SINGAPORE – LeBron James made history on Tuesday night when he broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s National Basketball Association (NBA) all-time scoring record of 38,387 which had stood for nearly 39 years. James now has 38,390 points.
Here are five other sporting milestones, previously thought to be unbreakable, that were rewritten in recent years.
1. Hamilton surpasses Schumacher’s 91 F1 wins
Michael Schumacher’s victory at the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix was his 91st and last. A year later, Lewis Hamilton made his debut in Formula 1 and finished second to Kimi Raikkonen in the drivers’ championship. The Briton eclipsed Schumacher’s mark at the 2020 Portuguese GP and has 103 wins. He would also equal the German’s record seven world titles.
2. Ronaldo is football’s goal machine
Iran’s Ali Daei netted 109 international goals from 1993 to 2006, a tally that Cristiano Ronaldo, who debuted for Portugal in 2003, passed in September 2021 when he netted twice against Ireland. Ronald is 38, but his 118 goals are likely to stand the test of time. He also holds the goal records for the Champions League (140) and European Championship (14).
3. Ko betters Woods’ bogey-free streak
Tiger Woods ended the 2000 PGA Tour season with the most number of wins (nine) and also set the longest streak without a bogey over 110 holes. That run was broken 19 years later by South Korean Ko Jin-young, who went 114 holes on the LPGA Tour without dropping a shot. She also won her first two Majors and became world No. 1 that season.
4. Mayweather’s perfect 50-0 mark
It seemed like no one would even come close to boxing legend Rocky Marciano’s elusive 49-0 record, set in 1955 when he beat Archie Moore to retain his heavyweight title. American Floyd Mayweather did match it in 2015 but had to wait another two years to reach 50 when he came out of retirement and beat mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor via a technical knockout.
5. Tennis’ Big 3 keep rewriting records
When Pete Sampras won the 2002 US Open for his 14th Grand Slam, that appeared the men’s tennis milestone. It lasted only seven years as Roger Federer beat Andy Roddick to win Wimbledon in 2009. The Swiss reached 20 Slams first but his great rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic now have 22 each. Margaret Court holds the all-time record of 24 Slam singles titles.
