Two Minutes Sport: 2012 in Review: Top 10 Moments of 2012

With the end of the year approaching, it is finally time to look back at 2012 and talk about the top 10 moments in sport of the year.

These are the moments we will long remember even if the result for the team we follow wasn't quite the right one.

TENNIS - Andy Murray's rise

For so long, Scotsman Andy Murray had been the bridesmaid, the clear number 4 outside the big 3 of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, so close yet so far to glory. Well, 2012 was the year Andy Murray finally stepped up and became a winner in his own right. A heartbreaking loss to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in front of an expectant nation failed to deter the grumpy, moody Scotsman who bounced back a month later at the same venue to beat Federer for Olympic gold. That proved a catalyst for his biggest success yet - although Murray nearly threw it away (again) in the US Open Final against Djokovic. Britain's duck in world tennis is over and the monkey is off the back.

ATHLETICS - Usain Bolt's magnificent reign continues

Has there been any runner greater? The calibre of the field of fastest men in the world has never been better with Yohan Blake amongst others snapping at Bolt's heels, but the giant Bolt still managed to comfortably defend his 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m Olympics titles and continue to enhance his claims as possibly the greatest runner the world has ever seen. Let's just hope he's not doping.

RUGBY UNION - England beating the All Blacks

The World Champion All Blacks may have been utterly dominant for much of 2012 but perhaps the loss at the end of the season may be the one that we'll remember most from 2012 sadly. England on the back of home defeats to Australia and South Africa, stepped up big time to cause one of the greatest shocks of all time, thrashing the All Blacks 38-21, the biggest loss by the All Blacks to England in years, and perhaps lighting up belatedly a rather stale international season. On the bright side for All Blacks fans, it's still 3 years from RWC time.

ROWING - New Zealand's golden summer at Eton Dorney

New Zealand were always going to excel in the water at the Olympics with their backs to the wall - literally and figuratively they did just that in London, as they won the most medals they've ever won on the rowing lake - 5 medals - as well as cap off their most successful Olympics since 1988. Lisa Carrington won New Zealand's 100th overall Olympic medal with gold in the K1 200m canoe final. Behind a dominant Great Britain, that was not a bad effort at Eton Dorney.

Most memorable was Nathan Cohen and Joe Sullivan's surge from 4th with 500m left to win their double sculls final at a canter. It wasn't the perfect race like their compatriots, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray or Mahe Drysdale, but at least they got the perfect finish which was all that mattered.

SWIMMING - Michael Phelps' last ever gold medal

It was always going to be tough to beat the efforts of Beijing 2008 when Phelps won a staggering 8 gold medals in the pool and the initial signs in London were not good for Phelps as he finished well behind teammate Ryan Lochte in the first event. Meanwhile, compatriot and Justin Bieber fan, Missy Franklin was taking all the plaudits for the golden start to her Olympic career - and perhaps she is going to be the Phelps of world swimming for the next 10 years. However, form is temporary and class is permanent as they say and Phelps bounced back to win his last ever gold medals and cap off the most illustrious career of any swimmer.

Oh did I forget to mention that monster putt in that golf tournament at the end of the year?

OLYMPICS - Britain's Golden Summer

What a time to be British. As eluded to in a previous post, 2012 was Great Britain's year and the main course of Britain's golden year was the Olympics. There were expectations that the Brits would perform well and win plenty of medals but not at the magnitude that eventually transpired - a 3rd place finish, effectively best of the rest behind established powerhouses, USA and China, and ahead of old foes like Germany, France, Argentina and of course, those Australians.

They blitz all asunder at the velodrome, in the rowing lake and even on the track. In the end, they finished with 65 medals, 29 of those being gold - 3 of those on one memorable night on the track thanks to Farah, Ennis and long jumper, Greg Rutherford. Established stars, Sir Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins, Ben Ainslie, Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis all won in front of their home crowd, joined by new stars, Laura Trott, Jason Kenny, taekwando jin, Jade Jones, amongst others. It was inspirational at its best - and that is merely an understatement to a games that I think is the best edition yet in the modern era.

