The year in sports

Images from some of the year’s top sports stories.

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U.S. gymnast Gabrielle Douglas performs on the balance beam at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Douglas won gold in the individual all-around and the Americans captured team gold in one of the biggest stories from the London Games.

Gregory Bull / AP

Few moments captured the rise of the Nationals during the baseball season more than Jayson Werth leaping into the arms of waiting teammates after his walk-off home run won Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Cardinals at Nationals Park on Oct. 11. A day later, the Nationals lost a crushing Game 5, blowing a 6-0 lead and giving up four runs in the ninth in a 9-7 defeat.

Rob Carr / GETTY IMAGES

A woman paid respect to the statue of Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium in January. In July, in the wake of the Sandusky scandal, the statue was taken down. Paterno died Jan. 22.

Gene J. Puskar / AP

Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III celebrates his first NFL touchdown pass in the team's season opener against the Saints. The Redskins won, 40-32, in New Orleans and Griffin has become one of the biggest stars in the NFL.

John McDonnell / The Washington Post

Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins the finals of the men's 200-meter in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on Aug, 9. Bolt won gold in the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay.

Morry Gash / AP

The emergence of Jeremy Lin was one of the biggest stories of a lockout-shortened 2011-12 NBA season. Cast off by a handful of teams, the Knicks signed Lin during training camp and he emerged not just a star in New York but across the globe. When Houston made him a huge free-agent offer in the offseason, the Knicks elected not to match.

Morry Gash / AP

Pat Summitt cuts down the net following Tennessee's win over LSU in the women's SEC tournament final in March. Summitt, the sport's winningest coach, stepped aside in April, taking the title of "head coach emeritus" after she disclosed a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's.

Mark Humphrey / AP

Tim Tebow led the Denver Broncos to an improbable playoff victory over the Steelers last January. Denver lost to New England in the divisional round of the playoffs and in the offseason Tebow was traded to the New York Jets, where he has been a nonfactor.

MARK LEFFINGWELL / REUTERS

Lance Armstrong competes in the Rev3 Half Full triathalon in Ellicott City, Md., in October, shortly before he was formally stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for using performance enhancing drugs.

Steve Ruark / AP

Minnesota's Brett Favre takes a hard hit from the Saints in 2010, when the NFL alleged the team created a bounty program to take out opposing players. The league suspended Saints Coach Sean Payton for the seaosn, GM Mickey Loomis the first eight games and assistant coach Joe Vitt six games. Defenseive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely, and four players were also sanctioned, with linebacker Jonathan Vilma banned for the entire season. The players appealed, and earlier this month ex-commissioner Paul Tagliabue vacated their appeals.

/ Getty

Family members of Junior Seau including his mother Luisa Seau, far left, and his father Tiaina Seau, third from left, stand during a ceremony to honor the former Southern California player during the first half of an NCAA college football game between Hawaii and Southern California, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Los Angeles. Seau, who went on to star with the San Diego Chargers in the NFL (among other teams), committed suicide on May 2 at his Oceanside, Calif., home.

Mark J. Terrill / AP

An empty Buffalo Sabres locker room is shown at the First Niagara Center, home of the Buffalo Sabres NHL hockey team, says plenty about what appears to be a second season lost to labor strife. The league and its players association remain at a labor impasse, with no end in sight.

David Duprey / AP

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

BALTIMORE, MD May 18: Mike Califano (L) and Anthony Forgione horse around in the infield during the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes on May 18, 2013 in Baltimore, MD (Photo by Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)

Photos of the day

Preakness Stakes, deadly tornadoes, Whit Monday, Gothic festival, World Dog Show and more.

A man walks on sulphur and mineral salt formations near Dallol in the Danakil Depression, northern Ethiopia April 22, 2013. The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the hottest and harshest environments on earth, with an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). For centuries, merchants have travelled there with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted and shaped into slabs, then loaded onto the animals before being transported back across the desert so that it can be sold around the country. Picture taken April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (ETHIOPIA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 2 OF 30 FOR PACKAGE 'ETHIOPIA'S ANCIENT SALT TRAIL'
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Ethiopia’s salt trail

For centuries, merchants have traveled to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted...

Lightning from a tornadic thunderstorm passing over Clearwater, Kansas strikes at an open field May 19, 2013. A massive storm front swept north through the central United States on Sunday, hammering the region with fist-sized hail, blinding rain and tornadoes, including a half-mile wide twister that struck near Oklahoma City. News reports said at least one person had died. REUTERS/Gene Blevins (UNITED STATES - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)

Tornadoes slam Midwest, Plains

Several tornadoes struck parts of the nation’s midsection Sunday, concentrating damage in central Oklahoma and Wichita, Kan. One person was killed near Shawnee, Okla., and 21...

MANASSAS, VA - MAY 07: Daniel Tabarez, 1, top, helps his daughter, Maxx Tabarez, 1, walks as Milenka St. Clair, top right, a family support worker with Northern Virginia Family Service visits the family's home on Tuesday May 07, 2013 in Manassas, VA. Daniel and his family are part of the Healthy Families program. (Photo by Matt McClain/ The Washington Post)

At-home visits may be the new pre-preschool

In an effort to close the achievement gap, new programs get to kids early. Here are some of the people Milenka St. Clair, a family support worker...

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 19: Singer Taylor Swift accepts the award for 'Top Billboard 200 Album' onstage during the 2013 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 19, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The 2013 Billboard Music Awards red carpet and ceremony

Stars float down the red carpet in Las Vegas to make their way into a performance-filled awards ceremony featuring artists such as Prince, Justin...

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 20: Joanna Lumley poses during a photocall at the Chelsea Flower Show on May 20, 2013 in London, England. The Chelsea Flower Show run by the RHS celebrates its 100th birthday this year. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Joanna Lumley, Madonna, Prince, Tracy Morgan, Nicole Kidman, Justin Timberlake, Gene Simmons and more.

Graduating students' with rain soaked mortar boards from a driving rain, listen as US President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address during a ceremony at Morehouse College on May 19, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGANMANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Obama addresses Morehouse College graduates

President Obama gets personal about race and manhood in a speech to graduates of historically black Morehouse College.

BALTIMORE, MD - MAY 18: Jockey Gary Stevens rides Oxbow out to the front of the pack on the first straight away during the 138th Running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., on Saturday, May 18, 2013. (Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)

Oxbow wins and infield fun at Preakness Stakes in Baltimore

Oxbow put D. Wayne Lukas in the record books again with an upset of Orb in the Preakness, giving the Hall of Fame trainer his 14th win in a Triple...

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