Best of 2020: Naomi Osaka, Son Heung-min, Lewis Hamilton and the other athletes who shone during a difficult year
- Records still fell despite the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the sporting calendar like nothing before
- Social justice causes and US presidential election also saw athletes make sport political
Most of us will put 2020 down as a year to forget, with the sporting world ravaged by Covid-19 just like everything else. Tokyo 2020 was the biggest casualty.
The distraction of sport turned to concern for the teams and leagues that we love being able to survive the pandemic’s financial impact.
Those that did go ahead did so in bizarre circumstances and sometimes in the face of widespread criticism, while many athletes chose to sit it out, reasonably citing Covid-19 concerns.
As with any year, there was also inevitable and painful loss, with Kobe Bryant and Diego Maradona bookending a 12 months that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
If sport has taught us one thing over all these years, it is triumph over adversity. This year was no different with sport itself cast as the underdog as the world around us fell apart.
Here, in alphabetical order, are some of the athletes and officials that deserve to be remembered:
