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1980 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

Alpine skiing

• Alpine Skiing World Cup:
  • Men's overall season champion: Andreas Wenzel, Liechtenstein
  • Women's overall season champion: Hanni Wenzel, Liechtenstein
• January 12 - Canada's Ken Read, the leader of the "Crazy Canucks" ski team, wins the Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbühel, Austria, becoming the second North American to ever win the classic race.

American football

• January 20 - Super Bowl XIV: The Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC) won 31-19 over the Los Angeles Rams (NFC)
  • Location: Rose Bowl
  • Attendance: 103,985
• Sugar Bowl (1979 season):
  • The Alabama Crimson Tide won 24-9 over the Arkansas Razorbacks to claim the college football national championship
• December 21: The New Orleans Saints became the NFL's first ever 1-15 team

Association football

• European Championship - West Germany 2-1 Belgium
• European Cup - Nottingham Forest 1-0 Hamburg
• UEFA Cup - 2 legs, Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-2 Eintracht Frankfurt; Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach, 3-3 on aggregate, Frankfurt win on away goals
• Cup Winners' Cup - Valencia 0-0 Arsenal (AET), Valencia won 5-4 on penalties
• England - FA Cup - West Ham United won 1-0 over Arsenal

Newport County AFC win Welsh Cup for first time.

Athletics

• March 31 - death of Jesse Owens, American sprinter who won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics in 1936
• June 12 - Soviet Union's Nadiya Olizarenko sets the world record in the women's 800 metres, clocking 1:54.85 at Moscow
• July 27 - Nadiya Olizarenko betters her own world record in the women's 800 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, clocking 1:53.43.

Australian rules football

• Victorian Football League
  • Richmond wins the 84th VFL Premiership (Richmond 23.21 (159) d Collingwood 9.24 (78))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Kelvin Templeton (Footscray)

Baseball

• September 18 - Outfielder Gary Ward become the sixth Minnesota Twins player to hit for the cycle. The Twins lose 9-8 to the Milwaukee Brewers, wasting Ward's effort. On May 26, 2004 his son, Daryle Ward, will repeat the feat guiding the Pirates' 11-8 victory over the Cardinals. Ward joined his father to become the first father-son combination in major league history to hit for the cycle.
• Rollie Fingers breaks Hoyt Wilhelm's major league record of 250 saves
• 1980 World Series - The Philadelphia Phillies of the National League end 97 years of frustration by defeating the American League champion Kansas City Royals four games to two, for the Phillies' first-ever World Championship.
• Japan's Sadaharu Oh retires from the Yomiuri Giants as the all time professional baseball home run king.

Basketball

NBA Finals

• Los Angeles Lakers win four games to two over the Philadelphia 76ers

National Basketball League (Australia) Finals

• St. Kilda Saints defeated the West Adelaide Bearcats 113-88 in the final.

Boxing

• March 14-22 members of the United States Olympic boxing team died in a plane crash near Warsaw, Poland
• June 20- Roberto Durán defeats Sugar Ray Leonard by a 15-round decision to win boxing's WBC world Welterweight title.
• August 2- Thomas Hearns defeats Jose Pipino Cuevas by a knockout in round 2 to win boxing's WBA world Welterweight title and Yasutsune Uehara knocks out Samuel Serrano in round six to win the WBA's world Jr. Lightweight title in Detroit
• In Cincinnati, Aaron Pryor defeats Antonio Kid Pambele Cervantes by a knockout in round four to win the WBA's world Jr. Welterweight title.
• October 2- Larry Holmes defeats Muhammad Ali by a knockout in round eleven to retain boxing's WBC world Heavyweight title, in what would be Ali's last world title bout.
• November 25- In The No Más Fight, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Sugar Ray Leonard recovers the WBC's world Welterweight championship with an eight-round technical knockout of Roberto Durán.

