70 Fun Facts About 2000s Sports

Which team ended the Patriots' 19-0 bid by beating them in Super Bowl XLII?

The 2007 Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season, then lost 17-14 in February 2008 after a last-minute drive built on a catch that is still replayed every year.

Whom did the Red Sox beat in the 2004 ALCS after trailing 3-0?

Boston then swept the Cardinals in the World Series to end an 86-year title drought. David Ortiz was the ALCS MVP.

How many gold medals did Michael Phelps win at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

That broke Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven at a single Games. Phelps had already won six golds in Athens four years earlier.

What time, in seconds, did Usain Bolt run to win the 100 m final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

He slowed to celebrate before the line and still set a world record. A year later in Berlin he lowered it to 9.58.

Which player did Zinedine Zidane headbutt in the 2006 World Cup final, his last professional match?

Italy went on to win 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Zidane still won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.

What is the nickname for Liverpool's comeback from 3-0 down against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final?

Liverpool scored three goals in six second-half minutes and won 3-2 on penalties, with Jerzy Dudek saving from Andriy Shevchenko.

Which club went unbeaten through the 2003-04 Premier League season, earning the nickname "The Invincibles"?

The record was 26 wins and 12 draws. The only previous English club to go a league season unbeaten was Preston North End in 1888-89.

Which 150-1 outsider won Euro 2004 by beating hosts Portugal 1-0 in the final?

Angelos Charisteas scored the only goal. It was the first major tournament in which the final featured the same two teams as the opening match.

Which two nations co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the first held in Asia?

Brazil beat Germany 2-0 in the final for a fifth title, and co-host South Korea shocked Italy and Spain on the way to the semi-finals.

Who won the Golden Shoe at the 2002 World Cup with eight goals, including both in the final?

It capped a comeback from years of knee injuries. His half-shaved haircut at the tournament became almost as famous as the goals.

Which Australian sprinter lit the Sydney 2000 cauldron and then won the women's 400 m?

She ran the final in a full-body hooded suit and did a victory lap carrying both the Australian and Aboriginal flags.

The 2004 'Malice at the Palace' brawl broke out during a Pistons home game against which team?

Ron Artest was suspended for the rest of the season, a total of 86 games including playoffs, still the longest non-drug suspension in NBA history.

Which team drafted LeBron James first overall in 2003?

Detroit took Darko Milicic second, ahead of Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, one of the most second-guessed picks ever.

Which team drafted Yao Ming first overall in 2002?

Yao came from the Shanghai Sharks and had to negotiate his release from the Chinese Basketball Association before he could sign.

Lance Armstrong's run of consecutive Tour de France wins, later stripped for doping, ended in which year?

The seven titles from 1999 to 2005 were voided in 2012 and he received a lifetime ban. No winner was declared for those years.

Tiger Woods completed the "Tiger Slam" of holding all four majors at once by winning which event?

Because the four wins straddled 2000 and 2001 rather than one calendar year, purists refused to call it a Grand Slam, hence the nickname.

Who did Tiger Woods beat in a 19-hole playoff to win the 2008 U.S. Open on a fractured leg?

Woods had a torn ACL and a double stress fracture of the tibia, and had reconstructive surgery days later, missing the rest of the season.

Federer won his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2003 by beating which Australian?

It was the first of a record eight Wimbledon men's titles. Federer wept on court afterward, something that became a habit at trophy ceremonies.

Who beat Roger Federer 9-7 in the fifth set of the 2008 Wimbledon final, in near darkness?

Rain delays pushed the finish to 9:15 pm. Many still rank it as the greatest tennis match ever played.

How many home runs did Barry Bonds hit in 2001 to set the single-season record?

The 73rd came off Dennis Springer on the last weekend of the season. Bonds passed Hank Aaron's career mark of 755 six years later.

Which pitcher gave up Luis Gonzalez's series-winning bloop single in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series?

The Diamondbacks beat the Yankees weeks after 9/11, and Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were named co-MVPs.

The Steve Bartman foul-ball incident in the 2003 NLCS involved the Chicago Cubs and which opponent?

The Cubs were five outs from their first World Series since 1945 when it happened. They lost Game 6 and then Game 7.

Which team won the 2005 World Series, its first since 1917, by sweeping the Houston Astros?

It ended the so-called Curse of the Black Sox, an 88-year drought that had lasted two years longer than Boston's.

How many hits did Ichiro Suzuki finish with when he broke the single-season record in 2004?

