and the czech republic. storm bella brings gusts of more than a hundred miles an hour, with roads in parts of wales, and devon and cornwall blocked by falling trees. let's take a look back now at how coronavirus impacted the world of sport in 2020. patrick gearey reflects on the highs and lows of the year in sport. we've got so much to look forward to in 2020. europe's festival of football begins. welcome to euro 2020. it's that time of year again, and there's a real buzz around this wimbledon.

they call it the greatest show on earth. take your marks for tokyo 2020. that was the sporting year that wasn't. a calendar with a line through it. 2020 showed sport's irrelevance, but also strangely its importance. it all began fatefully in smoke. fumes from the bushfires which were ravaging australia injanuary choked the melbourne air ahead of the australian open. at one point, the city had the worst air quality in the world. the whole competition was in doubt. but the winds changed, and the crowds, which saw novak djokovic win his 17th grand slam and sofia kenin win her first, were the lucky ones. things wouldn't be so normalfor long. las vegas has never really been normal, and in february it would host a fighter who's anything but ordinary. tyson fury. tyson fury!

he was in town for a heavyweight title rematch. in the first fight, he and deontay wilder couldn't be separated. before the second, they had to be separated. this fight didn't need pushing, the world was already watching. i think this is the biggest fight in the last 50 years, since 1971. i've got his number because he put me down and he couldn't keep me down. and that's been playing on his mind because everybody else he's knocked out apart from the gypsy king. so i'm coming for you, baby. he was. carried to the ring as a king, he would leave as a champion, flooring wilder twice before the fight was stopped in the seventh round. fury, whose struggles with mental health took him to the very bottom, now stood on top of the world. before i was ever born, i was destined to do what i do. and i've had the highs and lows and everybody knows about it, and tonight was the icing on the cake. and i've got another old fellow across the pond who might want a little tickle with a gypsy king, and then that's it then, completed, done.

that old fellow was anthonyjoshua, who defended his own titles this year. the world is still waiting for that fight because even as the desert dust settled in vegas, clouds were gathering around the planet. coronavirus continues to affect the sporting world. moved due to the coronavirus. april's chinese grand prix postponed as the coronavirus continues to spread. as the virus crept across the world and into british homes, the sporting impact was initially overseas. british sport lost handshakes, added hand gel and carried on. in early march, ministers insisted premier league football, england v wales rugby and the cheltenham festival could still go ahead with appropriate hygiene measures in place. at this stage, we are not in the territory of cancelling or postponing events. that was the morning of monday the 9th of march. by the end of that week, everything had changed. events escalated from thursday.

bit of breaking news regarding the coronavirus. yes, arsenal have just confirmed that head coach mikel arteta has tested positive for covid—19. the premier league will convene an emergency club meeting tomorrow. all english and scottish football matches are suspended because of the impact of coronavirus. england have cancelled their two test cricket matches... the f1 season suspended until may at the earliest. the marathon is the next sporting match to be postponed. the final round of six nations fixtures, a complete write—off. what you have seen over the last 48 hours or so in effect is the collapse of the global sporting calendar. within a fortnight, the country was locked down, and with much of the world also under restrictions, the final dominoes were bound to fall. wimbledon was cancelled for the first time in peacetime, while euro 2020 was shifted to 2021. the women's euros moved to 2022. and having cost at least £10 billion, the biggest event of all finally

accepted the inevitable. we came to the conclusion that we have to postpone the olympic and paralympic games tokyo 2020 to the year 2021. i feel relieved because we were getting more and more feedback from athletes and from sports saying they have to be postponed this year. it's all—consuming, an olympic campaign, so it really is a big deal to add another year to it, and then the question of will my body even hold up? i just don't think it's sensible to continue given the current circumstances the world is in. first of all, athletes can't train as normal. it is quite frustrating because right now i'm ready to go. and jordan wasn't alone. like all of us, athletes were told to stay at home, so expending energy and maintaining fitness required creativity.

