AFP has leafed through the archives to pick out some of the quotes that defined the sporting year in 2024:
Basketball
“That moment — us checking in together — is something I’ll never forget, no matter how old I get, how my memory may fade as I get older or whatever. I will never forget that moment.”
— LeBron James on the moment he and his son Bronny became the first father-son combination to feature in the same team in an NBA match
Boxing
“No knock-out, no problem. I don’t think about it because we had a win.”
— Oleksandr Usyk after a split decision victory over Tyson Fury in the first heavyweight unification fight since 1999
Cricket
“Playing for England is the best job in the world and I’ve been privileged to do it for a long time.”
– England bowler James Anderson who ended a 20-year international career when he retired in July at the age of 41 with 704 wickets to his name
“We all know she is a once in a generation player. What she was able to do tonight was incredible. The world is her oyster.”
— New Zealand captain Sophie Devine on all-rounder Amelia Kerr who steered the White Ferns to victory in the women’s T20 World Cup final
“He is the kind of player who has come on Earth to play cricket, he settles for nothing else.”
— Cricket coach Pramod Kumar on 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi becoming the youngest player to be signed by an IPL franchise.
Cycling
“Cycling has given me so much and I love the sport. I can now say that I have achieved everything that I can on the bike.”
— Record-breaking sprinter Mark Cavendish announcing his retirement
Formula One
“There is tension here while he remains in position. The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim, when he is the one causing the problems.”
— Max Verstappen’s father Jos Verstappen speaks out against Red Bull team boss Christian Horner after he was accused of inappropriate behaviour towards a female employee. Horner was later cleared of any wrongdoing
“To stand here as a four-time world champion is something I never thought was possible. It was a very challenging season.”
— Max Verstappen after winning his fourth world championship title
Football
“We had to suffer. We had to suffer like animals.”
— Spain winger Nico Williams after his side scored late in Berlin to beat England 2-1 to win Euro 2024
“As people, as athletes, as men they have shown what they are worth. I cried with the boys.”
— Marco Tura, president of San Marino’s Football Federation, after his side secured promotion in the National League with their first-ever away win, 3-1 in Liechtenstein.
Olympics
“After all these years putting the mental work in, it’s paid off.”
– American gymnast Simone Biles bounces back from the mental torture of the ‘twisties’ to collect three golds and a silver in Paris
“Everyone competing in the women’s category… is complying with competition eligibility rules. They are women in their passports and it’s stated in there that they are female.”
— IOC spokesman Mark Adams on the gender row that blew up over Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting
“I wanted to show the strength of performance and the presence of women in general, and Algerian women in particular.”
— Gold medal-winning Algerian boxer Imane Khelif
“I can’t go out to restaurants like I used to anymore. I can’t do my shopping alone. I wear a cap and glasses. I try to hide a little. It’s a fairly radical change in status.”
— French Olympic swimming hero Leon Marchand in the weeks after winning four individual gold medals in Paris
“This may well be the greatest sports photo of all time.”
— Australian media conglomerate News.com.au rating AFP photographer Jerome Brouillet Olympics-defining snap of the Brazilian Gabriel Medina
Paralympics
“All athletes and coaches who trained on the territory of Ukraine were always at risk of serious injuries and wounds, or death from Russian missiles and bomb drones. It was incredibly difficult.”
— Valeriy Sushkevych, president of the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee
“I try to think of it as making beauty out of ashes, you know, rising as a phoenix would, showing the world that regardless of your circumstances, you really can do anything that you put your heart and mind to.”
— US Paralympic archer Tracy Otto to AFP about her journey after a former boyfriend shot and stabbed her leaving her paralysed severing her spinal cord
Tennis
“I leave with the peace of mind that I have left a legacy, which I really feel is not just a sporting one but a personal one.”
— Rafael Nadal on his retirement at the Davis Cup finals in Malaga
“You beat me — a lot. More than I managed to beat you. You challenged me in ways no one else could.”
— Roger Federer on the retiring Rafael Nadal
“After I lost my father, it has always been my goal to put our family name in the history of tennis. I’m proud of my family that they never gave up on my dream and that they were doing everything they could to keep me going.”
— Aryna Sabalenka after winning the US Open
