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One basketball All-Star Game took place on this day, with Hall of Famers Karl Malone and John Stockton winning All-Star Game MVPs. Feb. 21st also witnessed some sports history facts, along with a few iconic Olympic moments. Let's take a closer look at these and other moments.
Utah Hall of Famers
Feb. 21 witnessed great moments from legends of the NBA:
- 1993: The 43rd NBA All-Star Game was played at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The West defeated the East 135-132 in overtime with Utah legends John Stockton and Karl Malone were named co-MVPs.
Sports History Facts
On this date, history was made across various sports.
- 1985: National League baseball player Tim Raines is awarded a 1.2 million dollar salary by arbitration.
- 2016: In the 58th Daytona 500, Denny Hamlin wins the race and it was the closest finish in Daytona history. Hamlin won by just 0.01s from Martin Truex Jr.
- 2017: Alex Puccio completes the first female ascent of Nagual V13 (8B) at Hueco Tanks.
- 2021: In the Australian Open Men's Tennis, Novak Djokovic of Serbia wins a record-extending 9th Australian title. Dokovic dominates Russian Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
Olympic Moments
Some achievements included some notable athletes getting awards and remarkable individual records.
- 1960: The Biathlon debuts at the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics. Klas Lestander from Sweden becomes the first Olympic champion ahead of Finland's Antti Tyrvainen and Soviet Aleksandr Privalov.
- 1980: American speed skater Eric Heiden wins the 1500 meter in an Olympic record time of 1:55.44. He won gold in all five of the speed skating events at Lake Placid.
- 1980: Liechtenstein becomes the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion as Hanni Wenzel wins the women's giant slalom at the Lake Placid Winter Games.
- 1992: Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States wins an Olympic gold medal in women's figure skating.
- 2002: The Canadian world champion women's ice hockey team wins the first of four consecutive Winter Olympic gold medals with a 3-2 win over the United States at Salt Lake City.
- 2014: Canada takes the curling double at the Sochi Winter Olympics, beating Great Britain, 9-3 in the final.
Looking back on Feb. 21, it was cool to see a wide range of sports moments, from rock climbing feats to Liechtenstein's surprising victory in the women's giant slalom. Kristi Yamaguchi, also added to her medal count, contributing to her induction into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. She also won a gold medal in pairs skating at the 1988 World Junior Championships and founded the Always Dream Foundation to advocate for early childhood literacy. And finally, this day witnessed Karl Malone becoming a two-time MVP, with John Stockton being regarded as one of the greatest passers of all time.