the enormity of what was happening drew some into the world outside sport, to the wards, to a cause. marcus rashford's campaigning on child hunger transcended the partisan world of football. football itself had a big question in front of it. with the stadium doors shut for the foreseeable future, should the season be stopped? in scotland, they called it a day. and celtic, 13 points clear, were crowned slightly lonely champions, their ninth in a row. in england, the women's super league also packed up. chelsea bumped up to champions on points per game at the expense of manchester city, who had been leading. english lower league football clubs also voted to stop. with no fans in grounds, their very survival was at stake. but for those who wanted to play on, the last day of may brought hope. we won't be sitting in the stands for a while and things will be very different to what we're used to, but live sports will be back on oui’ screens next week. the british sporting recovery has begun.

when the premier league returned in england two and a half weeks later, it emerged into a weird, empty, sterile landscape, a place of twice—weekly covid tests and daily temperature checks. and it wasn't just the virus which had changed the world. the killing of george floyd in america saw the rise in the black lives matter movement. sportsmen and women across the planet took a knee in solidarity. meanwhile, liverpool, the world and european club champions, had a job to finish, a wait to end, a weight to lift. it's crazy to think that a club the size of liverpool will go 30 years without winning the league, without being english champions. one of the biggest problems liverpool had was just needing to get a title win over the line because it was starting to feel as though it was never going to happen. there's been plenty of times where we have said this is our year, it's our season and it's never quite come off. brilliant salah header, 2—0 liverpool! liverpool were phenomenal at the start of last season.

to get 97 points and only come second, and then your response to that, rather than feel sorry for yourself, is we just have to win every single game next season, which is how they started. i think manchester united at home was the moment where everyone was like, "this is it, this team is going to be champions." salah sticks it away on the counter attack and people burst into a rendition of we're going to win the league. we have been so cagey about that. we both have season tickets, but when they started singing we're going to win the league, and we were quite superstitious when it comes to the marching. my dad said i'm not saying anything until we have our hands on the trophy. liverpool 25 points clear at the top when football stopped. football is a game, again we all take very seriously, it's very central of all of our lives but it was a very small

and insignificant sort of side act to what was happening around the world. you didn't know whether it was going to return or whether there was going to be null and void. no one had any idea what was going to happen. you follow football, it felt like the universe was finding another way to stop liverpool winning the league. we waited 30 years and we just had another three months on top of that. having the dates to come back was wonderful news. that was the light at the end of the tunnel, if you like, when we knew they are going to do it. on thursday, june the 25th, their chance came. manchester city had to beat chelsea just to stay in the race. one of my friends set up a big projector in his garden and managed to get a screen from somewhere. and liverpool surely headed to the title! liverpool was already starting to celebrate as soon as the penalty went in, and that's when you started hearing the fireworks, you started hearing the cheers. stuart attwell blows his whistle. and for the first time

since 1990, the champions of england are liverpool. that feeling... that absolute rush, i've never felt quite anything like that when i've not been in a football ground. we started hearing liverpool breaking into this spontaneous party and suddenly all around you, people beeping the horn and shouting out the car windows. i'm just so happy that i was with my dad, and i know for a fact that it meant so much to him. people running into their gardens and running into the streetsjust screaming into the air. people were just going outside and laughing and smiling and being so happy. it was beautiful really. it was much more than i was expecting to get. the joy was not entirely contained. the club and local leaders condemned some liverpool fans for ignoring social distancing rules and gathering in large numbers to celebrate.

but for most, this was about being together apart. having a successful football team in a city always lifts the mood in a city, so it helps everything. it's good and at this moment in time in the biggest crisis we've probably have ever had, our generation have ever had, it's so important you don't forget to have something we really look forward to and we are allowed to look forward to. this is a really special team, this is a really special time. we won the 19th, but we are not quite ready to let go of it yet and we want that number 20. in a really bizarre year, let's just forget about everything else that's going on around the world and just give us that little bit ofjoy. it's not been the football that we knew and loved in quite the same way, we've not been able to engage with it in the same way. having in my opinion and currently technically the best team

in the world to follow, it's been god's blessing. scotland fans had also been on hold, but this year brought a chance to end the wait since ‘98 when the men's team last made a major tournament. it all came down to a playoff and to penalties. if he can't convert, scotland go through. it is aleksandar mitrovic, right—footed penalty, saved! saved! scotland are through! the torture, the pain, the anguish is over! scotland are through to euro 2020! restrictions meant the national celebration had to be expressed individually. 0nly small parties now but they have an invite to a big one. it was a long night. no sleeping after a game like that, no sleep with the emotions of the night. wake up to lots of messages on your phone and you begin

