1996 in sports

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • Dale Jarrett wins the Daytona 500
  • NASCAR Championship - Terry Labonte
• Indy Racing League -
• Indianapolis 500 - Buddy Lazier
• CART Racing - Jimmy Vasser won the season championship
• Formula One Championship - Damon Hill of Great Britain
• 24 hours of Le Mans: won by the team of Manuel Reuter / Davy Jones / Alexander Wurz driving a TWR-Porsche
• Rally racing - the team of Patrick Bernardini / Bernard Occelli won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Ford Escort RS Cosworth
• Drag racing - Kenny Bernstein won the NHRA "Top Fuel" championship.
• November 24 - Rusty Wallace wins the Suzuka NASCAR Thunder 100 racing event at Suzuka Circuitland in Suzuka City (this was the first NASCAR competition held in Japan).

Baseball

• World Series: New York Yankees won 4 games to 2 over the Atlanta Braves. The Series MVP was relief pitcher, John Wetteland, New York

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • Kentucky wins 76-67 over Syracuse

• NBA Finals:
  • Chicago Bulls win 4 games to 2 over the Seattle Supersonics, after a record-breaking 72-10 regular season.

Boxing

• March 16 - Christy Martin defeats Deirdre Gogarty by a decision in six rounds to retain her Women's boxing world title in front of a national tv audience. This fight is credited with making the general public aware of women's boxing.

• June 7 - Oscar De La Hoya defeats Julio Cesar Chavez by a knockout in four rounds to win the WBC's world Jr. Welterweight championship.

Cricket

• Cricket World Cup - Final: Sri Lanka beat Australia by 7 wickets

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Pavel Tonkov of Russia
• Tour de France - Bjarne Riis of Denmark
• World Cycling Championship: Johan Museeuw of Belgium

Field Hockey

• December 7 - 15 - Champions Trophy held for the first time in India at Madras.

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Todd Eldredge, United States
  • Women's champion: Michelle Kwan, United States
  • Pairs champions: Marina Eltsowa & Sergej Buschkow, Russia

Football (Soccer)

• England - FA Cup: Manchester United won 1-0 over Liverpool
• Major League Soccer Kicks-Off: On April 6th an overflow crowd of 31,683 packed Spartan Stadium to witness the historic first game. San Jose Clash forward Eric Wynalda scored the league's first goal in a 1-0 victory over D. C. United.

Football (American)

• Super Bowl XXX: Dallas Cowboys won 27-17 over the Pittsburgh Steelers

Canadian Football League

• Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts win 43-37 over the Edmonton Eskimos
• Vanier Cup: Saskatchewan Huskies win 31-12 over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men

Golf

Men's Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May - The Masters - Nick Faldo
  2. June - US Open - Steve Jones
  3. July - British Open - Tom Lehman
  4. August - PGA Championship - Mark Brooks

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Tom Lehman - $1,780,159
• PGA Champions Tour leading money winner: Jim Colbert - $1,627,890

Women's Golf

• US Women's Open - Annika Sörenstam
• LPGA Championship - Laura Davies
• Karrie Webb is the leading money winner on the LPGA tour with earnings of $1,002,000 becoming the first ever woman to earn more than a million dollars in one golfing season.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Saintly
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Victor Cooley
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Helissio
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Zagreb

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes - Mark of Esteem
  2. Epsom Derby - Shaamit
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Shantou

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby - Grindstone
  2. Preakness Stakes - Louis Quatorze
  3. Belmont Stakes - Editor's Note

Harness Racing

• The North America Cup - Arizona Jack

• United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace - Scoot To Power
  2. Little Brown Jug - Armbro Operative
  3. Messenger Stakes - Go For Grins

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian - Continentalvictory
  2. Yonkers Trot - Continentalvictory
  3. Kentucky Futurity - Running Sea

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Young Mister Charles
  • Trotters: Pride Of Petite

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins

• Hart Memorial Trophy: for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins

• Stanley Cup - the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Florida Panthers 4 games to 0.

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Czech Republic defeated Canada

  • Junior Men's champion: Canada defeated Sweden

Skiing

• Alpine Skiing
  • The men's overall season champion: Lasse Kjus, Norway
  • The women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger, Germany

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Boris Becker
  2. French Open - Yevgeny Kafelnikov
  3. Wimbledon championships - Richard Krajicek
  4. US Open - Pete Sampras

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Monica Seles
  2. French Open - Steffi Graf
  3. Wimbledon championships - Steffi Graf
  4. US Open - Steffi Graf

• Davis Cup: France won 3-2 over Sweden in world tennis.

General sporting events

• Embassy World Snooker Championship:
  • Stephen Hendry won 18-12 over Peter Ebdon

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
  • Jeff King won with lead dogs: Jake & Booster

Births

Deaths

• May 11 - Rodney Culver, 26, San Diego Chargers running back, died in a plane crash

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