The 10 Most Memorable Sporting Moments of 2011

2011 has undoubtedly been a great year for sports. Whether it be for close encounters, off-field controversies or truly great performances, the past 12 months have had their fair share of memorable moments.

And now, as the year draws to a close, let us take a look back at these moments one more time before they are forever stored in the archives.

But before we start, just take a second to consider this. What actually is a memorable moment? 

The answer to this, or at least the answer that will be used for this list, is simply a moment that you will remember well. This could be because of a truly horrific performance, a controversial moment, a weird not-often-seen play or a truly great performance.

And memorable to whom?

With all the different cultures in the world, different sports tend to be more dominant in different areas. While one sport may be the undying passion of one country, it may equally be non-existent elsewhere in the world.

There is really no way around this, but as far this list goes, I attempted to name the 10 moments that would come up most often if one asked every person in the world what was their most memorable moment in the world of sports from 2011. 

And thirdly, remember that this is just one man's opinion. As you read this you will no doubt agree and disagree with various slides, but as you do, just take a moment to reflect on each of these before they are written into the history books. 

10. NFL Lockout

It is ironic perhaps that we begin our list with an off-field controversy given all that happened.

But then again, it shows how much importance sports holds in today's society when millions of people follow a labour deal as closely as they would follow the game they love.

On March 3, 2011 the NFL went into a lockout that would last until July 6, the longest in NFL history.

Fortunately no games were lost as was the case with the NBA lockout, but it did lead to a disrupted 2011 offseason and will no doubt linger in the minds of sports fans as a reminder of the influence money plays in professional sports in today's world.

9. Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye

Long gone are the glory days of the heavyweight boxing division, and for so long fans have been crying out for a fight between two decent fighters that could re-ignite the passion for a sport that was so popular in yesteryear.

When it was announced that Wladimir Klitschko would fight David Haye, it seemed that we'd finally gotten our wish, two of the top three fighters in the world finally going toe-to-toe.

As it turned out, the hype would far surpass the event itself, as trash talk dogged the fight for weeks leading up to the event. As interest grew in the fight, it seemed it was going to be a fight for the ages.

As the fight progressed though, it soon became clear that there was going to be only one winner and a rather easy win for Klitschko made for an anticlimax. 

But for the banter that flew around and the hype that surrounded this fight, it finds its way into the top 10 most memorable moments of the 2011 sporting year.

8. Dallas Mavericks Beat Miami Heat To Win NBA Championship

The story here wasn't so much that Dallas won the NBA title, it was as much that they beat the Miami Heat to do so.

We all know the story of how the Miami Heat big three was assembled and the hype that surrounded them heading into the season.

Nothing less than a championship would suffice, and after a shaky start, the Heat began to play good basketball and found themselves in the NBA Finals after a good series win over the Derrick Rose-led Chicago Bulls.

But it wasn't to happen, as Dirk Nowitzki proved unguardable and played like a man possessed to help steer the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA championship, denying LeBron James of NBA glory yet again.

7. Sebastian Vettel Becomes Youngest-Ever Back-to-Back F1 Winner

At the age of 24 Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver to win back-to-back Formula One driving championships.

2011 saw Vettel win 11 of 19 Grand Prixs and claim 392 championship points, 122 points more than his nearest competitor, also a record.

To add to this of the Grand Prixs where he failed to claim first place, he was able to claim five seconds, a third, a fourth and had to retire just once.

I'll admit to not being an avid motorsport follower, but such was Vettel's dominance in 2011 I simply couldn't leave him off this list.

6. England Wins the Ashes in Australia

A sleeping lion has finally awoken, and despite it being a long time, England has finally regained dominance over the cricket world in a year that will forever be remembered as their first Ashes win in Australia since 1987.

Whilst the urn had been retained in the Boxing Day Test of 2010, it wasn't until January of 2011 that England ensured that they would emerge outright victors.

Only in the third test at the WACA did England fail to deliver the goods, providing four very good all-round performances, making in excess of 500 runs four times during the series, while bowling Australia out for less than 300 on six occasions.

This dominance was reflected in the fact that they only needed to bat once in their three victories.

And it is this that really makes it a memorable Ashes series, the moment where the undisputed champs for so long were truly dethroned by their great rivals.

5. Novak Djokovic's Killer Year

This isn't a single sport moment as such, but when making such a list it's hard to ignore a performance like we have seen from Novak Djokovic in 2011.

