2009: What a sporting year

The year 2009 has been an eventful year in the world of sports with a lot of memories for me. It makes me look forward to 2010 especially as we approach the first world cup on the African soil.

Today, I will be looking at my top memories of 2009, not necessarily in the order of preference.

Roger Federer

Roger Federer had an outstanding year regaining the world number 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal, after completing a career grand slam at Roland garros, making him the 6th man to achieve that feat. He went on to surpass Pete Sampras' record by winning his 15th grand slam title at Wimbledon. The contest against Andy Roddick is one that will never be forgotten.

Federer made it to all grand slam finals in a year when he had been "written off", losing the Australian open to Nadal and the US open to Juan Martin Del Potro, both in five sets.

He also helped his country Switzerland retain its world group status in Davis cup. He was named the ITF world champion for the fifth time in a year he termed ‘incredible'.

"To win my first Roland garros title, break the all-time grand slam record and regain number 1 ranking is amazing. It means a lot to me to finish the year again at the top", Federer said.

He also had success on the personal front, he married his long time girlfriend and became a father to twin girls.

I hope 2010 will bring more trophies for the Swiss star.

The Williams sister

Despite her "outburst" at this year's US open where she supposedly threatened to kill one of the judges for an obvious bad call, Serena Williams was named the women's world champion for the 2nd time since 2002 producing her best performances at the biggest events in 2009.

She won the Australian open, Wimbledon and the season ending WTA championships and like her male counterpart, Federer, she also finished the year at the top.

The Super Eagles

I remember November 14, the day the Super Eagles made a 150 million Nigerians proud. It was the last day of the World Cup qualifiers, the Super Eagles of Nigeria, 2nd in their group all through the qualifiers, needed nothing less than a miracle; we had to beat Kenya away while hoping that Mozambique will get a win against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia. That day, it seemed that God renewed his Nigerian passport because against all odds, including the fact that Tunisia was a more organised side in our group, we qualified for the first World Cup on African soil.

U-17 Championship and Bolt

The U-17 World Cup was successfully hosted in Nigeria. Our boys also did us proud by making it to the final where they lost to a very solid Swiss team.

Can we forget the world's fastest man? Usain Bolt broke his own previous 100 meters record of 9.69 seconds to easily cover it in 9.58seconds. The ever smiling Jamaican also broke the world record for 200meters, covering it in 19.19 seconds at the IAAF championships.

Baring injuries and any form of disgrace, I expect that ‘lightening' Bolt will break his own records in the nearest future.

FC Barcelona

2009 is a year Barcelona fans will never forget. It was a year that the Catalans won the treble for the first time. A brilliant year for both players and the coach, who has won every trophy he has competed for since taking over the job from Frank Riijkard. It was not a surprise that three of the five nominees for the FIFA world player of the year award were from Barcelona, with Lionel Messi emerging the winner after winning the Ballon d'or a couple of weeks earlier. The Argentinean super star has been fantastic all year round, helping his team win the champions league with a goal against Manchester United and also scoring the winner against Etudiantes in the club world final.

English clubs

It is also a year where the English teams continued its dominance in Europe having 3 teams in the semi-finals of the UEFA champion's league for the second year in a row. Given the recent inconsistencies of the "top four" in the EPL, will the premiership continue to dominate in Europe?

Even though not a good memory, the death of Bobby Robson comes to mind in the happenings of 2009 and of course, the somewhat fall of Tiger Woods after his confession to several affairs. At least 14 women (one for every major title he has won) have claimed to have had affairs with the number 1 golfer in the world. Man is truly polygamous. It is definitely a bad year-end for Tiger, whose wife Elin has threatened to divorce him, has lost sponsors, and has become a joke for all comedians. He has even had to take time off his career indefinitely. The evil that men do will surely live after them.

Yes, the year 2009 saw a lot of ups and downs in sports; these are definitely the ones that stood out for me, what about you?