to realise the magnitude of what we did last night. northern ireland's men narrowly missed out on qualifying but the women might still make it. they have a playoff for 2021 to see if they can join hosts england in the finals in 2022, by which time the english will be under new management. serena wiegman is due to replace phil neville. the old football season was running so late it overlapped the new one. it was november by the time manchester city won the women's fa cup. a few months earlier, arsenal lifted the men's version for a record 14th time. from gunners to a rider, and hollie doyle has always been a natural. this year she has gone galloping past milestones all over the place, the first royal ascot victory, the first woman to win five races on a british card. doyle also broke her own record for wins by a female jockey in a calendar year. i've been pretty blessed this year. i wasjust dreaming of riding a group winner and i've ridden a handful, so it is better than i ever expected.

she's grafted to craft her body into a racing machine and there is talk of doyle becoming the first female champion jockey. she may only be five feet tall, but for hollie doyle, nothing is out of reach. barriers are there to be smashed, as terri harper will show you. only recently, her job involved spuds, not gloves. i wake up monday morning and think wow, how crazy has my life changed. i used to have tojuggle work, uni. i worked in a chip shop. and now i'm in a gym, boxing full—time. this was the year she went from the chippy to a champ, doing a lot of battering along the way. back in february, before the world changed, she conquered it, beating eva wahlstrom to become only britain's second female world champion after nicola adams. her next fight was in promoter eddie hearn‘s backyard in essex in august, a bout with natasha jonas was a bloody battle, a landmark night for women's boxing. the war ended as a draw, harper still the champ. savannah marshall and

cha ntelle cameron have since joined her at the top of the world. i had to learn how to survive. i've learned to go out and hold on and i've learned i've got a heart and i learned that i've still got a lot more to learn. meanwhile those running english cricket were trying to save the test match summer. millions of pounds were on the line. they found the answer inside a bubble. ecb has confirmed that england will face the west indies in a three test series. we'll go ahead with the players remaining in a strict biobubble. practising, playing and living inside two cricket grounds with on—site hotels. this was an experiment in sport. keeping the virus out meant locking everyone in for days and weeks on end. so what was the view like from the inside? a biosecure bubble, what an extraordinary thing it is. everybody had to buy into this because if there been a breach, if any of us had come down with covid during the middle of a game, it could have been absolutely catastrophic. you get up in the morning, make sure that you walk in a clockwise direction around

to the media centre to get your temperature checked. it was very disorienting to start with. but you get the hang of it and you get this sense of extraordinary privilege. the west indies were coming from an environment which had really low rates of covid and what they were doing was resurrecting the broadcast deals which keep sports afloat, especially when you could not get fans in, so what the west indies have done for english cricket this summer is nothing short of heroic. all members of both the england and the west indies and the umpires and officials taking a knee. when the west indies took the knee, that very first ball, that very first test, i had goosebumps. it was an extraordinary thing to see and it was marvellous that the england players also took the knee. the amazing thing was actually the quality of the cricket was as good if not better than it has been for some years. the west indies, that first test match, they ambushed england really. the west indies win a remarkable test match. wheneverjoe root has got a problem, it seems to be

ben stokes who just arrives. this is incredible batting from ben stokes. stuart broad had an extraordinary summer. he was a man reborn really. and to take that 500th wicket, i remember it very distinctly because i was on commentary. he has given him! that is broad's 500th wicket in test cricket. that's one of the strange things about being in a bubble because you would witness a really historic event and there was no one there to see it. second and third tests, england were just too good. the england test team return to face a new challenge, pakistan. theyjust gave a different flavour. they gave a different zing. they should probably have won that series and probably should've won that first test and in what looked like impossible circumstances, josh butler and chris woakes fashioned a partnership of 139 that took england to the brink of victory and then they got there. and what a win that is for england!

