On September 26th 1983 the Australian yacht Australia II won the America's Cup, defeating the existing champion, the American Liberty.

The sterling silver cup, which was renamed the America's Cup, was first awarded in 1851 by the Royal Yacht Squadron for a race around the Isle of Wight. This cup was gifted to the New York Yacht Club in 1857 by the surviving members of the yacht America, after which the cup is named, who had won the race in 1851.

The cup then remained in the NYYC's hands for 132 years. The Australia II was the first successful challenge to the cup, and to the longest winning streak in sporting history as well as the United States's dominance of the event.

Image: By CTBOLT (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons