Sports timeline

This page indexes the individual year in sports pages. Each year is annotated with a significant event as a reference point.

2000s - 1990s - 1980s - 1970s - 1960s - 1950s - 1940s - 1930s - 1920s - 1910s - 1900s - 1890s - 1880s - 1870s - 1860s - 1850s - Pre 1850s

2000s

• 2005 in sports - NHL cancels season due to labor dispute
• 2004 in sports - Lance Armstrong wins a record 6th Tour de France, Brian Lara scores a test innings record 400 not out against England.
• 2003 in sports - Michael Schumacher wins record sixth Formula One Championship
• 2002 in sports - Canada wins double gold in ice hockey at the Olympics
• 2001 in sports - Tiger Woods becomes first golfer to hold all four major titles simultaneously
• 2000 in sports - Essendon completes the AFL season with a 24-1 win-loss record, the best in the history of the league

1990s

• 1999 in sports - Death of Joe DiMaggio; Lance Armstrong comes back from testicular cancer to win his first Tour de France
• 1998 in sports - NHL players compete in Winter Olympic Games for the first time
• 1997 in sports - Mike Tyson banned from boxing after biting a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear
• 1996 in sports - Professional cyclists compete at Summer Olympic Games for the first time
• 1995 in sports - Miguel Induráin wins fifth consecutive Tour de France
• 1994 in sports - World Series cancelled after player strike; Roland Ratzenberger dies during qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix at the Villeneuve corner and Ayrton Senna dies at the Tamburello corner during the race.
• 1993 in sports - Monica Seles is stabbed during a tennis tournament
• 1992 in sports - Toronto Blue Jays become the first non-American team to win the World Series
• 1991 in sports - Magic Johnson retires from basketball
• 1990 in sports - James "Buster" Douglas defeats Mike Tyson to become World Heavyweight Champion

1980s

• 1989 in sports - Pete Rose banned from baseball; Hillsborough disaster
• 1988 in sports - Ben Johnson breaks 100 metres record but tests positive for banned substances
• 1987 in sports - First Rugby Union World Cup
• 1986 in sports - Mike Tyson becomes the youngest world heavyweight boxing champion
• 1985 in sports - Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's major league record for career hits; Libby Riddles is the first woman to win the Iditarod; Bradford City and Heysel Stadium disasters
• 1984 in sports - First Breeders' Cup in thoroughbred racing and North America Cup of harness racing
• 1983 in sports - First World Athletics Championships
• 1982 in sports - Mary Decker sets six world records in Track and field
• 1981 in sports - First million dollar horse race; Major League Baseball season interrupted by player strike, causing cancellation of over 600 games
• 1980 in sports - "Miracle on Ice" as US ice hockey team beats Soviet Union

1970s

• 1979 in sports - Sugar Ray Leonard wins his first world boxing title
• 1978 in sports - First Ironman Triathlon
• 1977 in sports - Shirley Muldowney is the first woman to win the NHRA "Top Fuel" championship
• 1976 in sports - Nadia Comaneci earns the first perfect score in the history of Olympic gymnastics
• 1975 in sports - First Cricket World Cup
• 1974 in sports - The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match
• 1973 in sports - Secretariat wins the Triple Crown of United States Thoroughbred Racing
• 1972 in sports - The 1972 Summit Series between the USSR and Canada
• 1971 in sports - Richard Petty wins the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR Championship; Ibrox disaster
• 1970 in sports - Nijinsky II wins the Triple Crown of British Thoroughbred Racing

1960s

• 1969 in sports - The New York Jets upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III; the first Super Bowl victory by an American Football League team.
• 1968 in sports - Jean-Claude Killy wins the Triple Crown of Alpine Skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics
• 1967 in sports - First Super Bowl
• 1966 in sports - England wins its first and only FIFA Football World Cup
• 1965 in sports - Bret Hanover wins the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers
• 1964 in sports - Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, wins the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship
• 1963 in sports - Craig Breedlove breaks through the 400 mph barrier in setting a new Land speed record
• 1962 in sports - Rod Laver wins the men's Grand Slam in tennis
• 1961 in sports - The World Figure Skating Championships canceled after the entire United States team dies in a plane crash
• 1960 in sports - First Paralympics

1950s

• 1959 in sports - First Daytona 500
• 1958 in sports - The lights go out permanently in Brooklyn as baseball's Dodgers move to Los Angeles; Munich air disaster devastates Man U
• 1957 in sports - Juan Manuel Fangio wins his fifth Formula One championship title
• 1956 in sports - Don Larsen pitches the first and only post-season no-hitter in Major League Baseball history (a perfect game, no less); first European Cup in football
• 1955 in sports - Calvin Rice wins the NHRA's inaugural "Top Fuel" championship
• 1954 in sports - Roger Bannister runs the first sub-four minute mile
• 1953 in sports - Maureen Connolly is the first woman to win the Grand Slam in tennis
• 1952 in sports - Dick Button performs the first triple jump in figure skating in the Winter Olympic Games
• 1951 in sports - The first Pan American Games are held in Buenos Aires, Argentina
• 1950 in sports - First Formula One championship

1940s

• 1949 in sports - NHL goaltender Bill Durnan sets shutout record of 309:21 minutes
• 1948 in sports - Fanny Blankers-Koen wins four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London
• 1947 in sports - Jackie Robinson breaks baseball's color barrier; first College World Series
• 1946 in sports - NBA founded (originally known as Basketball Association of America)
• 1945 in sports - Maurice Richard is the first NHL player to score 50 goals in one season
• 1944 in sports - Oxford beat Cambridge in an unoffical Boat Race on the Great Ouse
• 1943 in sports -
• 1942 in sports -
• 1941 in sports - Ted Williams is the last batter in Major League Baseball to hit over .400
• 1940 in sports -

1930s

• 1939 in sports - First NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship; the Baseball Hall of Fame opens; Lou Gehrig retires from baseball
• 1938 in sports - Don Budge becomes the first person to win the Grand Slam in tennis
• 1937 in sports - Joe Louis becomes world heavyweight champion
• 1936 in sports - To the consternation of Adolf Hitler, Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Olympic Games in Berlin
• 1935 in sports - Babe Ruth retires from Major League Baseball; first Heisman Trophy awarded
• 1934 in sports - The Masters in golf first held
• 1933 in sports - England cricket team's Bodyline tour; first NFL championship game played
• 1932 in sports - India become the sixth Test cricketing nation.
• 1931 in sports - France are thrown out of the Rugby Union Five Nations Championship for professionalism.
• 1930 in sports - First Football World Cup

1920s

• 1929 in sports - Wally Hammond scores 905 runs at an average of 113.12 as England defeat Australia in The Ashes
• 1928 in sports - Women's Olympic athletics and gymnastics are held for the first time at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
• 1927 in sports - First Ryder Cup of golf
• 1926 in sports - Jack Dempsey loses his world heavyweight boxing title to Gene Tunney; Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English channel
• 1925 in sports - French Open in tennis opened to non-French players for the first time
• 1924 in sports - First Winter Olympic Games
• 1923 in sports - First 24 hours of Le Mans race; Ty Cobb breaks Honus Wagner's major league record for career hits
• 1922 in sports - First sub-one minute 100m freestyle swim
• 1921 in sports - The schooner Bluenose begins her undefeated career in racing, winning the International Fishermen's Trophy
• 1920 in sports - National Football League formed; Babe Ruth sold to New York Yankees; the Grand Prix de Paris horse race changes its name to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

1910s

• 1919 in sports - Black Sox scandal in baseball
• 1918 in sports -
• 1917 in sports -
• 1916 in sports - First PGA Championship
• 1915 in sports -
• 1914 in sports - Babe Ruth makes his major league debut; Honus Wagner breaks Cap Anson's major league record for career hits
• 1913 in sports - Emily Davison throws herself in front of King George V's horse at the Epsom Derby horse race
• 1912 in sports - Electronic timers introduced for the first time at the Stockholm Olympic Games
• 1911 in sports - First Indianapolis 500
• 1910 in sports - The rugby union Home Championship admits France, creating the Five Nations (now Six Nations)

