It was not only that he took 0.11 seconds off his own record, or that the nearest competitor was metres behind him, but the fact that Usain Bolt slowed down to a jog in shattering his own 100 metre World Record made it such an incredible moment. He can, and probably will, do it faster in the future but for a sheer ?wow factor?, that race will be tough to top.

The Springboks? woeful end-of-year tour to Europe deserves an honourable mention, but the dismal performance by the Proteas at the ICC Champions Trophy has to go down as this year?s biggest disappointment. Yet another failure at a major tournament?and on home soil to boot! They will never rid themselves of the dreaded ?chokers? tag unless they start winning when it counts.

Western Province looked so good during this year?s Currie Cup and even looked on course to topple the mighty Blue Bulls in the semifinal. Then a slow, lumbering, half-witted Fijian winger entered the fray. In his only contribution of the game, Sireli Naqelevuki?s idiotic high tackle on Jaco Pretorious cost his side the win, and maybe the Currie Cup.

There can be little debate as to which moment was the most special to South African sports fans this year. In fact, there are few moments in Springbok history more memorable than Morne Steyn?s series-clinching penalty kick in the second Test against the British and Irish Lions.

After 54 holes at the PGA Championship, Tiger Woods had a two stroke lead. In fourteen attempts, the world No.1 had never lost when he had the lead going into the final round of a major tournament and had won every tournament on American soil that he had lead by more than one shot. This time though, little known Korean Y.E Yang stole the show to beat Tiger by three shots at the PGA. It was shock to the golfing fraternity, but Yang proved that the great man could be beaten. This year was the first since 2004 that Woods would end the year without a Major trophy?unfortunately for him, that is the least of his problems at the moment.

It was all set up to be a spectacular moment in golfing history. At 59, Tom Watson led the 2009 British Open going into the final hole. Having played brilliantly all week, the veteran of 8 Major triumphs needed only to put the ball on the 18th green and two-putt for par. But nerves got the better of Watson and he bogeyed the hole, eventually losing out to Stewart Cink in a playoff. It was a fairy-tale story gone bad, and as brilliant as Watson?s career has been, he will no doubt always regard this tournament as the ?One that got away?.

At 2-1 down in injury time, Bafana looked dead and buried in the 2009 Confederations Cup third-place playoff against Spain. Katlego Mphela?s rocket free-kick from 30 yards out put the match into extra time and sent the crowd and the entire South African football-watching public into raptures.

Chelsea looked set to meet Manchester United in the in a repeat of the 2008 Champions League Final until Andres Iniesta?s wonderful strike sent Barcelona through with the last kick of the game.

An honourable mention goes to Roger Federer for his ?through the legs? winner against Novak Djokovic at the US Open. It was a stupendous shot that defied belief, but we are going to give it to Frans ?Rocket-Launcher? Steyn for his 60 metre monster of a penalty against the All Blacks.

The ultimate benchwarmer Chiliboy Ralepelle finally got a chance to start for the Boks ? and he was captain! ? in a midweek game on their ill-fated end-of-year tour to Europe. Unfortunately for Chiliboy, his reign only lasted 10 minutes before he left the field injured.

Joel Santana?.good riddance.

No-one at the ICC seemed to think that our cricketers deserved anything, so we thought we would acknowledge the Proteas? stars after their snub at the International cricket awards.