Nor, despite their advanced age, was there astonishment in seeing Roger Clemens win a record seventh Cy Young award or Barry Bonds join Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron in the 700-homer club while winning a record seventh MVP.
Clemens retired from the Yankees, unretired for his hometown Houston Astros, and had one of his finest seasons. Bonds shrugged off a federal grand jury appearance, a thousand questions about steroids and the arrest of his personal trainer in the BALCO case, and, at 40, had a career year.
They, like Ichiro Suzuki, whose record 262 hits broke George Sisler's 84-year-old mark, gave the season a golden hue.
Michael Phelps imposed himself in such a way at the Athens Olympics, winning eight medals, six of them gold and none a surprise. If Phelps didn't quite match Mark Spitz's record haul of seven individual golds in 1972, he still ruled the pool.
Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj, the greatest middle-distance runner of all time, elevated the games by winning the 1,500 gold after failing twice before, then added the 5,000 -- a double that hadn't been accomplished since Paavo Nurmi did it in 1924.
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