Sport in 2024: the moments that made us smile
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Guardian writers recall their memorable occasions over the past year, from fraternity in the F1 paddock to an indiscreet moment in the darts. You hear all sorts of whispers at the Olympics; my favourite this year was about the 61-year-old grandmother Ni Xialian, who had an outside shot in the women’s table tennis. She won world titles for China in the early 1980s, then fell in love with another player, Tommy Danielsson, and moved to Luxembourg to run a hotel. She still plays and at this year’s Games she won her first match but lost to the world champion in the second. Afterwards, she spent a happy hour offering life advice to the assembled press. “I was worried if I was good enough, but if you never play, you’ll never know,” she said, “and as I always say: ‘I’m always younger today than I will be tomorrow.’” Andy Bull.
![[Jurgen Klopp walks through a guard of honour at the end of his time with Liverpool]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/494a8191effbb79a2a0dec4e663e2c1d916e6b88/0_0_5080_3263/master/5080.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
I was in Surrey for a semi-professional squash tournament at a rather high-class country club, accompanying a good friend with plans to catch only a couple of matches. We ended up staying the entire day, bouncing between courts to watch as much action as possible. My highlight? A match between two talented juniors. The man to my left – a regular watcher – spent the entire game explaining in great detail how one of them was a prodigy with a terrible attitude. Apparently, the kid was a hothead, constantly swearing, refusing to finish games, and arguing with anyone in earshot. At match point, after a nail-biting rally, he won and the woman sitting to my right nearly burst my eardrum with a scream of joy. Turns out she was his mother, and had overheard every criticism. The look on the man’s face had me biting my cheek to stop me from laughing. Yara El-Shaboury.
![[Keely Hodgkinson wins Olympic gold in the 800m final at Stade de France.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/833c163a562c9a6d7b13353169fb3363767a8f21/0_0_5580_3720/master/5580.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
