The 2024 sport calendar year offered so many unbelievable moments that made it a truly remarkable and memorable one.
It would be almost impossible to list everything as it might not be exhausted so Afrosport ranks the top 10 sporting moments of the year.
1.) Tebogo wins Africa’s Olympic spring gold
Letsile Tebogo was no doubt a fast sprinter but coming up again Noah Lyles at the Paris 2024 Olympics was going to be a tall order.
While Lyles was victorious in the men’s 100 metres, Tebogo was a class apart in the 200 metres, finishing ahead of Kenneth Bednarek and Lyles to win the gold medal.
Not only was it the first Olympic gold medal for Botswana but the first gold medal by an African in a sprint. Certainly a moment that will be remembered for a long time.
2.) Boston Celtics break 16-year NBA championship jinx
The Boston Celtics are without any debate one of the most successful and fancied franchises in NBA history, 17 championships is enough testament to that.
The only problem was that they have been eluded to championship success since 2008. The Massachusetts outfit reached the NBA Finals on two other occasions (2009-10) and (2021-22) but failed to win it.
After losing the Eastern Conference finals in 2022-23 to the Miami Heat, the Celtics were filed with fire in 2023-24, with offensive and defensive power from the likes of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis making sure that no team was able to tame them.
They ultimately succeeded by getting the better of the Dallas Mavericks 4-1 in the final for their 18th championship, taking them one above the Los Angeles Lakers for most NBA titles.
3.) Ferrari announce Hamilton capture
Lewis Hamilton was going to head into the 2024 Formula 1 season with a dismal 2023 to forget where he failed to win a race, the first time such happened in his illustrious career.
He was definitely going to put that behind in 2024 and hope for a better performance from his Mercedes car. What many did not see coming was when it was announced by Ferrari before the pre-season testing that the seven-time world champion was joining the Italian marque.
It sent a wave of surprise and shock across the F1 paddock so much it was a talking point throughout the 2024 season.
Hamilton managed to win at the British and Belgian Grand Prix and finished seventh in the drivers’ championship behind Mercedes teammate George Russell.
The 39-year-old also received a befitting farewell from Mercedes where he won six titles. All eyes will now be on his stint at Ferrari where it will be interesting to see if he can win that elusive eighth championship that would make him the outright most successful F1 driver.
4.)Man City clinch four straight Premier League titles
Manchester City were basking in the euphoria of winning an historic terrible during the 2022-23 season, and just when it seemed they have won it all, they made further history in 2023-24 season when they became the first team to win four consecutive Premier League titles.
City’s present reality might be different in the ongoing season where they have lost nine of their last 12 competitive games (as at the time of writing), but it does not take away the moment from the past season which was seen as a hallmark of Pep Guardiola’s dominance of English football.
5.)Young Yamal lights up Euro 2024 championship
Lamine Yamal took the world by storm when he made his senior debut for Barcelona at the age of 16 in a 2-0 La Liga win over Cadiz before going on to assist twice in an epic 4-3 away at Villarreal in the next game.
What that meant was he was going to break a lot of records as the youngest player to make an appearance, score and assist in La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.
The teenager of Moroccan and Equatorial Guinean heritage took it up a notch at the Euro 2024 championship in Germany, becoming the youngest player to feature, score and assist in the tournament, with Spain ultimately winning a third title.
Yamal’s brilliance at such a young age when he was still in high school, saw him claim the Kopa Trophy at the 2024 Ballon d’Or and the Golden Boy award.
6.) D’Tigress defy odds at Paris Olympics
The Nigerian female basketball national team went into the Paris 2024 Olympics without the best of preparations and support from the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF).
Worse off, they landed in Paris late and could not take part in the athlete parade during opening ceremony as they had no passes after the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) provided only 41 passes for the 88-athlete contingent.
Like that was not enough embarrassment, D’Tigress spent the night in Paris and missed practice the next day and had to take a nearly three hour bus trip from Paris to Lille where the basketball games took place.
All these however did not distract D’Tigress under the watch of coach Rena Wakama, and made a big statement by defeating powerhouse Australia in their group opener before narrowly losing to France but bounced back with another commendable win against Canada which was enough for them qualify out of a group they were given no chance of pulling through.
D’Tigress were up next against the very fancied United States in the quarter-finals and when many thought it was going to be walk in the park for the Americans, Nigeria put up a brave performance, especially in the fourth quarter but the game still ended in an 88-74 loss.
For a team that was not given a chance at even winning one game before the Olympics began, D’Tigress sure outdid themselves.
7.) Lookman hat-trick creates European history for Atalanta
Ademola Lookman was reborn when he joined Atalanta from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2022, steadily raising his game in ways not seen during his formative years in England.
The 2023-24 season was however a year written in the stars for the Nigerian forward as he helped Atalanta win their first European title by scoring a first half hat-trick against a formidable Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final, ending the German side’s competitive unbeaten run for the season.
Lookman began to ring on everyone’s lips across the globe, with his growth and rebranded skillset being celebrated.
His wonderful year, that included reaching the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final, ended with being crowned the 2024 African Player of the Year.
8.) Djokovic finally grabs tennis Olympic gold
Novak Djokovic barely needs any introduction in the tennis world. Twenty-four Grand Slam titles, 40 ATP Masters titles, seven ATP Finals titles, world number one for a record 428 weeks and the only player to win the four Grand Slam at least three times.
The only thing missing for Djokovic all this time was an Olympic gold medal. The closest he had come was a bronze medal at the 2008 games in Beijing but he was all out for it 16 years later in Paris by getting the better of his nemesis Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s singles final,.
Djokovic finished the tournament without dropping a set, the first player to do so and the first win all Big Titles (all Grand Slams, all Masters Series, ATP Finals, and Olympic gold medal).
9.) Max Verstappen lands fourth F1 championship in least dominant fashion
After sweeping 2023 with 19 wins in 22 races, 2024 started pretty much in the same fashion for Max Verstappen.
Five wins in the opening seven races set the Dutchman for another dominant season but things took a turn after the Spanish Grand Prix with Red Bull no longer being the dominant car but rather McLaren.
Verstappen went a 10-race winless run but was still able to keep the threat of Lando Norris at bay and all but clinched his fourth consecutive championship with a dominant drive from 17th to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix before sealing the championship in Las Vegas.
While the Red Bull was not at its strongest, Verstappen still won nine races, five better than Norris and that was enough to get the job done.
10.) UsykUsyk gets double triumph over formidable Fury
Oleksandr Usyk has been something of an untouchable boxer ever since he had a double win over Anthony Joshua in 2021 and 2022.
He however had another formidable opponent in Tyson Fury to contend and when both men met in May, Uysk was able to triumph by a split decision.
Such an epic fight cannot just end that way and an expected rematch was set for December. Usyk still held the edge by unanimous decision. Even though Fury was outraged by the outcome rather believing he won, the judges had the final day and it meant Usyk held on to the WBA, WBC and WBO titles as undisputed world heavyweight champion which might remain with him for some time.
