(Reuters) – Sport enjoyed a bumper year as the clouds of the global health crisis finally lifted and Reuters photographers were on the sidelines at every big event to capture the action as it happened.
The first major gathering of the year, however, plunged the athletes back into the most restrictive pandemic conditions as they competed on ice and snow at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Fifteen-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva was supposed to be the star of the Games but her Olympics ended in disgrace after the disclosure of a failed doping test that raised serious questions about children competing in elite sport.
In tennis, all time greats Serena Williams and Roger Federer bid emotional farewells to a sport they transformed, while teenager Carlos Alcaraz announced himself as a talent who could dominate for years to come.
There were the usual thrills and spills in motor sport, world championships in swimming and athletics as well as the quadrennial jamboree for mostly former British colonies at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Football will always make headlines and 2022 was no exception as fans crammed back into stadiums to watch the world’s favourite game.
England further fuelled the popularity of women’s football with a Euros triumph on home soil, Real Madrid claimed a 14th European crown, and the year culminated in a winter World Cup in the Gulf State of Qatar.
For a selection of some of the best Reuters pictures of the year, click here.
(Writing by Nick Mulvenney; editing by Alexandra Hudson)
