MAY:

The month of May could be dubbed as the 'Month of Champions', as a number of leading European football teams were crowned champions of their respective leagues.

In England, the title race went all the way down to the final day where Manchester United retained their title after Chelsea could only draw at Bolton. Inter Milan fended off Roma's challenge to pick up their third straight Serie A title while Real Madrid comfortably saw Barcelona's title bid crumble in the home straight. Over Germany, Bayern Munich romped to another Bundesliga title, while Lyon added their seventh straight French title to their record.

To cap it all, Manchester United ended their season with another Champions League win as they beat Chelsea on penalties on a rainy night in Moscow.

Not to be outdone by the Europeans, our very own PSL went down to the wire as SuperSport United and Ajax Cape Town fought out one the most exciting title fights in years. In sport though, there can only be one winner and SuperSport proved to have just a little more bite than Ajax and walked away with the PSL title.

Over in New Zealand, the rugby lads saw the conclusion to another fascinating Super 14 campaign as the Crusaders overpowered the Waratahs 20-12 to secure another Super Rugby title to their name. A fitting farewell then, to Crusaders' coach Robbie Deans.

Back in Europe, though, all eyes were on the clay courts of Roland Garros for the French Open tennis final. Ana Ivanovic saw off the challenge of Dinara Safina in the women's final, but the spotlight then fell on the men's final where Rafael Nadal demolished then world number one, Roger Federer 6-1, 6-3 and 6-0 to firmly entrench himself as the 'King of Clay'.

From the clay courts of France to the asphalt circuits of Formula One racing. May saw the F1 circus stop over at Turkey where Ferrari's Felipe Massa swept aside his competition to scoop the win but saw his title challenge falter on the streets of Monte Carlo. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton took advantage of some lucky breaks, rainy weather and bewildering Ferrari tactics to clinch another famous win at Monte Carlo.

JUNE:

The inaugural Indian Premier League came to a conclusion early on in June when the Chennai Super Kings took on the Rajasthan Royals. The Royals, captained by Shane Warne and featuring our very own Proteas skipper Graeme Smith, fended off the Super Kings to take the title by three wickets.

After an overdose of Twenty20 cricket, we nipped down to SW19 to watch the tennis. The Williams sisters swept all before them to set-up a showdown in the final of the women's singles. Venus won that one. They also took the women's doubles title.

The men's final saw Roger Federer take on Rafael Nadal. Federer was very much in his element on grass and was looking to right the French Open defeat he suffered at the hands of Nadal in May. Nadal, though, had other plans. In an absolute cracker of a match, the Spaniard defeated Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7 and 9-7 to end Federer's dominance at Wimbledon and claim his first Wimbledon title.

Out on the golf course Tiger Woods worked his magic to claim another Majors title when he won the US Open Championship.

Footie fans were also treated to something special in June, when Spain showed some cajones to end a 44-year title drought and lift the European Championship title with a 1-0 win over Germany.

In Formula One, BMW's Robert Kubica took advantage of some pit lane fender benders to win the Canadian Grand Prix while Felipe Massa led home a Ferrari one-two in France.

JULY:

The Proteas jetted in to England hoping to come away with a historic win over the English, but got off to a disastrous start in the first Test. England started well, getting a daunting 593 in their first innings but the Proteas slumped to 247 all out. After being forced to follow on, the SA top order got their act together as Smith, McKenzie and Amla all got hundreds to steer SA to a draw in the first Test.

Smith's lads bounced back with a vengeance in the second Test, as the bowlers got stuck into the England batting order with Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel taking four wickets a piece. Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers then shone with the bat for SA before the bowlers got a second crack at England. South Africa wrapped up the second Test, chasing only 9 runs for victory.

The Tri-Nations rugby tournament was a frustrating one if you were a Springbok fan. The mighty world champs were humbled by the All Blacks in Wellington in the tournament opener. They then bounced back in spectacular fashion at Dunedin's 'House of Pain', as they grabbed a last-minute try to win 30-28, but then slumped to defeat against the Wallabies.

Over in France, the Tour de France got its turn in the spotlight. The usual happened. Allegations of doping, teams pulling out and calls for cycling to get tougher on doping. Carlos Sastre won the 2008 edition of a less than spectacular Tour de France.

Padraig Harrington, though, made up for a dour Tour de France with a great win at the Open Championship, while Lewis Hamilton spiced things up in the F1 title race when he won the British GP and followed that up with a win in Germany.

AUGUST:

It comes around every four years and never fails to impress. 2008 saw Beijing host the summer Olympic Games and my-oh-my, what a show Beijing put on. The opening ceremony was spectacular (even if the little girl that stole the show towards the end was lip synching) but the action in the pool, and on the track, were even better.

American Michael Phelps secured his place in history when he claimed eight gold medals in the pool, while Usain Bolt led Jamaica to victory in the athletic sprints. Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva dazzled in the pole vault while China swept just about all before them in gymnastics. But while national pride swelled in the US, Jamaica, Australia, Kazakhstan and even Zimbabwe, we South Africans were left bitterly disappointed as we watched our athletes being left in the dust. We did manage to pick up a silver medal in the long jump, though.

The Olympics saw Rafael Nadal add the Olympic title to his 2008 trophy haul, while Russian starlet Elena Dementieva beat compatriot Dinara Safina to claim her gold medal.

Serena Williams put the disappointment of Beijing behind her to win the US Open, while Roger Federer put the disappointment of losing his number one spot and his Olympic KO behind him to beat Andy Murray to win the US open men's singles title.

The Tri-Nations rugby tournament didn't provide any solace for South African sports fans as the Boks somehow conspired to lose to the All Blacks and the Wallabies in consecutive games at home. They ended the tournament on a high when they pumped the Wallabies 53-8 in Johannesburg. They still ended bottom of the log though.

Padraig Harrington continued his impressive form on the golfing greens when he picked up the PGA Championship title while Heiki Kovalainen and Felipe Massa picked up respective F1 wins in the Hungarian and European Grand Prixs.

Graeme Smith's lads put a smile on South African sports fans' faces tough as the Proteas continued to outplay the English on the cricket pitch as they wrapped up the series 2-1. Biff added another Test win to his tally and ended another England captain's reign for good measure. Yes, the Proteas were abysmal in the ODI series, but it's the Test series that counts.

Ahh... August was a good month.

  • Head to page three for September to December in review!


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