ON THIS DAY
1949: Brian Close became England’s youngest Test cricketer when he made his debut against New Zealand at Old Trafford aged 18 years and 149 days. He played the last of his 22 Tests at the age of 46, 27 years later.
1988: Greg Lemond won the Tour de France for the second time, beating Laurent Fignon by a mere eight seconds.
2000: Tiger Woods won the Open Championship at St Andrews by eight shots. The American, who a few months earlier had won the US Open by the biggest margin in major championship history, became only the fifth player to complete a career grand slam of major titles after his triumph at the home of golf.
2006: American Floyd Landis won the Tour de France but later tested positive for a banned substance. After a long legal battle, he was eventually stripped of his title and banned for two years.
2007: Freddie Ljungberg’s nineyear Arsenal career came to an end as the Sweden midfielder joined West Ham United in a £3million move.
2010: France’s entire 23-man World Cup squad were suspended for the friendly game against Norway on August 11 after the controversy in South Africa which saw them stage a sit-in on the team bus.
2011: FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam was banned from all international and national football activity for life after being found guilty of bribery.
2012: Cyclist Sir Chris Hoy was named as Great Britain’s flag bearer for the opening ceremony of London 2012. Hoy went on to win two gold medals at the Games, giving him six in total to make him Britain’s most successful Olympian.
2014: The Commonwealth Games opened in Glasgow after a ceremony at Celtic Park.