Today’s highlights in sports history:
In 1932, the 10th modern Olympic Games opened in Los Angeles.
On this date:
1870 – Monmouth Park Racecourse opens with a five-day race meet.
1930 – Hosts Uruguay defeat Argentina 4-2 in football’s first World Cup in Montevideo.
1961 – Jerry Barber beat Don Janally by one stroke in a playoff at Olympia Fields in Illinois to win the PGA title.
1966 – England wins the FIFA World Cup, beating West Germany 4-2 at Wembley Stadium in London.
1968 – Washington’s Ron Hansen converts an unassisted triple play in a 10-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians.
1971 – In the NFL Chicago All-Star Game, the Baltimore Colts defeated the All-Stars 24-17.
1976 – Bruce Jenner sets a world record in the Olympic decathlon with 8,618 points, beating Nikolai Avilov’s record by 164 points.
1980 – Houston pitcher J.R. Richard suffers a stroke during practice at the Astrodome.
1984 – Michael Gross of West Germany sets a world record in the 200m freestyle with a time of 1 minute 47.44 seconds at the Munich Games.
1996 – The U.S. softball team wins the gold medal in the first-ever Olympic softball competition, defeating China, 3-1, thanks to a controversial two-run home run by Dot Richardson.
2009 — On the fifth night of the World Aquatics Championships in Rome, seven more world records are set, bringing the total to 29, surpassing last summer’s Beijing Olympics. Ryan Lochte rides momentum by breaking Phelps’ record in the 200-meter individual medley. China’s women finish off the 800-meter freestyle relay by beating the previous record by more than two seconds. The United States also breaks their previous record but can only manage the silver medal.
2012 — In London, 17-year-old Missy Franklin from Colorado wins the women’s 100-meter backstroke. Franklin was the last to qualify in the 200-meter freestyle semifinals and then took a short 13-minute break before having to re-enter the water for the backstroke final. 15-year-old Ruta Meilyutite holds off a late charge from U.S. world champion Rebecca Soni in the 100-meter breaststroke to become the first Lithuanian to win an Olympic swimming medal.
2013 – Katie Ledecky breaks the world record in the 1500m freestyle to win her second gold medal at the IAAF World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. The 16-year-old American finished in 15 minutes 36.53 seconds, beating Kate Ziegler’s previous record of 15 minutes 42.54 seconds set in 2007 by more than six seconds.
2015 – North Korea wins its first gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships when 16-year-old Kim Kuk-hyang wins the women’s 10-meter diving event. In her first international competition, Kim produces a stunning final dive, earning two perfect scores from the seven judges for a total of 397.05 points. In the next dive, the then-leading world champion Xi Yajie of China makes a mistake and falls to fourth place.
2021 – South African swimmer Tatjana Shoemaker sets a new world record in the women’s 200m breaststroke with a time of 2 minutes 18.95 seconds at the Tokyo Olympics.