zak crawley had this breakthrough innings and it was staggering. 267 he scored. well, that is glorious. we've got to have a mention forjames anderson. his longevity is extraordinary. 38 years old and still pumping out the wickets and then he got to the holy grail of 600 on the last test match day of the summer. got it! the first ever seam bowler to get 600 test match wickets. to go out there and get the chance to get the 600 was really special and obviously sharing that moment with the guys that i played a lot of cricket with was making it even more special. in a way, the performances on the field were a lot less important than the fact that it happened and the fact that we could prove that it was possible to put a biosecure bubble together. that sport does not have to stop because of the ravages of covid, that we don't have to just surrender in the face of this calamity.

the march reign in sydney ended the world t20 hopes of england's women. it was more than half a year before they played again, winning all five of their t20 matches against the west indies. bubbles took off and landed around the world. 0ne formed around part of new york to allow the us open to take place. novak djokovic‘s tournament went pop. kicked out after a stroppy shot hit a linejudge, so dominic thiem's time had finally arrived. naomi 0saka won her second us title. in a chilly paris, a rearranged french open saw a first blossom for iga swiatek and a familiar harvest for rafa nadal. roland—garros title 13 — even in 2020 some things never change. an out of kilter year saw the masters sprung from springtime. johnson dominated an autumnal agusta and earned himself a nice winter jacket. staying with green cloth, this is ronnie 0'sullivan‘s canvas. he won his sixth world snooker title. rugby union had been

on a specially long pause. it took until the last day of october for england to win the six nations and the first day of november for them to lift the trophy in their hotel garden. they also won the autumn league of nations cup. the women's six nations was won by england too, this time in a grand slam. while in club rugby, exeter competed an incredible rise in an incredible decade from a second division side to european champions. they won the english premiership too. at rugby league's challenge cup final, they saluted a bigger battle. former leeds player rob burrow honoured for his fundraising work while dealing with motor neurone disease. and fittingly it was the rhinos‘ current number seven luke gale who won the cup. luke gale with a drop goal and he peels away in celebration! leeds winners for the 14th time and the season would get some finish. all square in the last seconds of the super league grand final, one last saint helen's boot to beat the hooter and one last incredible twist. it is a try! it is a try from welsby!

you will never see a finish to a rugby league game like that. sometimes sporting glory can be found in a touch, an inch, sometimes it reveals itself over hundreds of miles. tao geoghegan began cycling on the streets of hackney. he skipped school to go to the launch of team sky. this year at that year giro d'italia, he found himself by chance as the lead rider of the same team. now named ineos grenadiers. and on milan's roads, he powered himself to one of cycling's great prizes. tao, britain's giro, hero. tao geoghegan is going to win the giro d'italia. i don't know if it's going to sink in but it certainly has not now. ijust feel honoured to be here with this team and incredibly privileged to be in this position. to race my bike for a living is a dream country. so i'm enjoying every moment of it. the blue peter garden 28 years ago, and a young man with a very

clear sense of direction. is it easy to do? no. this young driver never really went for easy. soon he was in cars. recognise me now? i'm lewis hamilton. my brother is the best driver because he's fast. and one day he's going to be in formula 1. not everyone shared nicholas‘s faith. i rememberas a kid, adults, teachers, parents of other drivers and youngsters telling me that i would not make it and would never be in it, you are not good enough, no way you're going to make it. as a youngster, your young kid is saying, "dad, dad, i want to be a formula! racing driver," how do you make this happen? i am living proof that you can manifest your dreams and even the impossible ones. it's almost like he's reinvented himself and can find a way to drive that car faster than he ever could before. the foot‘s always remained on the accelerator and this season as the best driver in the fastest car, there were records out there on the road ahead. but the route was not always straight.

