Enough time has passed for everyone to catch their breath again after the weekend's epic Wimbledon Men's Final — already touted by some as one of the greatest sports finals of all time!

But which other classic sports finals does it 'compete' with? iafrica.com's Barend Prins investigates...

2005 Champions League Final — AC Milan vs Liverpool:

AC Milan were massive favourites going into the showpiece event held at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul. Milan opened the scoring in the first minute through a Paulo Maldini header — the fastest-ever Champions League Final goal. Hernan Crespo added a second on 38 minutes before completing his brace six minutes later. With the score at 3-0 at half-time, Liverpool were pretty much out of it. But a change of formation by Liverpool at the break saw captain Steven Gerrard play in a more advanced role — a tactical masterstroke. Gerrard headed home the Reds' opener on 54 minutes, before Vladimir Smicer added a second two minutes later. Gennaru Gattuso brought down Gerrard in the box shortly afterwards, handing the Merseysiders a penalty and a chance to level matters at 3-3. Xabi Alonso's spot-kick was saved by Dida, but the Spaniard hammered home the rebound. It remained 3-3 for the rest of the match, with Liverpool eventually winning on penalties. Wow!

1980 Wimbledon Men's Singles Final — Bjorn Borg vs John McEnroe:

The match this year's final has been compared to most. A dominant, multiple champion taking on an unorthodox left-hander — leading to a five-set epic, including a marathon tie-break in the fourth... sound familiar? McEnroe was quicker out the blocks — winning the first set 6-1. The Swede bounced back, winning the next two sets 7-5 and 6-3. Borg had two match points at 5-4 in the fourth set, but 'Super Mac' saved both with diving volleys. Already the match was a memorable one, but no-one could predict the drama that would ensue as the fourth set went to a tie-break. Borg had five more match points during the tie-break — four on his own serve. McEnroe kept himself in the match with some crisp volleys though, eventually winning the tie-break on his seventh set point at 18-16! The tie-break lasted more than 20 minutes! Borg was imperious in the deciding set — losing seven points on his serve only and eventually winning it 8-6.

2006 Currie Cup Final — Blue Bulls vs Free State Cheetahs:

The Cheetahs and the Bulls were by far the best teams of the 2006 Currie Cup and they duly met in the final. The Cheetahs had the better of the first half, going into the interval leading 14-8. The Bulls hit back shortly after half-time with a Marius Delport try, taking the lead for the first time. Both teams took turns leading for the rest of the match, but the Bulls required a 77th-minute try to level things up at 25-25 — taking the game into extra-time. The Bulls took the lead in the third minute of E.T, but the Cheetahs were not going to lie down easily — levelling once more shortly before the end of the match. It ended at 28-all, with the trophy controversially kept for six months by each side.

The '438' game — South Africa vs Australia:

The Aussies got off to a flyer thanks to Adam Gilchrist — after winning the toss and batting first. Ricky Ponting was also in a destructive mood, and took the SA bowlers to the cleaners — scoring 165 off 105 deliveries as the Australians cruised to a world record total of 434/4 — the highest total ever scored in an ODI. What ensued was the stuff of legends. Herschelle Gibbs and captain Graeme Smith (90) added 187 for the second wicket before Smith was dismissed, but Gibbs treated the Australian bowlers with disdain. When he was eventually dismissed for 175 (off 111 balls!), South Africa were in sight of achieving the unthinkable! The home side lost wickets at regular occasions from there on, but with nine wickets down and two deliveries remaining, the scores were tied. A nation erupted in glory when Mark Boucher hit the next ball over midwicket for a boundary. The home side had done the unthinkable — scoring the highest ever total in an ODI, batting second, against mighty Australia, in arguably the greatest ODI of all time!

2004 Athens Olympics — Men's 4x100 metre freestyle relay:

No one really knew anything about the South African swimming team competing in the freestyle relay — but after narrowly losing out on the world record in the qualifying heats, they were regarded as a possible medal contender. In the final, however, the little-known Saffers stunned the swimming world with a marvellous performance. Roland Schoeman was out the blocks quickest, opening up a good lead at the first handover. Lyndon Ferns and Darian Townsend maintained that lead, giving a Ryk Neethling a comfortable cushion for the finale. The Dutch team, lead by then world-record-holder Pieter van den Hoogenband, chased hard, but Neethling was strong enough — handing the South Africans their first gold medal of the 2004 Olympics.

In contrast to these five epic finales, there have been far too many finals that have failed to capture ones imagination over the last decade or two alone... For good measure, here are a few of them as well:

1994 Soccer World Cup Final — Brazil vs Italy:

120 minutes of non-action between a cautious Brazilian side and an Italian team seemingly happy to play for penalties eventually ended with Roberto Baggio missing Italy's fourth spot-kick. It is unfortunate that both the final and Baggio will be remembered for missing the spot-kick, but frankly, nothing else of any note happened during the game.

2006 Super 14 Final — Crusaders vs Hurricanes:

The Crusaders won 19-12 in what might have been a thrilling final had anyone been able to see any of the action! Unfortunately, about an hour before kick-off, a low-lying see fog enwrapped Christchurch's Jade Stadium, making visibility extremely poor. So much so that many fans were seen leaving the stadium while the game was on, perhaps in hope to get a better view of things from nearby watering holes. Sadly for them that was not the case.

2003 Champions League Final — AC Milan vs Juventus:

Another snooze-fest between two Italian sides happy to play out 120 minutes without playing much football. The match started off bright enough with both sides hitting the upright once, but after the early exchanges, both teams looked content to take the game to penalties. The got their wish, with Milan eventually claiming the 'Big Ears' trophy thanks to Andriy Shevchenko's final spot-kick.

2004 French Open Women’s Final — Anastasia Myskina vs Elena Dementieva:

In what should have been a celebration of Russian tennis — as Myskina and Dementieva competed in the first-ever all-Russian Grand Slam Final — turned into rather forgetful affair as Myskina won 6-2, 6-1. Not that that in itself is so bad, more the fact that neither Myskina nor Dementieva were particularly well-known before their meeting in the French Open Final and, frankly neither are that well-known now. Myskina hardly plays any more at all, and Dementieva, after turning pro in 1998, is still struggling to find her feet on the WTA tour.

1999 Cricket World Cup Final — Australia vs Pakistan:

The first of Australia's treble of World Cup victories came on a gloomy June morning on the Hallowed turf of Lord's where they met the enigmatic Pakistanis. Pakistani must have forgotten that it was a World Cup Final, as their performance lacked any substance. Australia bowled them out for a mere 139 and then proceeded to chase down the score inside 20 overs in what must have been one of the biggest anti-climaxes ever — especially considering the incredible drama that took place in the Australia/South Africa semifinal just three days earlier...

Has Barend forgotten anything? Feel free to mail the iafrica.com sports team or leave your comments below!