2012 sports year in review: records, achievements, plus sundry feats and streaks from Brees and Bryant to Cain and Ko

For the first time since the modern Olympics began in 1896, all of more than 200 participating countries at this year’s London Games sent women athletes. Even longtime holdout Saudi Arabia, under pressure from the International Olympic Committee and Human Rights Watch, sent two Muslim women who were allowed to wear traditional head scarves while competing in judo and track and field. Neither was faintly competitive, underlining how much progress is needed to provide Saudi women with opportunities to pursue sport. The London Olympics marked a turning point for the US as well, with more women than men on the American team for the first time (269 to 261). Some of the biggest US stars were women, including gymnasts Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman, swimmer Missy Franklin, judoka Kayla Harrison, tennis player Serena Williams, sprinter Allyson Felix, the women’s soccer team, and beach volleyball players Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor.