What were the top sporting moments of 2010?
The last 12 months have seen plenty of memorable moments, with huge sporting occasions such as the FIFA World Cup and golf's Ryder Cup providing some unforgettable moments.
Formula One provided one of the tightest drivers' championships in history, while Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer continued their epic rivalry on the tennis court.
As we wave goodbye to 2010, CNN's Candy Reid selects her top-five sporting moments of the last year.
5. Rafael Nadal wins the U.S. Open
The Spaniard joined an exclusive group of male tennis players when he won in New York for the first time. He became just the seventh to complete the career Grand Slam, and at 24 the youngest in the Open era. He did it in some style too, losing just five service games and one set along the way. It wrapped up the best year of his career to date and made him the undisputed world number one, well clear of his rival and friend, Roger Federer.
4. Sebastian Vettel clinches the F1 drivers’ championship
The Formula One season was the best in recent memory. Ahead of the final race in Abu Dhabi, four men still had a chance of taking motorsport's biggest prize. Fernando Alonso was in pole position for the title with Vettel's fellow Red Bull driver Mark Webber just behind. But it was the German who ended up as the champion, although he didn’t know it until after the checkered flag. He won the race and then found out his rivals hadn’t finished close enough to take the crown. A terrific ending to a fantastic season which saw 23-year-old Vettel become the youngest world champion in F1 history, eclipsing Lewis Hamilton's 2008 achievement.
3. Alberto Contador wins his third Tour de France
Lance Armstrong’s final Tour de France was a two-horse race, and the American wasn’t in the running. A series of mishaps meant that Contador and Andy Schleck were left to go head-to-head for the maillot jaune. The Saxo Bank rider looked like he would take the honors, until a controversial moment on stage 15. Late on in the stage, Schleck had a chain malfunction and Contador ignored cycling etiquette to attack. The defending champion seized the overall lead, and though Schleck vowed to have revenge he could not get back those lost seconds and the Spaniard won cycling's premier event for the third time in four years.
2. Europeans regain the Ryder Cup
It was a superb golfing year for Europe. Graeme McDowell won the U.S. Open and Martin Kaymer clinched the PGA Championship - the first time two Europeans had won majors in the same season for 11 years. The duo were then involved in the longest Ryder Cup in history. Much to everyone’s surprise, it came down to Monday’s final match at Celtic Manor – the first time it had gone to the wire in 19 years. McDowell was the hero. He hit what he called the best putt of his life on the 16th hole against U.S. player Hunter Mahan and went on to take the full point as Europe regained the biennial teams event in dramatic fashion.
1. Spain lift the World Cup
No football team had ever lost their first match at a World Cup and gone on to win the whole thing. Spain became the first on July 11, 2010. Having fallen to Switzerland 1-0 in their opener, the European champions were down, but as it soon emerged, definitely not out. After advancing from their group after two successive victories, a string of 1-0 wins followed. Andres Iniesta was the hero in the final against the Netherlands, netting the only goal of the game in extra-time. It didn’t matter a jot that Spain had won the World Cup with the fewest goals - eight. All that mattered was that they had the trophy in their hands for the first time. They became the first European nation to win the trophy outside of Europe, joining West Germany and France as the only countries to hold the world and European titles simultaneously.
Those are my five, what are yours? Perhaps Inter winning the treble or the longest tennis match in history? I’d love to read your comments, and you can tweet me at CandyReidCNN.
AWESOMEEEEEE, NADAL FOREVER
How could you possibly leave out Nascar's #48, Jimmie Johnson's 5th consecutive Championship??????
Wow...what a euro-centric perspective. What about the Canadians winning gold in both mens' and womens' hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics?
and ??? Sébastien Loeb won the WRC world championship seven times in a row (from 2004 to 2010)
really??? This is a terrible list... where is the Olympics? Oh, thats right, the USA didn't win so it's not on the list. CNN, you're pathetic.
are you retarded? the saints finally wiinning the super bowl doesn't make the list? more people watched the super bowl than every other item on this list, probably combined. the phillies putting together the greatest pitching staff in baseball history and lebron going to miami were also more important than anything that you listed. dumbass
Tiger Woods
ummmm... you forgot the event that was watched live by over 1 Billion people world wide, and where the home country set a record medal haul. Vancouver winter Olympics 2010. Seriously, who watches tennis? Certainly not 1 billion simultaneously.
Kelly SLATER WINS TITLE #10.....ITS CALLED THE ASP tour and it just so happens to be one of the most competitive sports in the world...NOW THAT is something GREAT in 2010!!! Check ya stats mate
How about Cesar Cielo for swimming?
2010 FIFA world cup in South Africa was a super sporting spectacle
A very good list – as for Jimmie Johnson, nobody outside the U.S. has any clue who he is. I live in the U.S. and couldn't pick him out of a line-up.
The Saints were a good story, but somebody wins the SuperBowl every year – and there's always some type of story line. The U.S. media likes to manufacture such story lines, because it helps to sell the event...and for the record, both the World Cup Final and the Championsleague final are watched by more people than the SuperBowl.
The only event I may disagree with is No. 3 – We still can't say for sure that Contador wasn't juiced for the victory...and besides that, it was never really that close. Also, I don't think he was unsportsmanlike in his attack (as described)...quite a few experts have said that they thought Schleck made a mistake shifting.
Replace No. 3 with the Olympic hockey final and Crosby's goal to win it...then you've got yourself a solid list.
"Sidney Crosby: The Golden Goal!"
No Winter Olympics on the list? Like Alex said CNN, you're pathetic.
2010 Winter Olympics in my opinion.
The Dutch should have won!
Lame list. I can't believe you left out The Saints winning The Superbowl or Canada beating The US in the Olympic Hockey Gold medal match–yet you choose Alberto Contador winning The Tour De France even though he is under investigation for doping and potentially could lose his title and be suspended for 2 years.
Clearly Jbiz is the dumbass as everything he has mentioned is in his own little American simpleton mind. Of course the gold medal by the Canadians will not have been mentioned as this AMERICAN news channel was the ones that were beaten. All the other points could have been replaced except point #1 of Spain hoisting the cup.
No Saints superbowl and no SF Giants World Series... both big sport moments in the US!
world cup
copa do mundo foi o melhor evento esportivo de 2010!
Team Canada Wins the GOLD over the USA
Sorry, but Europe winning the Ryder cup making it 4 out of the last 5, isn't that big of deal. Sounds like status quo to me.
Cannot believe the comment regarding the Saints. The World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the world every four years and this joker thinks that the Super Bowl is more watched than the World Cup. TThe comments made by this person are focused tyowards US sporting events, CNN stated that these sporting events are the top sporting events of 2010 and they are exactly right. Yes, Miami with Lebron and the Philles for the US but most of the rest of the world does not care about thiose sporting events. The sporting events they listed are things that effect many different countries and that was the focus of the news article.
centenário do corinthias com o fenômeno!
Canada winning Gold in Men's Hockey during the 2010 Olympics!!!!
No one outside the US cares about the NFL or the Nascar.
What about USA Basketball–they are world champs!?
And if roundball is of international interest, how about those NBA champs?!
JBiz – just so you have the facts: 2010 Super Bowl = 152 million viewers, 2010 World Cup Final = 700 million viewers
...and the San Francisco Giants winning their first World Series in 50+ years.
how does this make the front page of CNN.COM? this is complete garbage and horrible journalism. No Olympics?
@jbiz – come out of your little shell, not sure what planet a superbowl has more viewers or interest than a world cup.......that's right, dumb ass yanks call all their sporting champions "world" champions.....chumps !!!!
The list is good but Loeb winning his 7th WRC means that he should be there very year.
Spain winning the world cup should be #1, a team that could never achieve that glory finally did.