Wow.

FOOTBALL - Spain win EURO 2012

As Spain headed into Eastern Europe, there was enormous weight of expectation on the reigning world and European champions. Spain were still clearly the best team in the world and the clear favourites to win the final in Kiev but the likes of Germany and the Netherlands had apparently closed the gap and France and Italy were not far off too. In fact, Spain cruised their way through a fairly straightforward group even with Cesc Fabregas and David Silva forced to play as makeshift strikers. Yet they never looked anywhere near their best and signs were there as they just about held on to beat France in the quarterfinal and somehow stayed alive despite Portugal being the better side in the semifinal in Warsaw.

With Italy having surprised the Germans in the semifinal, the final in Kiev was a rematch of their first game in the round robin - that game ended in a fair 1-1 draw. The final was nowhere as close as Spain took the early lead and totally dominated with their tika takka pass the ball around football. Spain should have been 5-0 up at halftime with the number of chances they had. As it was, the game finished 4-0 at full time, with the Chelsea duo of Fernando Torres and Juan Mata finishing off the tiring Italians having come off the bench.

Kiev will undoubtedly remembered as Spain's finest performance out of the three finals they've played in the last 4 years - it could be up there with the 1970 World Cup Final when Brazil absolutely embarrassed the Italians 4-1 with their similarly dreamy football.

CYCLING - Bradley Wiggins wins Tour de France

For so long, Britain had trailed the rest of Europe - and the world, went it came to racing the Grand Tours, including the greatest of them all, the Tour de France. In 2012, a Briton was finally crowned winner on the Champs Elyssees for the first time - and how. Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky totally obliterated the opposition including 2011 winner, Cadel Evans' BMC team, and to be fair the 2012 edition of Le Tour was a bit of a dull one from the moment the track layout was released and Bradley Wiggins licked his lips at the number of time trials. Nevertheless, one of grand tour cycling's most consistent stars of the last few years still had to turn up, and Wiggins did in some style with some help from fellow Brit, Chris Froome.

It was the perfect appetizer to further glories on 2 wheels for anyone donning the Union Jack that summer.

GOLF - Europe's Ryder Cup comeback win

"This one's for him," an emotional Europe captain, Juan Maria Olazabal dedicated Europe's dramatic Ryder Cup win at Medinah, Illinois to his friend, the late great Seve Ballesteros, and then broke into tears.

And it was dramatic. USA had look set to take back the Ryder Cup they lost to Europe in 2010, leading 10-6 going into the last day and only needing 4.5 points to win, while Europe needed 8 just to force a draw and retain the Ryder Cup. Cue the greatest performance by a Ryder Cup team in history on the final day. Some of the golf played was electric and the Americans just did not know what had hit them - an out-of-form, Martin Kaymer putting to seal a draw. Tiger Woods' subsequent collapse in the 18th ensured that Europe would actually win the 2012 Ryder Cup outright.

Golf is not usually a sport of dramatics but on this weekend in Illinois, it delivered enough drama to last most sports fans' lifetimes.

FOOTBALL - Manchester City win the Premier League title at the death

Undoubtedly, the sporting moment of 2012 - for drama, emotion and excitement, the last 5 minutes of the English Premier League season are unrivalled. The greatest 5 minutes of football you'll ever witness? You bet. Even fans who don't support either Manchester club would struggle to have kept the tears and emotion back - and most of them probably were going for the club in blue anyway.

We all know what happened. Man City looked set to take the title against relegation battling QPR, Man United held on to a 1-0 win to do their bit at Sunderland, QPR take shock lead against Man City despite having Joey Barton sent off deservedly only for Edin Dzeko to equalize in the last minute of normal time and then Aguero to score the goal that sent the blue half of Manchester into an ecstasy even sex couldn't provide.

It was the greatest finish to a football season ever - a season that had already been hailed as the greatest ever in Premier League history by many. It was certainly one we won't forget in a hurry and will always link 2012 with.