Sisler's 257 had stood since 1920. Ichiro also holds the Japanese single-season record, making him the only player with both.

Which singer's 2004 Super Bowl halftime performance gave the phrase "wardrobe malfunction" to the language?

Justin Timberlake tore away part of her costume in the final second of the show. The fallout led to a broadcast delay on future live events.

Which team did the Patriots upset 20-17 in Super Bowl XXXVI, Tom Brady's first title?

Adam Vinatieri kicked a 48-yard field goal as time expired. It was the Patriots' first league championship of any kind.

Who became the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl, with the Colts in 2007?

The opposing coach, Lovie Smith, was his former assistant. It was also the first Super Bowl played in the rain.

Which Steeler returned an interception 100 yards to end the first half of Super Bowl XLIII?

It was the longest play in Super Bowl history at the time. Santonio Holmes's toe-tap catch won it 27-23 over Arizona.

Which Canadian pair got a second set of gold medals after the 2002 Salt Lake City judging scandal?

The Russians Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze kept theirs too. The scandal killed the 6.0 system; the ISU replaced it with points-based judging in 2004.

Which league was the first in North America to cancel an entire season over a labor dispute, in 2004-05?

Commissioner Gary Bettman cancelled the season on February 16, 2005, and the Stanley Cup went unawarded for the first time since 1919.

Danica Patrick's first IndyCar Series win, in 2008, came at a race in which country?

She took the lead of the Indy Japan 300 at Motegi with three laps left when the leaders pitted for fuel.

Whom did Lewis Hamilton pass on the final corner of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix to win the title?

Felipe Massa had already won the race and briefly thought he was champion. Hamilton became the youngest F1 champion at the time.

Michael Schumacher won his record seventh Formula One drivers' title in which year?

He won 13 of 18 races that season, his fifth straight title with Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton tied the seven in 2020.

Which NASCAR legend was killed in a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500?

Michael Waltrip, driving for Earnhardt's own team, won the race seconds later. NASCAR made head-and-neck restraints mandatory that October.

Whose extra-time drop goal won the 2003 Rugby World Cup final for England against Australia?

The kick came with 28 seconds left, off his weaker right foot. England became the first northern-hemisphere team to lift the trophy.

Kobe Bryant scored 81 points on January 22, 2006 against which team?

The Lakers trailed by 18 in the third quarter and won 122-104. Only Wilt Chamberlain's 100 stood above it at the time.

Which quarterback scrambled for the winning touchdown as Texas beat USC 41-38 in the 2006 Rose Bowl?

The game ended USC's 34-game winning streak and gave Texas its fourth national championship.

Which FCS school stunned fifth-ranked Michigan 34-32 at the Big House in September 2007?

The Mountaineers blocked a field goal on the final play. It was the first time an FCS team had beaten a ranked FBS program.

Which trick play won Boise State the two-point conversion that beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl?

Ian Johnson ran it in untouched, then proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend on live television moments later.

Eric 'the Eel' Moussambani, who swam a 1:52.72 100 m freestyle at Sydney 2000, represented which country?

He entered through a wildcard scheme for developing nations and swam alone after both rivals false-started. The crowd roared him home.

Which team, helped by a 'Rally Monkey', beat the Giants in seven games to win the 2002 World Series?

It remains the franchise's only championship. The Giants had been six outs from the title in Game 6 before blowing a 5-0 lead.

Which manager led Porto to the 2004 Champions League title, then left for Chelsea a week later?

Porto beat Monaco 3-0 in Gelsenkirchen. On arriving in London he described himself as "a special one".

Which MLS club did David Beckham announce in January 2007 that he would join on a five-year deal?

The deal, reportedly worth up to $250 million with endorsements, is credited with putting MLS on the global map.

Who was named Finals MVP when the Detroit Pistons upset the Lakers 4-1 in the 2004 NBA Finals?

The Lakers had four future Hall of Famers in the lineup; Detroit won without a single All-NBA first-team player.

Who was named Finals MVP when the Boston Celtics beat the Lakers for their 17th championship in 2008?

It was Boston's first title since 1986, won in the first season of the Garnett-Pierce-Allen Big Three.

Who was Finals MVP when the Heat came back from 0-2 down to beat Dallas in 2006?

Wade averaged nearly 35 points a game in the series. Miami became only the third team ever to win the Finals after losing the first two games.

Which country topped the gold-medal table at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

The hosts won 48 golds and 100 medals in total, becoming only the seventh nation to top a Summer Games standings.

