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Sporting Highlights for 1999

Here are the sporting highlights of the world of sport in 1999. Major events for this year include the Rugby World Cup held in Wales, won by Australia.



Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, announced his retirement in January after winning his sixth championship. This was not the first time nor would it be the last time he would retire from the game. Michael has had his impulses with retirement. Jordan announced his first retirement in October 1993 only to come back in March 1995. He came back from his second retirement in 2001 and played two seasons for the Washington Wizards till his permanent retirement in 2003.

Serena Williams won the US Open for her first grand slam title defeating the then world no.1 Martina Hingis in straight sets. She has since been the most dominant player on the women's tour winning 21 titles thus far and showing no signs of slowing down. Martina Hingis also had a great year winning the Australian Open for the third consecutive time and also the French Open. Unfortunately for Hingis, subsequent major injuries had cut short her promising career since then.

The now-disgraced Lance Armstrong, came back after a three year battle with cancer to win the Tour de France event. It was a great story at the time and served as a motivation for millions. Lance Armstrong who was suspected of doping for a very long time finally came out and accepted his long time use of performance-enhancing drugs. This and all his six other Tour de France wins have since been disqualified.

Also in doping news, in 1999 the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA, was created after several years of international organizational efforts in the sports community.

Soccer great David Beckham got married to Spice Girls singer Victoria Beckham on July 4th. They have since been considered as the most fashionable couple in the whole world.

Manchester United claimed their third league title and FA Cup Double in six seasons, sealing it with a 2-0 win over Newcastle in the FA Cup final. Man United went on to complete the Treble, also winning the Champions League with a dramatic 2-1 win over Bayern Munich. They became the first side in English football to achieve such a feat.

Indian cricket spin ace Anil Kumble became the second player ever to take all ten wickets in a cricket Test match innings, against Pakistan in 1999 at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla.

The golf world was shocked with the death of American Payne Stewart, four months after his U.S. Open victory. His private Learjet flew uncontrolled for thousands of miles across the US before crashing, killing everyone on board.

See the Top Earners for 1999.

Below is a timeline of some significant results in the world of sport for the year 1999.

Date Results
Jan Tennis Australia Open won by Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Martina Hingis
Feb Super Bowl held in Miami won by Denver
April Golf Masters won by José María Olazábal (2nd win)
May Tennis French Open won by Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf
June Golf US Open won by Payne Stewart
June 19 – July 10 The women's world cup, held in the USA, was won by the USA over China.
July the Cycling Tour de France was won by Lance Armstrong (though he was later stripped of this win)
July Tennis Wimbledon won by Pete Sampras and Lindsay Davenport
July Golf The Open Championship won by Paul Lawrie
Aug Golf US PGA won by Tiger Woods
Sep Tennis US Open won by Andre Agassi and Serena Williams
Oct 1 - Nov 6 Rugby World Cup won by Australia
Oct The Baseball World Series won by New York Yankees

Please note that the dates for past events are not always known, and are sometimes just placed in the month that the current event is held. If no exact date is listed, then it is just an estimated month that it was held.

If you have a correction or know of events that should be included here, please let me know.



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