Rugby union: In the final match of Round 3 of the Six Nations, held in Dublin, Ireland use a try from captain Brian O'Driscoll and 14 points from Ronan O'Gara to defeat England 19–13. The win keeps Ireland on track for a possible Grand Slam showdown with Walesin Cardiff in three weeks. This also marks the first time since 1987 that England has lost three straight Six Nations matches. (BBC)
Curling: In the final match of the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts, Manitoba, led by skip Jennifer Jones, defeats Jenn Hanna's Ontario team 8–6 and becomes the Canadian national women's champion. With the win, Jones' rink has earned the right to represent Canada at the world championship, as well as an entry in the Canadian Olympic curling trials. (CBC sports)(Sportsnet)
26 February 2005 (Saturday)
Boxing: Miguel Cotto wins over Demarcus Corley by TKO after Corley took a knee on the fifth round to avoid further punishment. Cotto's corner immediately tells Corley that they are at the disposal of giving him a rematch.
Scotland fails to score a try against Italy, but six penalties by Chris Paterson provide all the points Scotland need to score its first win of this year's competition, 18–10, in Edinburgh. (BBC)
At Stade de France near Paris, France takes a 15–6 halftime lead over Wales, but the Welsh storm back behind two Martyn Williams tries to score a 24–18 win, keeping Wales on course for a possible Grand Slam. (BBC)
Curling: 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts – Defending Scott champion Colleen Jones fails to make it 5 championship wins in a row, as she was ousted by Sandy Comeau's rink from New Brunswick in the morning tie-breaker. Comeau would then play Jenn Hanna's Ontario rink who had beaten Alberta's Cathy King rink in the other morning tie-breaker. Hanna would go on to win the final tie-breaker which determined the last playoff spot. In the evening, the page-playoffs began with Hanna once again winning, defeating Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton rink in the 3–4 game for the right to go to the semi-final on Saturday. In the other playoff game, Manitoba's Jennifer Jones rink defeats British Columbia's Kelly Scott rink in the 1–2 game, forcing Scott to play in the semi-final on Saturday and giving Jones a bye to the final on Sunday. (CBC sports)
Boxing: Bernard Hopkins makes a successful 20th defense of his middleweight title with a one-sided unanimous decision over Howard Eastmanin Los Angeles. Hopkins becomes the first Middleweight champion in boxing history to defend that category's title twenty or more times, and joins Joe Louis and Abe Attell, among few others, in the exclusive group of boxers with 20 or more title defenses in one division. (AP/Yahoo!)[permanent dead link](Boxing Central)
Cycling: Lance Armstrong announces his intentions to compete for a seventh consecutive win in the upcoming Tour de France, ending speculation as to whether he would race this year or in 2006. (BBC Sport)
As the final Waterloo Cup event in England starts in Altcar, four anti-coursing protesters are arrested. The event is expected to attract up to 10,000 spectators over its 3 days. (BBC)(BBC)
American football: Arizona businessman Reggie Fowler agrees to buy the Minnesota Vikings from Red McCombs for US$625 million, possibly becoming the first African-American owner of an NFL team (subject to NFL approval). However, this is soon overshadowed by a number of public relations gaffes by Fowler and his associates—most notably, padding his résumé with false or misleading information. (CNN/SI)
13 February 2005 (Sunday)
American football: Pro Bowl – In the concluding game of the 2004–2005 NFL season, held in Hawaii, the AFC all-stars beat the NFC by the score of 38–27.
In the second round of matches, Wales record their first away win in the Six Nations for nearly four years when they defeat Italy 8–38 in Rome's Stadio Flaminio. (BBC).
Flip Saunders is fired as head coach of the underachieving Minnesota Timberwolves following a 25–26 start, which came in spite of having virtually the same team that they had when they posted the best record in the Western Conference the previous year. ESPN.com
Police in Austria are launching an investigation into whether a goalkeeper for the Austrian first division club SW Bregenz is involved with the match-fixing ring. Hoyzer has reportedly told German authorities that there was a link between the ring and the Austrian club. (Reuters/Yahoo!)[permanent dead link]
Snooker: After hearing of a sponsorship deal from HP Foods, makers of brown sauce, whereby the HP logo will be present on the brown ball at all major tournaments, Jimmy White announces he has changed his name by deed poll to 'Jimmy Brown', and will wear brown clothing with a blue bow tie when competing at the upcoming Masters tournament. He has not ruled out either changing his name back after the tournament or keeping his new name.
7 February 2005 (Monday)
Sailing: Ellen MacArthur breaks the record for a single-handed non-stop round-the-world voyage, with a time of 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds for the 27,000-mile voyage. (BBC)
Football: The parent company of 115-year-old Servette Football Club from Geneva, Switzerland, is declared bankrupt with debts of over 10 million Swiss francs. The club will be demoted two divisions. (SBS)
Doping, cross-country skiing: French skier Vincent Vittoz, currently ranked No. 2 in the XC skiing World Cup season, submits a positive drug test on the banned diureticfurosemide. Part B of the test process will remove any doubts as to whether the drug was actually taken or not. (AP/Skiracing.com) Update: Vittoz cleared of charges; see 9 February.
Football: Prosecutors in Berlin have confirmed that police raided the premises of 19 suspects in the ongoing German match fixing scandal and found information that may implicate as many as 25 people in fixing ten matches in 2004 alone. In addition to disgraced referee and admitted fixer Robert Hoyzer, 14 players and three referees are suspected of involvement. The three Hertha BSC Berlin players previously linked to the scandal have been cleared. (AFP/Yahoo!)[permanent dead link]
1 February 2005 (Tuesday)
Doping: Scientists at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have discovered a new designer steroid, called Desoxy-Methyl Testosterone, or DMT, which has the ability to increase strength, muscle bulk and stamina. The steroid appears to be a new generation of tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), but is much more sophisticated than any previously discovered steroid for doping use. (CBC Sports)
Football: Ten countries have submitted eight bids to UEFA to host the 2012 European Football Championship finals. They are joint bids from Poland-Ukraine, Croatia-Hungary, and individual bids from Greece, Italy, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. Candidate bids have to submit their dossiers to UEFA by 21 July; a shortlist of three candidacies will be chosen in November, and the successful bid will be chosen in December 2006. The 2008 finals will be held in Austria and Switzerland. (Reuters).
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