Which athletics event at the 2004 Athens Olympics was staged at the ancient stadium of Olympia?

No stands were built and spectators sat on the grass banks, as they had in antiquity. Women had never been allowed to compete there before.

Which Italian city hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics?

Germany topped the medal table with 11 golds. The Games were branded "Torino 2006", using the Italian name.

The 2002-03 'Serena Slam' was completed with a final win over the same opponent all four times. Who?

She became only the fifth woman to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles at once. She repeated the feat in 2014-15.

In May 2003 Annika Sorenstam became the first woman since 1945 to tee it up in a men's event on which circuit?

She played the Bank of America Colonial in Fort Worth and missed the cut by four shots. Babe Zaharias had been the last woman to do it.

Lennox Lewis knocked out Mike Tyson in 2002 in which city?

The bout landed at the Pyramid Arena after Nevada refused Tyson a licence following a press-conference brawl in which he bit Lewis's leg.

Which country won the first ICC World Twenty20 in 2007, beating Pakistan in the final?

The win, months after a first-round exit at the 50-over World Cup, triggered the launch of the Indian Premier League the next year.

Who was named NBA Finals MVP in 2000, the first of three straight as the Lakers began their three-peat?

It was the Lakers' first title since 1988, and they became the first team to open a new arena with three straight championships.

Which 76ers guard's 2002 press conference repeated the word "practice" more than 20 times?

A year earlier he had been the shortest and lightest MVP in league history and dragged Philadelphia to the Finals against the Lakers.

Which team won the weighted lottery held after the 2004-05 lockout and used the pick on Sidney Crosby?

The draft was nicknamed the "Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes". Crosby captained the Penguins to the Cup four years later at 21.

Jimmie Johnson's record run of five straight NASCAR Cup Series championships began in which year?

He drove the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports throughout, and no other driver has won more than three in a row.

Which team won its first Stanley Cup by beating Calgary in seven games in 2004?

The Lightning had been one of the league's worst franchises in the 1990s. Their next Cup came 16 years later in the 2020 bubble.

Which two sports made their Olympic debut at the Sydney 2000 Games?

The women's triathlon was the very first medal event of the Games. Beach volleyball and softball had already debuted in Atlanta in 1996.

Which future presidential candidate was hired to run the scandal-hit Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics committee?

IOC members had been accused of taking gifts from the bid committee; several were expelled and the IOC rewrote its rules.

Which receiver made the "helmet catch" that helped beat the unbeaten Patriots in Super Bowl XLII?

It was a 32-yard third-down conversion pinned one-handed to his helmet. Tyree never caught another pass in the NFL.

Which Russian wrestler, unbeaten for 13 years, did Rulon Gardner stun in the Sydney 2000 final?

Karelin was chasing a fourth straight Olympic gold in Greco-Roman super heavyweight; Gardner added a bronze in 2004.

Which Australian won short-track gold at Salt Lake 2002 after every skater ahead of him crashed?

A 50:1 outsider, he became the first Southern Hemisphere athlete to win a Winter Olympic gold.

Who won Wimbledon in 2001 as a wild card ranked 125th in the world?

He remains the only wild card ever to win the singles title, after three previous runner-up finishes.

Whom did the Steelers beat 21-10 in Super Bowl XL, becoming the first No. 6 seed to win the title?

Played at Detroit's Ford Field in February 2006, it was the Steelers' first Super Bowl win since Super Bowl XIV.

How did Italy beat France in the 2006 World Cup final after a 1-1 draw?

Zidane and Materazzi each scored their team's only goal before Zidane's infamous red card in extra time.

Whose slip on the penalty spot cost Chelsea the 2008 Champions League final in Moscow?

Terry could have won it after Ronaldo's miss; instead his shot hit the post and Van der Sar saved Anelka's kick.

Whom did Roger Federer beat in the 2009 French Open final to complete his career Grand Slam?

Söderling had knocked out four-time champion Nadal in the fourth round, Nadal's first ever loss at Roland Garros.

Ohio State's double-overtime win in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl ended which team's 34-game winning streak?

Jim Tressel's Buckeyes won 31-24 for their first consensus national title since 1968.

Off which Washington Nationals pitcher did Barry Bonds hit his record-breaking 756th home run in 2007?

Bacsik's father had pitched to Hank Aaron in 1976, right after Aaron hit the 755th homer that Bonds surpassed.