Doctor Who's greatest sporting triumphs

When Rose Tyler met a mysterious man from the stars called the Doctor, she was stuck in a rut: “No A Levels, no job, no future...

“But I tell you what I have got,” she added, gritting her teeth. “Jericho Street Junior School under-7s gymnastic team. I got the bronze!”

And with that, she takes a chain from the wall, swings across a catwalk and knocks two killer Autons into a vat of angry plastic, saving both the Doctor and the world in the process. That’s got to be worth more than a bronze, surely?

FYI Billie Piper’s first TV appearance was in a kids’ Spice Girls tribute band. But she played Posh, not Sporty. Sorry.

2. A game of two hearts (The Lodger, 2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pcPsWt3vgU

While temporarily lodging with call centre worker Craig Owens (James Corden) in Colchester for… reasons, the Eleventh Doctor is asked to stand in for a missing member of Craig’s pub league football team. “Football. Yes, blokes play football,” says the Doctor, who thinks it will help him blend in with the locals. “Football’s the one with the sticks, isn’t it?”

Despite being a total novice, the Time Lord proves a natural on the pitch, leading The King’s Head to a thumping victory over The Rising Sun. Go on, my son!

FYI The Doctor’s footballing prowess was certainly a more impressive display than England put in on the day this episode was broadcast – they could only manage a 1-1 draw in their World Cup game against the USA.

1. Flame on! (Fear Her, 2006)

London 2012. Thousands are gathered for the Olympic Opening Ceremony when, in the blink of an eye, everyone in the stadium suddenly vanishes. “My God, what’s going on here?” asks normally unflappable BBC news anchor Huw Edwards. “The crowd has vanished! Everyone has gone! Right in front of my eyes! It’s impossible! Bob, can we join you in the box? Bob? Not you too, Bob?”

Yes, Bob too. He’s one of thousands of people taken by alien life form the Isolus to be its surrogate family.

“It’s a terrible, terrible turn of events,” laments Huw. But he doesn’t entirely despair – there’s still the Olympic Torch. “I suppose it’s much more than a torch now,” he reasons. “It’s a beacon. A beacon of hope and fortitude and courage. It’s a beacon of love!”

When Rose throws the Isolus’ space pod into this beacon of love, all the spectators and athletes suddenly reappear, much to Huw’s delight. Then, as he’s passing Dame Kelly Holmes Close, the torch-bearer stumbles in the road, only for the Doctor to take up the torch, run into the stadium and light the Olympic Cauldron himself. The big show-off.

“It’s more than a flame now,” says Huw, now on something of a roll. “It’s more than heat and light. It’s hope and it’s courage. And it’s love!”

Yeah, beat THAT, Danny Boyle.

FYI Six years after David Tennant’s Doctor did the honours on TV, Matt Smith was chosen as one of the official Olympic Torch-bearers, carrying the flame through Cardiff Bay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU8Djtv2N4w