queens was led to devastating trend on the semi-final stage of the Ladies’s T20 World Cup.
- Learn extra: How the Menendez brothers ended up within the background of a 1990 Mark Jackson NBA basketball card after killing their mother and father
- Learn extra:At 50, Tammy Zanotti took up bodybuilding and received, proving ‘age is only a quantity’
November
Mike Tyson fought Jake Paul in a broadly watched, and broadly condemned, battle. (Getty Photos: Al Bello)
The largest story of the month was Mike Tyson’s farcical return to the ring, the place he misplaced to YouTuber Jake Paul after which broke the hearts of his followers by saying he was not but achieved with preventing, aged 58-years-old.
The Melbourne Cup remained the spotlight of the home horse racing scene, because the Wallabies confirmed some thrilling indicators of life with an excellent last-gasp win in opposition to England at Twickenham as extremely anticipated code-hopper Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii made his debut.
In the meantime, Indian ace Jasprit Bumrah blew Australia away as India took a 1-0 lead within the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
And after a tricky 12 months that noticed her blow out her ACL, miss the Olympics and get arrested, Sam Kerr introduced the being pregnant of her companion Kristie Mewis.
- Learn extra: Feminine tennis gamers accused of complicity in Saudi Arabia ‘sportswashing’
- Learn extra:The exceptional story behind Russia’s file 110-4 loss to Australia on the 2000 Rugby League World Cup
December
Jasprit Bumrah is proving a tricky opponent for Australia. (Getty Photos: Cricket Australia/Matt Roberts)
Because the 12 months wound to a detailed, cricket was on the forefront of everybody’s ideas as Australia levelled the Border-Gavaskar sequence in Adelaide, earlier than rain ruined the Gabba Check.
Elsewhere, Raygun continued to make headlines for all of the unsuitable causes, and teenage sprinting sensation Gout Gout for all the best ones.
- Learn extra:Nathan McSweeney’s sacking is a regarding and complicated throwback
