Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 29 (Reporter Wang Hengzhi, Wang Qinou) Without the Olympic Games and the Men's Football World Cup, 2023 can be regarded as a "small year" for sports in the traditional sense. But when we look back at the end of the year, we find that this "small year" is not "small" - the old and strong legends and rising stars have broken records and created history again and again, and the Olympic Games and Asian Games have also opened a new chapter in this year. Below, let's start with the top ten international sports news in 2023 selected by the Sports Department of Xinhua News Agency, and take a look at the blockbuster events in the international sports world this year.
It's a year full of "firsts". In Europe, the English Premier League team Manchester City won the "Big Ears Cup" for the first time; in the United States, the "small club" Denver Nuggets won the first NBA championship in their team history; in Asia, the Basketball World Cup jointly hosted by many countries for the first time also produced a "new king", and the German team, which has almost no first-line big stars, won all eight games and was "black" In the end, they became the seventh team to win the World Cup, and in Oceania, the Women's World Cup, which was co-hosted by two hosts for the first time, not only left a record, but also saw Spain reach the top for the first time.
As a team that was once regarded by countless fans as a representative of "local tyrants" and "golden yuan football", it took Manchester City a full 15 years to finally prove itself in the Champions League. Manchester City's success lies more in their relentless long-termism, they have always been willing to spend money, and they have slowly learned to spend money, and they are willing to spend money on youth training, which may be the best thing for him. As for women's football, the rise of European teams such as Spain and England is completely reasonable, after all, these countries with deep football roots have begun to pay attention to women's football and force big clubs to spend money on women's football.
The basketball court of 2023 proves once again that basketball is a five-person sport. Jokic is "outrageous" in all aspects, and taking the "triple-double" is like eating and drinking, but the success of the Nuggets depends more on the "Jokic" as a center to revitalize the whole team, and under the FIBA competition system, many young NBA stars of the United States, Canada and other teams want to solve the battle alone, so it is the German team and Serbia team that have no "star flavor" that finally advance to the World Cup finals. However, the victory of the "civilian team" may not become the mainstream, and there may be a better basketball competition waiting for us at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
It was also a year to witness legends. In fact, for us who are Xi to "chasing stars" on the court, many familiar names have not appeared on the list in 2023, but there are always some names that still shine - the 36-year-old Djokovic is still dominating the tennis world, which makes people feel sad for the men's tennis "post-90s" players, after all, the "post-00s" players have gradually grown up; although the same 36-year-old Messi no longer dominates football, he still won the eighth Golden Ball Award when he went to Major League Games, "King of the Ball" Verstappen, who is 10 years younger than them, continues to dominate F1, and while many think F1 is more of a competition of new motorsport technology, Verstappen's focus and perseverance are the secrets of his success, as former F1 World Champion Villeneuve said.
It was a year of world records. The two basic sports of track and field and swimming broke out collectively in the year before the Olympic Games, and the world records in both events seemed to be "worthless", with 16 world records in the pool being broken, and as many as 23 world records in track and field being rewritten. At the World Swimming Championships, there were also two "three gold kings", "Frog King" Qin Haiyang and Australian women's backstroke star McKeown shared the honor. And in the track and field competition in 2023, the stars are shining brightly and each is good at winning, so that the World Athletics Federation has made it difficult to select the best athletes, and finally came up with an unprecedented six-man list.
But if we had to pick one of the bunch of awesomes and good results, we had to vote for the marathon. This year, the 24-year-old Kiptum set a new men's marathon world record with a time of 2:00:35 and became the first marathon runner in history to break 2:01 in an official race. The 29-year-old set a women's world record with a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds, improving this record by more than two minutes, and the women's runner entered the "212" era. The marathon event is really a representative of "sports with infinite possibilities", and it is no wonder that it can "double blossom" in the field of competition and national people.
It was also a year full of new changes. The most important thing left to us by the Hangzhou Asian Games is not the total number of gold medals and medals that the Chinese delegation is far ahead, but the call and call to the world conveyed by the Asian Games - sports can change the world, and sports should become a link to unite the world.
The changes also come from the Olympics, with five new sports at Los Angeles 2028, including baseball/softball, cricket, lacrosse, squash and flag football, which have been talked about by many sports enthusiasts. Host factors aside, the IOC's embrace of new sports seems to have never stopped, but it will take time to see if these new sports can gain a foothold at the Games.