December 2004 in Sports - December 12, 2004

December 12, 2004

• Rodeo: Ropers Speedy Williams and Rich Skelton win their record eighth consecutive world team roping title at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Clay Tryan and Michael Jones won the aggregate title, while Dustin Elliott took the individual world title, hos first.(AZ Central)
• College basketball: Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski leads his team to his 700th career victory with an 82–54 win over the University of Toledo. Krzyzewski is only the 17th coach in NCAA history to lead one team to 700 wins. (ESPN)
• BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards:
  • Sports Personality of the Year (Winner): Athlete Kelly Holmes
  • Sports Personality of the Year (Second place): Rower Matthew Pinsent
  • Sports Personality of the Year (Third place): Cricketer Andrew Flintoff
  • Overseas Personality of the Year: Tennis player Roger Federer
  • Unsung hero: Abdullah Ben-Kmayal
  • Coach of the Year: Arsène Wenger, manager of Arsenal F.C.
  • Team of the Year: Great Britain Olympic Men's Coxless 4 rowing team
  • Helen Rollason Award for courage in the face of adversity: Kirsty Howard
  • Lifetime Achievement: Cricketer Ian Botham
  • Young Personality of the Year: Tennis player Andrew Murray
• Biathlon: The Holmenkollen BWC event's final day features two Pursuit races, of which the ladies' 10 km race is won by Sandrine Bailly (FRA), with yesterday's winner Olga Zaitseva (Ольга Зайцева) (RUS) finishing second, and Olena Zubrilova (Олена Зубрилова) (BLR) getting the 3rd place. (IBU/EBU Results) In the men's 12.5 km race, Sven Fischer (GER) takes his 9th victory at Holmenkollen, beating Raphaël Poirée (FRA) by 8.6 seconds, and yesterday's Sprint winner, Ole Einar Bjørndalen, by 16.3 seconds. (IBU/EBU Results)
• Cross-country skiing: In the World Cup event at Fiemme Valley, Italy, Russia's #I team (Larisa Kurkina, Natalia Baranova-Masolkina, Evgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova, Yuliya Chepalova) (Лариса Куркина, Наталия Баранова-Масолкина, Евгения Медведева-Абрузова, Юлия Чепалова) wins the ladies' 4×5 km Classical/Free technique relay, with Germany (Manuela Henkel, Claudia Künzel, Stefanie Böhler, Evi Sachenbacher) coming in second, and Norway (Kine Beate Bjørnås, Vibeke Skofterud, Hilde G. Pedersen, Marit Bjørgen) finishing third. (FIS-Ski Results) The men's 4×10 km C/F race is won by Norway I (Jens Arne Svartedal, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Frode Estil, Tore Ruud Hofstad), in a photo finish victory in front of Italy I (Giorgio Di Centa, Fulvio Valbusa, Pietro Piller Cottrer, Cristian Zorzi), half a second before France (Christophe Perrillat, Vincent Vittoz, Emmanuel Jonnier, Alexandre Rousselet). (FIS-Ski Results)
• Football (soccer):
  • Newell's Old Boys won its 5th Argentine League title in spite of losing 0 - 1 to Independiente.
  • A bomb warning forces the evacuation of over 70,000 people from Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu Stadium two minutes before the end of the La Liga match with Real Sociedad. The two teams were drawing 1–1 at the time. (BBC). The Spanish Football Association have announced that the remaining 2 minutes 40 seconds, plus 4 minutes' stoppage time, will be played at 6 p.m. on 5 January 2005. (BBC)
  • 2004 Tiger Cup championship, First Round:
    • Group B: Timor Leste 0 – 8 Thailand
    • Group B: Myanmar 1 – 0 Malaysia
  • The Indiana Hoosiers defeat the UCSB Gauchos 3–2 on penalties (they drew 1–1) to win the NCAA Division I men's soccer championship.
• National Football League, Week 14:
  • Peyton Manning comes within two touchdown passes of Dan Marino's single-season record as he leads the Indianapolis Colts to a 23–14 win over the Houston Texans and the AFC South division championship. Manning went 26 for 33 and threw for 298 yards. (ESPN)
  • Peyton's younger brother, Eli Manning, did not have as good a day as he threw for only 27 yards and completed just four of 18 passes as the New York Giants fell to the Baltimore Ravens 37–14. (ESPN)
  • Michael Vick and T. J. Duckett lead the Atlanta Falcons to the NFC South championship with a 35–10 win over the Oakland Raiders. Duckett ran for a team record four touchdowns in the game. (ESPN)
  • Jerome Bettis rushes for 57 yards and throws a 10-yard touchdown pass as the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the New York Jets 17–6 to win the AFC North championship. (ESPN)
  • The New England Patriots clinch the AFC East division championship with a 35–28 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. (ESPN)