It makes me laugh how a lot of us Americans thing because a team wins here it's the best in the world. The New Orleans Saints in that list? are you serious? Jimmy Johnson? all five nominees are from WORLD COMPETITIONS not local sporting events and some dumbass (JBIZ) had a comment about the superbowl having more viewers that the other sports combined...ignorant, the world cup alone was watched by about 8 times more than the superbowl.
I say Canada winning gold in both men's and women's hockey should have made it up there. In addition to that, the USA taking a medal in Nordic Combined for the first time ever was pretty cool.
As to the cycling comments previously made: Schleck was shifting because he was going on the attack and you have to go to a bigger gear in order to go faster, that's just how cycling works. Contador made up for it by letting Schleck take the stage up Cole du Tourmalet, but it is little consolation to the Luxembourger.
Pretty good list other than that.
Eurocentric perspective? No, my friend, this is just not the US' PERSPECTIVE.
We are talking about the WORLD, not the US alone.
Americans will never admit that the World Cup is the most popular sport on Earth.
jbiz
Oh, REALLY?!
So did the SuperBowl managed to reach 1 BILLION viewers around the world?
No, my friend, NEVER will the SuperBowl be more watched than the World Cup.
Get used to that.
Everything does not always have to be about the USA. Seriously, American Football isn't even recognized in most countries SHOOT go to France and ask someone if they know what Football is and they think your talking about Soccer, that goes along with baseball. Soccer is recognized everywhere even in america its just not as popular as the american royalties. Tennis is also pretty much a global sport, so people get over it!!
The world cup was huge because it was the WORLD cup, not the ALL-AMERICAN cup. Tennis also host WORLD elite players not just ALL-PRO-AMERICAN players.
The list might be off by a bit, but who cares. Another day, another to be anger american.
there's this guy called Kelly Slater... 10 times world champion. Who else did that in any other sport? Surf is not my sport, but you couldn't miss that.
sebastian who?..any Euroblogger can write for CNN and typr up some stupid headline like "TOP Sporting Events of the Year", write up some silly list praising fringe sports like cycling and F1 and get published. This webiste bites.
Guys, it's just an opinion... plus... it's really hard to choose only five from a lot of different and special moments. 2010 had a lot to offer. Saying that CNN is "playing favourites" or doing bad journalism is just over reacting a bit...
Candy Reid choose her five... on a personal level and asked us to debate that by saying our's. But hell, people go on saying she's crazy and a jackass and what not...
Relax!!
where are the Olympic winter games 2010 in Vancouver and especially the final gold hockey game?? Shame on you for leaving that out!!
baseball is world wide, Giants way ahead of car racing, all can play baseball
I'm not sure why people here are so surprised that CNN missed the Olympics. They didn't host it, and Canada won men's hockey gold AGAIN. The last time they would have wanted to even mention it, they lost that game on home soil..
Avoid the mention of the Olympics all together and avoid having to notice the "backwards" cousin to the north. Typical.
Wonderful list. If Fernando Alonso would have won the Formula 1, there would be 4 spanish wins in your top five. Viva España.
No doubt the Tour de France this year brought back the emotion to the event. Unfortunately, Lance did not perform well. No doubt the best event was Contador's victory over Andy.
USA Sports are divorced with World Sports..
Besides that, this is a CNN International Edition...
You wanna watch your USA Sports best list... go to USA Edition.
Or make your own and be happy...
I wonder who even cares about the Olympics, I'm pretty sure it's the older generation because I don't know anybody my age who watches the Olympics and get all hyped about it and started dressing up in their national colours and stuff. World cup and euro cup football however got people going crazy, it's a matter of national pride almost. I have never seen anybody disapointed because some people from their country didn't win a medal in the Olympics, I have literally see people cry over the world cup. There is no emotional attachment to the olympics apart for the people doing it and their families perhaps.
On that note – go Netherlands for euro 2012 and world cup 2014 🙂
I must say I'm in the majority there...One of the events except World Cup and F1 should be replaced by something in the Winter Olympics.
Nascar, Baseball and NFL are not World Sports, sorry...
to the schmuck Alex who accused cnn of not mentioning the olympics because the USA didn't win:
There is no USA bias here, as noone in america Tennis, Tour de France and especially F1 racing.
CNN is trying to appease a larger audience.
World cup the best sport event in 2010.Soccer domains the sport world.
@jbiz Just in case you didn't know, you pathetic ignorant: American football is only played in the United States. Nobody else around the world gives a damn about American Football. Nobody cares about the Saints or the Phillies!!! Those are American pasttimes, not global entertainment!!
Tipp beating Killkenny in the hurling All Ireland has to be up there with the greatest sporting event of 2010, happy man in cork city
How about Serena Williams winning her 13th and 14th major championships – moving her up the rankings towards the greatest of tennis ladies ever to play the game? (She has eclipsed Billy Jean King). Not to diminish the other accomplishments, but I notice that there are no female athletes on your list.
The Olympic Winter Games! How could you possibly leave it out? Shame on you!
What happened to the Lightning Bolt, Hussein Bolt,,, Oh I forgot, america has no interests in him. Its ok, He will remain in my book as the main sport event in 2010.
Like Angel Rodha says , america divorced the world of sports.
Rafael Nadal is the winer!!! APSOLUTELY!!!
As many have said, it has to be "Sidney Crosby: The Golden Goal!". The pressure to perform... at home... at the Olympics...in sudden death...in years to come this CNN list will be long forgotten but not this performance by the Canuck team and its leader!
Are you kidding me??
Canada beating USA in the GOLD MEDAL GAME AT THE OLYMPICS!!!!!!!!!!
DONT BE IGNORANT GUYS! I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THE ARTICLE: WORLD CUP IS THE SPORTS EVENT THAT IS MOST WATCHED IN THE ENTIRE WORLD, WINNING IT IS 10 TIMES MORE IMPORTANT THAN WINNING THE SUPERBOWL.
@ David
The Saints winning the Super Bowl was not just about winning a game, it was about lifting the hearts of a battered city (says this New Orleanian).
Candy you are a great reporter but you never even mentioned the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. That drew as much as a global audience as the world cup plus Canada won 14 GOLD.
Don’t get mad! Everybody knows that soccer world cup is the most watched event of all, is the biggest sport event in History! And yes! The super Bowl is one of the most watched events but as Darth Vader would say “The Power of the super bowl is insignificant next to the power of the force A.K.A. Football Soccer” you know “Football soccer” that mystical sport that gathers all mankind around a balloon!
Peace!
My name is Hans I am from Denmark but live in the West Indies. I always enjoy your reporting. If their is World Champion Title for reporting you will easy be the winner. Thanks for your enthusiastic reporting. Although you have wonderful and expert colleagues you are the champion
I agree with this post. It was the OLYMPICS folks...
Wow...what a euro-centric perspective. What about the Canadians winning gold in both mens' and womens' hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics?
By a long stretch, Spain stole the show this year.
what's with Winter Olympic games in Vancouver ???
good list, but olympic games are missing. 🙂
That list is pretty spot on.
(Winter olympics: around the world pretty unimportant.)
World cup for me.
As a Filipino, i would add the feat of boxer Manny Pacquiao winning his 8th world title in as many weight classes....i think it will be a long time before another boxer is able to beat that feat.
It was all about the World Cup for me. From Landon Donovan's last minute goal to Iker Casillas holding that trophy. All of my sports moment come from that.
Of course an American news source "forgets" the Olympics.
Winter Olympics should definitely have been included. But i dont see why people are calling it Euro-centric; just because Europeans won them all? Every event has people from all over the globe competing in it.
Top moment of the year?
Easy.
Michael Schumacher NOT doing well for Mercedes, and losing out to Nico.
Haha
I can't wait when Football (the real football) becomes more popular in the US, there might be riots in protest of its popularity by people like JBIZ. classic.
And when India China start to send teams to the Football World CUP, I imagine JBIZ will still think Superbowl has higher viewer ship
Also F1 has a cumulative viewer ship of about 4 Billion in a year.
3rd behind Olympics and FIFA World Cup.
