THIS WEEK

CYCLING  May 25, 2007- Tour de France champ Bjarne Riis admits to using performance enhancing drugs for a period of 5 years between 1993-98. The Dane is the first rider to admit to doping while winning the multi-stage French race in 1996. His confession follows the admission of drug use by other fellow team members.

HORSE RACING June 5, 2010  Drosselmeyer wins the 142nd Belmont Stakes with jockey Mike Smith aboard. Named after a character from ‘The Nutcracker’ ballet, the chestnut-colored colt cleared the finish line in 2:31:57, ahead of second place Fly Down ridden by John Velazquez. Drosselmeyer would go on to claim the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Smith on the saddle once again. A 15-1 longshot, he nevertheless won the race with a margin of 1½ lengths, or in 2:04:27.

GOLF December 11, 2009  Tiger Woods announces he would take an indefinite leave from professional golf following allegations and his admission of marital infidelities. A number of his sponsors subsequently dropped him such as Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade and General Motors. After undergoing therapy, Woods was back on the course at the 2010 Masters. He and his wife divorced that summer.

MOTOR RACING November 1, 2009  British car racer Jensen Button wins his first and last Formula One World Championship title after finishing 3rd at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the calendar year. Button clinched 6 GPs that season, including Monte Carlo, accumulating the most points at 95, or 11 ahead of runner-up Sebastian Vettel.