Looking Back to July 1985: Famous sporting events

2,000 editions ago, in July 1985, Martina Navratilova won her 6th Wimbledon Women’s singles title on July 6.

In a rematch of the previous year’s final, she defeated the American tennis star Chris Evert Lloyd 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Navratilova picked up the 12th major title of her glittering career after her victory in the prestigious British tournament this summer.

For her opponent, it marked Evert Lloyd’s seventh time as a Wimbledon runner-up, an unwanted accolade that she shared with England’s Blanche Bingley.

In an unprecedented turn of events that caused a lot of controversy, Evert Lloyd and Navratilova were both seeded No 1 for the tournament.

This was due to the former being ranked No 1 in the world and the latter being the defending champion. The move was heavily criticised by the Women’s Tennis Association at the time.

How old was Boris Becker when he won Wimbledon the first time?

On July 7, aged 17 years, 7 months and 15 days, a German teenager named Boris Becker became the youngest player in history to lift a major tennis trophy.

By beating South Africa’s Kevin Curren 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, Becker was also unseeded player and German to win Wimbledon.

In the world of golf, on July 21, Scotland’s Sandy Lyle won his only ever British Open Men’s Golf title. Playing at Royal St George’s, he beat Payne Stewart by a single stroke to lift the famous Claret Jug.

British athlete Steve Cram set three world records in the space of 19 days during the month of July 1985. The ‘Jarrow Arrow’ recorded a time of 3:46.32 for the mile at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, a record that subsequently stood for eight years.

Also in Oslo, Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen completed 10,000m in 30:59.42 on July 27,to become the first female runner to cover that distance in under 31 minutes.