The Best Sporting Comebacks in History

Here at Pickstar we love a good comeback, and lucky for us there are plenty to choose from.

After barely scraping through to the knockout stages to reach the finals in 2005 against AC Milan they were trailing 3-0 at halftime. But the reds delivered three inspiring goals in just six minutes, sending the game into overtime where they took out the title on penalties.

This VFL Grand Final looked set to be a clean sweep by Collingwood with the Blues trailing by 44 points at halftime. Having trampled the side three times previously during the season, no one expected anything different this time around. But Carlton came out of halftime like a steam train, kicking seven goals to Collingwood's one, and going on to win the flag by ten points.

The 2013 America’s Cup looked to be all but in the hands of the Emirates Team New Zealand. The Kiwis were sitting at 8-1 in the first-to-nine sailing series. But Team Oracle made a spectacular comeback to take out the series after winning eight consecutive races.

One of the greatest moments in NBA history - the Indiana Pacers are six points down with 18.7 seconds left on the clock in Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference semi-finals against the New York Knicks. Miraculously Miller scored eight points in nine seconds to secure the win and confirm his place as an NBA legend.

Perkins entered the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games in terrible form after failing to qualify for the 400m. He was defending his 1500m title but looked to be struggling during the qualifiers and made the final by just a quarter of a second. The final looked to be a race between fellow Aussie Daniel Kowalski and English distance swimmer Graeme Smith however Perkins defied form to come out and lead from the first 100m. It was a massive risk that could have seen him reeled in but he went unchallenged and took the gold, winning by over six seconds.

It was a groggy New Years Day 1996 at the SCG and the Aussies were 6/38 chasing a very mild 173. Michael Bevan was tasked with the job of pulling his country out of their hangovers and slowly whittled away the West Indies lead. In a tense final over Glen McGrath got off strike and left Bevan needing 4 runs off two balls. The first ball was sent straight back to the bowler but the second cleared his head for a four, leading Australia to a narrow yet triumphant victory.

In the 1981 Ashes Test, Australia looked to go 2-0 in the Test Series when Ian Botham came to England’s rescue. His incredible innings of 149 made the Australians bat again with Bob Willis taking 8 for 43 to take the match and eventually the series in a 3-1 Ashes victory.

The champion of comebacks goes to Lauder, he returned to motor racing just six weeks after almost being burnt alive in his F1 car in 1976. He returned to win the world title the following year before retiring in 1979. Lauder returned three years later to take out the 1984 world title before retiring for good.

Few Australians could forget the speed skating final at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Bradbury sat at the back of the pack during the semi-final and qualified after everyone else crashed out. He did the same in the final, and when the field fell like tenpins yet again, and Bradbury skated away with the gold. His brains over brawn tactic led him straight to the podium and cult status back home.

You may be saying to yourself, "this article doesn't mention (insert great sporting comeback)!"

Well, we only mentioned our favourites and couldn't mention them all! So let us know your favourites in the comments on this page or on Facebook.

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