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Our 2008 review continues with a look at the saints and sinners from a momentous sporting year.

HEROES

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer

Some sporting moments are so epic, so gripping and so downright entertaining that you know you are watching history play out in front of you. The 2008 Wimbledon final was one such moment. This was not Borg-McEnroe or Ivanisevic-Rafter. It was better. We had the world's two best players, perfectly matched, forcing each other to produce shots of ever-greater brilliance. Every point had to be earned and each winner gained significance because it came against an all-time great. Nadal's sense of dramatic timing extended to the finish, as he finally saw off Federer as the light died on Centre Court. An instant classic.

Jimmy Bullard

In an era of identikit football stars with their diamond-encrusted watches, Ferraris and Playstation addictions, it is thoroughly reassuring to know that a man like Jimmy Bullard can get into the England squad. And this shaggy-haired, carp-fishing, mandolin-playing former painter and decorator deserves it. He returned from injury to help keep Fulham in the Premier League and is one of the division's top set-piece men.

Lewis Hamilton

Amazingly, some people still harbour resentment towards Formula One's youngest champion. Yes he had one of the best cars (not the best - Felipe Massa was driving that one), but he only got to McLaren in the first place thanks to his prodigious talent. And it may come as news to some people that those things don't drive themselves. His near-choke in Brazil - before the unwitting Timo Glock came to the rescue - might not have been most elegant way to win a title. But it provided further proof that Hamilton has restored the excitement to Formula One.

Rebecca Romero

Romero is a throwback to the days of multi-talented sportsmen like CB Fry and Babe Didrikson. Having won an Olympic silver medal and World Championship as a rower in the quadruple sculls, persistent back problems forced her to give up the sport. She took up cycling, and within a matter of months won a World Cup silver medal. This year she not only became the first Briton to compete at the Olympics in two different sports, but romped to gold in the individual pursuit, beating compatriot Wendy Houvenaghel in the process.

Tiger Woods

Pundits boldly predicted a clean sweep of Majors for Woods when he opened 2008 with four straight wins. It was not to be, as injury severely restricted him. Woods came second in the Masters then sat out every tournament until the US Open at Torrey Pines, where he secured, in his own words, his "greatest ever championship". Battling a knee injury that turned out to be season-ending cruciate ligament damage, he hobbled through five rounds and saw off Rocco Mediate in a playoff despite his knee emitting audible cracks when he hit his shots.

Craig Jones

Craig Jones died after a crash during the World Supersport race at Brands Hatch in August. The 23-year-old was one of British motorcycling's brightest talents and fell while battling for the lead on home tarmac for the Parkalgar Honda team. Jones was not the first motorsport fatality nor will he be the last - but his tragedy is a poignant reminder of the enormous risks sportsmen take in pursuit of their dreams.

VILLAINS

John Terry

Terry inadvertently provided the most dramatic moment of the sporting year when he failed to convert the penalty that would have won the Champions League. The Chelsea captain slipped, the ball came off the post and Manchester United went on to win. It might have been bad luck or bad footwork, but 13 other players managed to take kicks without falling over. Then came the waterworks - uncontrollable, grief-stricken tears more suited to a funeral than a football match. Terry eventually bounced back, kept the England captaincy and hogged the karaoke machine at Chelsea's Christmas party, inflicting multiple renditions of Luther Vandross songs on his colleagues.

Allen Stanford

There is nothing wrong with progress in cricket when it is done properly - the IPL has the makings of a sensational tournament. But to accept millions of pounds from an oddball Texan to play a one-off game against the West Indies, only the oddball has renamed them after himself? Not so good. We should have known from that wide-eyed stare that screamed 'megalomaniac', and then there was the bizarre TV footage of Stanford bouncing Matt Prior's wife on his knee during a match. England's discomfort was plain, and the 'Stanford Superstars' duly thrashed them by 10 wickets (at the Stanford Cricket Ground) to win the $20 million jackpot. Bonkers.

Angel Matos

There is something magnificently emphatic about the way Cuban taekwondo Matos responded to his disqualification from the Olympic bronze medal match in Beijing. He didn't shout, scream, gesticulate, cry or lodge a protest. He kicked a judge in the face. Hard. The result was a lifetime ban for the 2000 gold medallist, and immediate status as one of the great sporting anti-heroes. At least he had Fidel Castro on his side, who accused the judges of "blatantly stealing" the match.

Ronnie O'Sullivan

2008 saw the best and the worst of snooker's troubled genius. On one hand, he won his third World Championship and claimed the world number one ranking. On the other, he caused uproar with puerile comments made to Chinese journalists ("anyone fancy a nosh?"), then let his suspect temperament cost him two ranking tournaments. In the Welsh Open final he fell to Mark Selby after losing patience with his opponent's slow play, and doodled wildly on a piece of paper while Selby was at the table. And he recently lost to Joe Perry in the UK Championship after a match in which he conceded a frame when just 23-0 down.

Cycling authorities

For many, Le Tour is our only real contact with road-race cycling. Much of my interest came through the Eurosport-Yahoo! fantasy game (corporate brownie points alert). At various points, leading riders Riccardo Ricco, Leonardo Piepoli, Stefan Schmacher and Bernard Kohl featured on my team. All four tested positive for banned substances during or after the race. So you might think Le Tour would be delighted to see the return of Lance Armstrong, a seven-time champion capable of restoring the sport's mainstream appeal. Mais non! The French have an unquenchable passion for destroying Armstrong's reputation, and unproven doping allegations continue to swirl. Race organiser Jean-Etienne Amaury sniped: "We cannot say that [Armstrong] does not embarrass the Tour de France," while former Tour supreme Jean-Marie Leblanc requested that Armstrong raised money for his cancer charity without bothering France. While they whinged, their sport descended into further farce and disrepute.

Tatum Bell

Misbehaviour has become so commonplace in the NFL you can even bet on which team will provide the next arrested player. And as Plaxico Burress recently showed when he accidentally shot himself, there doesn't even have to be a victim. But our favourite felon was Tatum Bell, released by the Detroit Lions at the start of the season and replaced by Rudi Johnson. Bell's reaction, to nab Johnson's bags from the locker room. He later claimed it was "a misunderstanding" and returned the bags - empty. Johnson said: "He's got a bunch of my underclothes. What he's going to do with that, I don't know."

Alex Chick / Eurosport