Kallis downs Sri Lanka, Frenchman sails around world in 71 days
On May 19 1997, French sailor Olivier de Kersauson and his crew arrive in Brest, Brittany after setting a round-the-world record on their trimaran SportElec. They finished the journey in 71 days, 14hr 22min 8sec to beat the previous record by more than three days. The record has since come down to 40 days, 23hr 30min 30sec, held by another Frenchman Francis Joyon and crew when they circumnavigated the globe in 2017.
● May 19 1999: Lazio’s players celebrate after beating Mallorca 2-1 in the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup at Villa Park.
Christian Vieri gave the Italian side an early lead but it was cancelled out by Dani four minutes later before Pavel Nedved scored the winner in the 81st minute to give Lazio their first European trophy.
● May 19 1999: SA all-rounder Jacques Kallis takes the wicket of Sri Lankan opening batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana during their World Cup match in Northampton. Chasing 200 to win, Kallis reduced the Lankans to 14/3 in his opening spell, also getting rid of top-order batsmen Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu as the defending champions were bowled out for 110.
SA reached the semifinals in 1999 when they famously tied the game with Australia and failed to qualify for the final due to a poorer run rate in the Super Six stage.
● May 19 2000: Deportivo La Coruna fans invade the field to celebrate after they were crowned champions of La Liga for the first time in the club’s history. The underdog club won the title with only 69 points, the lowest total since three points for a win was introduced in 1995.
● May 19 2003: Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam is the first women to play in a PGA event since American Babe Zaharias qualified for the Los Angeles Open in 1945.
World No 7 Vijay Singh criticised the move at the time and Sorenstam, who would go on to win 10 Ladies Professional Golf Association Majors in her career, missed the cut.
● May 19 2012: British Olympic sailor Ben Ainslie carries the Olympic torch on the first leg of its Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland tour at Land’s End in Cornwall. The torch relay started from Land’s End and travelled for 70 days around the UK and Ireland before arriving at the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony on July 27.
● May 19 2012: Chelsea players celebrate Didier Drogba’s late equaliser in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Thomas Muller scored in the 83rd minute to give Bayern the lead, but Drogba’s header took the game into extra time in which neither team could score a winner. In the shoot-out, Drogba scored the winning penalty to give Chelsea their first Champions League crown.
● May 19 2013: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrates winning the La Liga title with teammates at the Camp Nou stadium. Barcelona sealed the league title and would go on to finish the season with 100 points — tying Real Madrid’s record from the previous season — while they also set a record for scoring in all 38 matches of the campaign.
Messi finished the season with 46 league goals.
● May 19 2018: Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is lifted up by his teammates in celebration after his final appearance for the club. Juve had sealed their seventh consecutive Serie A title and Buffon was leaving the club after 17 seasons where he won nine top-flight league titles. However, after a season with Paris St Germain, Buffon returned to Juve at the age of 41 for one more season.