| 24/3/2021 | Judoka Toshihiko Koga, 2 times Olympian and one of the most important athletes in Japan dies of cancer aged 53. He fought through a serious knee injury to capture the gold medal in the 71-kg class at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and went on to win a silver medal in the 78-kg class at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. | | 24/3/2020 | The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, and the Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo decide to reschedule the Tokyo Olympia Games due to the corona virus pandemic for 2021. | | 24/3/2018 | Greece wins the historical first title in the women’s Europa Cup Super Final in Pontevedra, Spain – and this is their first gold since 2011 when they won the World Championships. Russia had to settle for the second place after losing 9-8 in a thrilling final. The bronze medal remained in Spain after the home side beat the Netherlands with 9-3. | | 24/3/2016 | Dutch football legend Johan Cruyff dies of cancer aged 68 in Barcelona. Cruyff, who made his name as a forward with Ajax and Barcelona, won the Ballon d'Or trophy three times (1971, 1973, 1974). He made his debut for Ajax as a 17-year-old spending nine years with the club, winning six Eredivisie titles and three successive European Cups (1971, 1972, 1973) before joining Barcelona in 1973. The following year he proved the star turn at the 1974 World Cup, at the height of his playing career, leading the Oranje to the final in West Germany. In all, he won 48 caps for his country, scoring 33 goals. A prolific goalscorer, and a great creator for others, Cruyff even had his own trick, famous to this day. The 'Cruyff turn' was perfected by its inventor, who finished his playing career in Holland with a second spell at Ajax before spending his final campaign at the Amsterdam club's most bitter rivals, Feyenoord - whom he led to their first title for a decade. As a manager, Cruyff led Barcelona to four successive La Liga titles (1991-94) while also winning the 1992 European Cup at Wembley with a 1-0 win over Sampdoria. Cruyff underwent double heart bypass surgery in 1991 and, having been a smoker, immediately gave up after the operation. | | 24/3/2015 | A Germanwings Airbus A320 en route from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany, crashes into the French Alps in Digne region, Southern France, after an eight-minute descent from 38,000 feet, killing all 150 people (144 passengers and 6 crewmembers) on board. Dalkurd FF, a Swedish third division football team who had booked on that flight, escape death as they changed flights at the last minute as the layover in Duesseldorf would be too long. | | 24/3/2009 | Former PAOK FC president, Giorgos Batatoudis is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Thessaloniki Court of Appeal for embezzlement of 2.5 billion drachmas against Intersat – Interactive shareholders. | | 24/3/1999 | The Yugoslavian league stops because of NATO bombing. Partizan leads with 66 points, Obilic follows with 64. The authorities will crown Partizan yugoslavian champion on June 12, 1999 | | 24/3/1962 | Benny ''Kid'' Paret loses the lightweight title to Emile Griffith and, one week later he becomes the first world champion to die from his wounds. It’s the first time that a boxing match, which ends tragically, is televised and the public, from politicians to the Vatican, requests that television channels stop broadcasting boxing matches. A ban will be imposed and will last for 10 years | | 24/3/1946 | Russian world champion Alexander Alekhine dies at the age of 53 in Estoril, Portugal. He became the fourth champion by defeating Jose Raul Capablanca in 1927 and kept the title until his death with an interruption between 1935-1937, when he lost to Max Euwe. He was ostracized by players and organizers because of his anti-Semitic attitude and alcoholism and declared as “enemy of the Soviet Union” after making anti-Bolshevik statements in 1927, but in the 1950s will be posthumously rehabilitated. | | 24/3/1941 | ''Upset'', the only horse that defeated ''Man O' War'' dies aged 24 | | 24/3/1936 | Longest hockey game (2 hours 56 minutes). Montreal beat Detroit by 1-0 in sixth overtime | | 24/3/1929 | Panathinakos beats Apollon with 10-0 for the Greek Championship, in the heaviest score in the team’s history | | 24/3/1896 | Easter Sunday, the eve of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens. The statue of benefactor George Averof is dedicated by King George. On March 25, a symbolic day in greek history, the games begin. Nevertheless these dates are according to the Old Calendar, applied in Greece until 1923. According to the New Calendar therefore, the games began on April 6 |
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