5. USA Basketball Team winning FIBA Championship
4. Nadal on winning US Open
3. Spain winning FIFA World Cup
2. LA Lakers back-to-back NBA Championships
1. Manny Pacquiao winning over Margarito last November
World Cup was epic!!
Sorry but few people outside the US care about the Superbowl (and Hockey only in Canada and Scandinavia) or can cite any team winning it EVER. So it depends. Perfect list for CNN International. Objections if its CNN home edition, I can understand. For some angry comments I guess this is being posted in all CNN editions.
Contador's win was a bigger sports event than olympics? Duh
What about the Canada / US Gold medal game at the Winter Olympics! 🙂
How about the final Hockey Match between the US and Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics!!!!
I agree with RA Scott's comments: what about both the women and men's gold medal hockey win in Vancouver?
Of course the world cup should be in but hey, Pacquiao got to complete 8 titles in 8 divisions. That should be a top sporting moment.
Just quoting "jbiz" who ventured to say that "more people watched the super bowl than every other item on this list, probably combined" just a mere tiny fact:
superbowl: 106 million viewers.
2010 Soccer World (yes, WORLD) final: 1.75 BILLION
...so yes, I believe you were probably a little off.
CNN clearly left out the Olympics for a reason. Furthermore, who leaves a list like that to 5...should have been 10.
No mention of the Olympics? Really? I guess the Winter Olympics doesn't compare to Summer Olympics but still. That's a bit ridiculous.
i agree wit u on 1. spain winning d world cup 4 d first time and my number 2 is inter winning d treble and my 3rd is rafael nadal winning d u.s open 4 d very first time. My 4th is sebastian vettel winning d F1 driver championship at 23years old,a record. And my 5th is ghana u-20 winning d cup 4 africa 4 d very first time
Come on guys. Candy is selecting "her" top moments of 2010 not "the" top moments of 2010. Of course everyone's list will be a highly subjective so why the abuse? Sport is all about opinions so when an article states that this is an "opinion" agree or disagree but do it respectfully. All that being said, no Inter Milan treble? Surely an oversight?
The F1 season was awesome this year, classic title fight with 4 contenders going into the last race.
I think you lost the Vancouver winter Olympics 2010. Yuna Kim got a bset score in that game.... But it was your selecting top moments so it doesn't matter..
What'sall the excitment about the Winter Olympics? Who can get excited about sledging and snowball competion?
Europe beating the US in the Ryder cup is my fave.
Europe Champions Inter Milan !!!
I agree with Alehandro – this is a small, selective list and an opinion blog with no place for insults. It's not about what is the biggest, or what was watched by the most people, but a list of incredible feats achieved in the sporting arena.
On my list would be the long, drawn-out Isner v Mahut match at Wimbledon – watching two sportsmen battle it out in both body and mind over a few days – facinating.
The tennis match was epic. One of my top moments was the return of Michael Schumacher to F1, even if he didn't do well. Good to have him back, oh and the darts was good too.
I was going to say Federer's win at the O2 last month, BUT now I have forgotten all about last year as we have just won the "Ashes'!!!
Excellent Choice!!
Guys,its her opinion
dnt slam her!
My 2 and only 2 is spain no. 1 as i suportd even when swiss beat us! Nd ghana reachin da quarters(im ghanian)
nd da 2nd is canada winin da men's gold hockey.
So fela calm down!
What about New Zealand's All Blacks? Now there;'s a great team. They have just been nominated for the 2011 Laureus Sports Awards.
India's Test cricketer Sachin Tendulkar scoring his 50th Test hundred was indeed a special moment. The highest scorer of runs in Test Cricket and in the ODIs holds the record for the maximum number of centuries in Test Cricket and in the ODIs in the history of cricket. The 38 year old Indian icon is still showing appetite and hunger for more milestones and has already scored his 51st Test century at the start of 2012. India's Gentleman cricketer is playing the Gentleman's Game with dedication, commitment and distinction.
because nascar isnt a worldwide sport hannah.