In the year he bagged three Grand Slams, had a win-loss record of 70-6 and became the world's No. 1-ranked player.

He began the year with a comprehensive win at the Australian Open, beating Andy Murray in straight sets in a rather one-sided final.

After a 40-game win streak, he tripped up in the semifinals in France, before progressing to beat Rafael Nadal in the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open.

He's been a player of great promise for a very long time, and 2011 will be remembered as the year when Djokovic was finally able to take the tennis world by storm, surpassing the game's two great superstars, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Well for the time being at least.

4. Usain Bolt Gets Disqualified

In the past three years Usain Bolt has achieved something of a god-like status.

His freakish speed has seen him gain an air of invincibility that has made him seem unbeatable in a 100 or 200 meter sprint.

And in the 100 meter final at the 2011 IAAF World Championships, it seemed like a case of how much he would win by and how many records would be broken.

But as any sports fan knows, nothing can be taken for granted in the world of sports, even if you are talking about an athlete as freakishly good as Bolt.

Yes, this will be remembered as the race from which Usain Bolt was disqualified and therefore lost his crown as the 100 meter World Champion.

Yohan Blake would go on to win, claiming his first World Championship after some very good performances over the past couple of years, and it was hard to begrudge him the title.

Meanwhile Bolt would go on to win the 200 meters and the 4x100 meter relay, breaking the world record in the relay.

But it will be the 100 meters that will forever linger in the minds of the millions of fans watching, as the one time the coolest man in sports finally cracked under pressure.

3. NBA Lockout

The NBA Lockout was certainly memorable, for all the wrong reasons.

Frustrating may be a better term for basketball followers who waited for 149 painstaking days to see their favourite players and teams in action again, as unlike the NFL Lockout, games were cancelled.

From the outside looking in it seemed as though it was never going to end and such was the inaccuracy of some of the reports, it was hard to take anything as fact until the deal finally went down on November 26.

We'd hear that a deal was close, then the next day we'd hear that they were no closer to a deal than when they began negotiating.

And for five months, that was the NBA.

Various players looked at different options, taking deals overseas or going on tours playing exhibition games. But it just wasn't the same.

As games began to be cancelled the possibility of missing the season became more and more likely.

But as we all know, a deal was finally passed, the lockout ended and on Christmas Day, we got basketball.

2. All Blacks Win Rugby World Cup

Finally! That was what summed up the All Blacks' 8-7 victory over France in the Final of Rugby World Cup 2011.

The All Blacks entered the world's third-biggest sports tournament having not won the cup since 1987, despite being the dominant team in the world for most of the intervening years.

Once again, they entered as red-hot favourites not just to win, but to win comfortably.

The rest of the world said it wouldn't happen, that they would choke again, failing to deliver when the pressure was on as had happened in the past five tournaments.

And with this pressure at an all-time high, it wasn't silly to suggest it could happen.

But they kept calm and even after losing some pivotal players, found themselves in the final against the team that has become something of a bogey team for them in recent years, France.

The final was an epic struggle, as the French brought their A-game, pushing the All Blacks oh so close.

But it wasn't to be and the All Blacks tackled their way to the narrowest of victories. 

The next day 250,000 people lined the streets of Auckland to celebrate the win in the victory parade, while parades in Wellington and Christchurch followed.

1. Barcelona Crushes Manchester Untied in Champions League Final

It really was a case of men against boys when Barcelona beat Manchester United 3-1 in the Champions League Final of 2011, which remains one of the hardest competitions in the world to win.

For that reason the final finds itself as the most memorable sporting moment of 2011.

The scoreboard will say the result was 3-1, but it could have just as easily been a whole lot more, such was Barcelona's dominance during the game.

Twelve shots on target compared with Manchester United's one may give a more accurate idea of how dominant the performance was. Manchester United just couldn't get the ball off a much-better-polished team, and even when they did, they were able to create few chances. 

Although the score at halftime read 1-all, with Pedro Rodriguez and Wayne Rooney both netting goals, it always seemed like Barcelona would pull away and win comfortably.

And that they did, as Lionel Messi and David Villa both found the goal in the second half, while Manchester United failed to find a shot on target, handing Barcelona a comprehensive win.

And with that a sporting year is over. These were the moments I considered to be the most memorable from the world of sports in 2011.

What's yours?