Sport's big winners of 2023 – in pictures

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Manchester City
Novak Djokovic
Simone Biles
Spain
Lionel Messi
South Africa
Australia

By Mike Starling, The Week UK

published 28 December 2023

Manchester City: men's football

Manchester City players celebrated the treble with a bus parade — After beating Inter Milan 1-0 in the final of the Uefa Champions League in June, Man City "finally won the trophy they craved", said Richard Martin on Goal. Completing the historic treble – Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup – Pep Guardiola's side were "undisputably the best team in Europe". Later in the year City also added the Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup to their 2023 trophy haul.

Novak Djokovic kisses the trophy after winning the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals — Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic showed he has "no intention of slowing down", said AFP, after capping "another incredible year" with his record-breaking seventh ATP Finals victory. The 36-year-old is still tennis's No. 1 men's player, "by a good margin", and racked up "a host of new records this season", including taking his grand slam tally to 24 and "finishing on top of the year-end world rankings for the eighth time".

Simone Biles won four gold medals at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships — At the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, American star Simone Biles further cemented her status as "the most decorated gymnast in history", said CBS News. Back from a two-year post-Olympics break, the 26-year-old ended the championships with four gold medals and a record-extending 30 career world medals. Biles will be aiming to add to her seven Olympic medals in Paris in 2024.

Lionel Messi and his sons Thiago, Mateo and Ciro at the 2023 Ballon d'Or ceremony — Looking back on his illustrious career, Lionel Messi will never forget 2022, after "fulfilling his life's ambition" by leading Argentina to Fifa World Cup glory in Qatar, said The Associated Press. But 2023 has also brought a series of successes for the 36-year-old, including winning the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year title and a record-extending eighth Ballon d'Or. So the list reads "2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, and now 2023".

Australia captain Pat Cummins lifts the Cricket World Cup — Millions of Indians were "nursing broken hearts", said the BBC, after the national team lost the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup final against Australia in November. In the showpiece fixture at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the Aussies stunned more than 100,000 fans by winning by six wickets with seven overs left to play. Australia have now lifted the men's World Cup six times.

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Mike Starling is the former digital features editor at The Week. He started his career in 2001 in Gloucestershire as a sports reporter and sub-editor and has held various roles as a writer and editor at news, travel and B2B publications. He has spoken at a number of sports business conferences and also worked as a consultant creating sports travel content for tourism boards. International experience includes spells living and working in Dubai, UAE; Brisbane, Australia; and Beirut, Lebanon.