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Highs and lows. Triumphs and disasters. The Australian sporting story had many chapters to it in 2013 from the off-field troubles that besieged AFL and Essendon Bombers to the return of that tiny little Ashes urn.
It’s never easy to squash 12 months into a nutshell review of the year, but here goes with my five defining moments of the 2013 sporting landscape.
1. Black Caviar retires unbeaten
Unique, that is the only way to describe Black Caviar. In April, after victory at Royal Randwick in the TJ Smith Stakes, a salmon and black curtain came down on the unbeaten mare’s simply brilliant career.
It was almost four years to the day since the Black Caviar story had begun in 2009 at Flemington.
In 25 career starts no horse managed to beat Peter Moody’s star and she left the track as the heroine of thoroughbred racing.
She was, quite literally, unbeatable and racegoers flocked to catch that little glimpse wherever she went.
The likelihood is we’ll never see another one like her again – meaning she will forever be the darling of the turf. That gaping hole will take some filling for sure.
2. Kurtley Beale’s slip up
At the time, we didn’t know quite the impact it would have, but Kurtley Beale’s slip while attempting to kick a last-minute penalty in the opening match between the Wallabies and the British and Irish Lions was a series-defining moment.
Had his standing leg not gone from underneath him, Australia could well have been celebrating victory at Suncorp Stadium.
Instead, the Lions took the game 23-21 and comprehensively won the third Test 41-16 at ANZ Stadium to claim the series after the Wallabies set up a decider with a dramatic 16-15 success in the second Test at Etihad Stadium.
Sport is decided on fine margins and Beale’s slip proved to be decisive. It also ultimately cost coach Robbie Deans his job.
3. Socceroos head to Brazil
The nation breathed a sigh of relief when Josh Kennedy scored the winner in a 1-0 win over Iraq in June as a plane ticket to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup was secured.
The victory capped the perfect end to the qualifying stage with seven points from nine earning coach Holger Osieck widespread praise for leading the Socceroos to a third success World Cup.
It didn’t last, however, for the German with successive 6-0 defeats to Brazil and France costing him his job before the year was out.
Ange Postecoglou replaced him and will be the man plotting the downfall of Spain, the Netherlands and Chile in Group B in six months’ time.
4. Another Ashes defeat…but they’re soon regained with a whitewash
The year started off badly with a 4-0 Test series defeat in India, got worse with the sacking of coach Mickey Arthur on the eve of the Ashes.
Darren Lehmann’s subsequent appointment failed to prevent a third straight series defeat as the urn stayed in England thanks to a 3-0 victory for the hosts in the British summer.
It was more closely contested than the scoreline suggested, but few dreamed of what was to come.
Inspired by the return of Mitchell Johnson and the swashbuckling batting of Brad Haddin, Australia ripped apart a dozy England at the Gabba.
There was no let up as Australia proceeded to firstly regain the Ashes at the WACA and then complete a humiliating 5-0 whitewash at the SCG, the second perfect series in seven years.
It couldn’t have been more comprehensive either with victories by 381 runs, 218 runs, 150 runs, 8 wickets and 281 runs combining in arguably the best-ever Ashes win for either side.
5. Gai Waterhouse wins the Melbourne Cup
After 20 years of trying, Gai Waterhouse finally ended her determined quest to win the Melbourne Cup when Fiorente won the biggest prize of the horse racing calendar at Flemington.
Casting aside the heartache of saddling runners-up, including Fiorente 12 months earlier, Waterhouse was becoming the first female Australian trainer to win the Melbourne Cup and also following in the footsteps of her father TJ Smith, a two-time winner himself with Toparoa (1965) and Just a Dash (1981).
The scenes afterwards said it all, the first lady of the turf had finally done it.
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