lewis hamilton won the styrian grand prix, the second race has been delayed. somehow lewis hamilton has won the british grand prix. crossing the finish line onjust three wheels after suffering a puncture. and hamilton incredibly nursed his car around the track. it isn't just about the car and about the win, it's about the decisions that he's made along the way that makes him great. and that greatness was about to be confirmed on the algarve as hamilton passed michael schumacher‘s grand prix record, the ultimate overtaking. victory in portugal! a record—breaking 92 grand prix wins! it felt like '94 when the first time we won a carting championship, remembering the smile on his face and how excited he was. and here we are emulating the great michael schumacher and to have his son present lewis with a helmet was just a very humbling experience. you know, everyone asked me what would be it like if you win a seventh title? the man from stevenage comes across the line, wins the turkish grand prix

and becomes the most successful formula 1 driver of all time! i definitely wouldn't have predicted that i would be hit with such emotion. but my whole racing career, my family, just flashed before my eyes. it is nice to see dominance, if you want, by an individual who was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth but actually had to work for everything he has earned. my dad literally sacrificed so much, when i facetime with him and he's got a big smile on his face he says i knew you would do it. i love seeing him in the race car. i love seeing that perfection of man and machinery. i still feel young, i still feel energised, i still feel hungry and what's crazy is that yes, i've won this seventh title, but we have another big fight to win and that's for racial equality across the board. now is our time and lewis' opportunity to try and change the way people perceive the sport. after us there is a concern that there will never be another black driver in formula 1.

that should not be in this day and age. watching george floyd, emotions i did not realise i even had suppressed and challenged into my racing. i feel like i've had a real drive to try and push for change. that's probably why you see me drive faster than ever. two weeks after hamilton won the title, romain grosjean smashed into the barrier at the bahrain grand prix. amazingly he escaped from the inferno with only minor injuries. his life saved by a protective bar on the car. that fire shone a blinding light on the importance of safety within sport, a relationship that's been examined ever closer this year. the possible link between dementia and heading in football or relentless collisions in rugby will surely come under still greater focus. meanwhile the pandemic continues to attack sport, infecting athletes, postponing fixtures, cancelling tours and the restrictions needed cutting off the financial lifeblood, leaving many sports and clubs

reliant on rescue packages. but there is hope in the trickling return of fans and the coming wave of vaccinations. and if 2020 as a sporting year was partly postponed, then 2021 is to be confirmed. there is at least something to play for. after a storming start to the day, the winds from storm bella are starting to ease down, but we have them in excess of 80 mph and that has caused some damage and disruption. as well, we have had more heavy rain and that is also starting to clear away and all parts are getting into the colder arctic air and that

will be with us till the end of 2020 now. there are issues with snow and ice, that risk especially in the north through the rest of the day, but for all parts heading to night—time. the winds are easing, still a windy day though and the flood warnings, severe flood warnings, still remaining. the rain is clearing away, we have sunny spells and showers following, plenty of sunny spells across central and eastern areas but showers further north falling as snow even at lower levels across scotland, parts of northern ireland, northern england, wintry flavour over the hills further south. the winds are easing, but still pretty gusty and actually that will exacerbate how chilly it feels, so nowhere near as mild as yesterday and temperatures having started relatively high, tens and 11s in the south, are dipping away. that wind will exacerbate the chilly feel and through this evening and overnight this spell of more persistent snow comes to scotland, northern ireland, runs into northern england and north wales. could see a scattering of snow over the moors further south so much colder overnight,

not as windy, but temperatures will fall to freezing or below so where we have had rain, surfaces are damp and those showers could be quite treacherous with ice and snow. that same area of low pressure, the remnants of storm bella with us drifting southwards on monday, butjust dragging the cold air south. that means there could be snow to lower levels, even further south and certainly a few centimetres in those showers over the hills. it is colder air and you can see those showers are rushing in to eastern areas, showers for parts of northern ireland, a colder day throughout, four or five, but with sunshine between the showers, it is just the devil is in the detail. but for the rest of the week, as i say, and into the start of 2021, it remains on the chilly side, getting a little bit drier. fewer showers around, a little bit of sunshine as well. but it does look as if it will be a cold and frosty end to the year with snow and ice risk, warnings are online.

this is bbc news — these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. borisjohnson promises big changes following his brexit trade deal, as his chancellor rishi sunak says the deal brings reassurance to those who were worried about the impact on businesses. for those who were anxious about the economic implications of leaving, they should be enormously reassured by the comprehensive nature of this trade agreement, ensuring tariff—free, quota—free access for british businesses to the european union. the rollout of the pfizer covid vaccine begins for millions of people across the eu, starting with italy