1900s

• 1909 in sports - Imperial Cricket Conference formed to administrate world cricket
• 1908 in sports - First women compete in the modern Olympic Games
• 1907 in sports - Norman Brookes becomes the first overseas men's singles tennis Wimbledon champion
• 1906 in sports - First Grand Prix motor racing; National Collegiate Athletic Association formed
• 1905 in sports - New Zealand's first All Blacks Rugby Union tour of Britain (The Originals), winning 31 matches and losing one to a controversial refereeing decision.
• 1904 in sports - Louis Rigolly breaks through the 100 mph barrier in setting a new Land speed record
• 1903 in sports - First Tour de France; first modern World Series
• 1902 in sports - First Rose Bowl, American college football game - Michigan defeated Stanford 49-0
• 1901 in sports - The American League arrives as a rival to baseball's National League
• 1900 in sports - For the first time, women are allowed to compete in the Olympic Games

1890s

• 1899 in sports -
• 1898 in sports -
• 1897 in sports - Victorian Football League is formed
• 1896 in sports - First modern Olympic Games
• 1895 in sports - First US Open of golf; game of volleyball invented
• 1894 in sports - First auto race
• 1893 in sports - Stanley Cup first awarded in ice hockey
• 1892 in sports - First official game of basketball
• 1891 in sports - First French Open of tennis
• 1890 in sports - First World Figure Skating Championships

1880s

• 1889 in sports - Handsome Dan, a bulldog, becomes Yale University's mascot, the first animal to hold such a position in American sports
• 1888 in sports - The Football League founded
• 1887 in sports -
• 1886 in sports - Workers at Royal Woolwich form Dial Square football team, later known as Arsenal F.C.
• 1885 in sports -
• 1884 in sports - First baseball World Series occurs between National League and American Association
• 1883 in sports - First luge competition; first Home Championship in rugby union (predecessor to the modern Six Nations)
• 1882 in sports - First time Australia beat England in Test cricket in England, beginning The Ashes legend.
• 1881 in sports -
• 1880 in sports -

1870s

• 1879 in sports -
• 1878 in sports -
• 1877 in sports - First cricket Test match; first Wimbledon Championships
• 1876 in sports - First season of Major League Baseball, with the debut of the National League
• 1875 in sports - First running of the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks horse race
• 1874 in sports -
• 1873 in sports - First running of the Preakness Stakes horse race
• 1872 in sports - First football FA Cup final
• 1871 in sports - The National Association, baseball's first professional league, debuts
• 1870 in sports -

1860s

• 1869 in sports - The original Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball's first openly all-professional team, was founded.
• 1868 in sports -
• 1867 in sports - Marquess of Queensberry boxing rules published; First running of the Belmont Stakes horse race
• 1866 in sports - The Amateur Athletic Club introduce the definition of an 'amateur' into sport and hosting the first United Kingdom national championships.
• 1865 in sports -
• 1864 in sports - Overarm bowling becomes legal in cricket
• 1863 in sports - The Football Association formed to oversee football.
• 1862 in sports - First ski jumping competition
• 1861 in sports - First running of the Melbourne Cup horse race
• 1860 in sports - First Open Championship of golf

1850s

• 1859 in sports - The Queen's Plate horse race is organized
• 1858 in sports - Australian Rules Football codified
• 1857 in sports -
• 1856 in sports -
• 1855 in sports -
• 1854 in sports -
• 1853 in sports -
• 1852 in sports -
• 1851 in sports - Birth of the America's Cup
• 1850 in sports -

Pre 1850s

• 1840s in sports - First codification of rules of baseball by Alexander Cartwright
• 1830s in sports - First Aintree Grand National
• 1820s in sports - First Oxford and Cambridge boat race
• 1810s in sports - English champion Tom Cribb narrowly defeats ex-slave Tom Molineaux at boxing; First One Thousand Guineas Stakes
• 1800s in sports - First Two Thousand Guineas Stakes
• 1790s in sports -
• 1780s in sports - First Epsom Derby
• 1770s in sports - First St. Leger Stakes, Epsom Oaks
• 1760s in sports -
• 1750s in sports -
• Early 18th century in sports - First codification of the Laws of Cricket
• 17th century in sports -
• Pre 17th century in sports -