Canadian football

• Grey Cup - Edmonton Eskimos win 48-10 over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
• Vanier Cup - Alberta Golden Bears win 40-21 over the Ottawa Gee-Gees

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Bernard Hinault of France
• Tour de France - Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands
• UCI Road World Championships - Men's road race - Bernard Hinault of France

Disc sports

• Disc ultimate league play begins in Toronto with the formation of the Toronto Ultimate League

Dog sledding

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion -
  • Joe May won with lead dogs: Wilbur & Cora Gray

Field hockey

• Men's Champions Trophy held in Karachi and won by Pakistan
• Olympic Games (Men's Competition) won by India
• Olympic Games (Women's Competition) won by Zimbabwe

Figure skating

• World Figure Skating Championships -
  • Men's champion: Jan Hoffmann, Germany
  • Ladies' champion: Anett Pötzsch, Germany
  • Pair skating champions: Marina Cherkasova & Sergei Shakhrai, Soviet Union
  • Ice dancing champions: Krisztina Reg?czy & András Sallay, Hungary

Gaelic Athletic Association

• Camogie
  • All-Ireland Camogie Champion: Cork
  • National Camogie League: Kilkenny
• Gaelic football
  • All-Ireland Senior Football Championship - Kerry 1-9 died Roscommon 1-6
  • National Football League - Cork 0-11 died Kerry 0-10
• Ladies' Gaelic football
  • All-Ireland Senior Football Champion: Tipperary
  • National Football League: Kerry
• Hurling
  • All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship - Galway 2-15 died Limerick 3-9
  • National Hurling League -

Golf

Men's professional

• The Senior PGA Tour (now called Champions Tour) is founded.
• Masters Tournament - Seve Ballesteros
• U.S. Open - Jack Nicklaus
• British Open - Tom Watson
• PGA Championship - Jack Nicklaus
• PGA Tour money leader - Tom Watson - $530,808
• Senior PGA Tour - money leader - Don January - $44,100

Men's amateur

• British Amateur - Duncan Evans
• U.S. Amateur - Hal Sutton

Women's professional

• LPGA Championship - Sally Little
• U.S. Women's Open - Amy Alcott
• Classique Peter Jackson Classic - Pat Bradley
• LPGA Tour money leader - Beth Daniel - $231,000

Harness racing

• Superhorse, Niatross wins the United States Pacing Triple Crown races -
  1. Cane Pace - Niatross
  2. Little Brown Jug - Niatross
  3. Messenger Stakes - Niatross
• United States Trotting Triple Crown races -
  1. Hambletonian - Burgomeister
  2. Yonkers Trot
  3. Kentucky Futurity
• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship -
  • Pacers: Koala King
  • Trotters: Hano Direct

Hockey

• New York Islanders win Stanley Cup on Bobby Nystrom's overtime goal in Game 6 of the Finals over the Philadelphia Flyers.he
• The United States men's ice hockey team defeats the Soviet Union en route to the gold medal in what is known as the Miracle on Ice.

Horse racing

Steeplechases

• Cheltenham Gold Cup - Master Smudge
• Grand National - Ben Nevis

Flat races

• Australia - Melbourne Cup won by Beldale Ball
• Canada - Queen's Plate won by Driving Home
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Detroit
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes won by Tyrnavos
• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes - Known Fact
  2. The Derby - Henbit
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Light Cavalry
• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby - Genuine Risk
  2. Preakness Stakes - Codex
  3. Belmont Stakes - Temperance Hill

Motorsport

Olympic Games

• 1980 Summer Olympics takes place in Moscow, USSR
  • USSR wins the most medals (195), and the most gold medals (80).
• 1980 Winter Olympics takes place in Lake Placid, United States
  • GDR wins the most medals (23), and the USSR wins the most gold medals (10).

Radiosport

• First Amateur Radio Direction Finding World Championships held in Cetniewo, Poland.

Rugby league

• 8 July - The inaugural 1980 State of Origin game is won by Queensland who defeat New South Wales 20-10 at Lang Park
• 1980 European Rugby League Championship
• 1980 New Zealand rugby league season
• 1979-80 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1980 NSWRFL season
• 1980-81 Rugby Football League season
• 1980 Tooth Cup

Rugby union

• 86th Five Nations Championship series is won by England who complete the Grand Slam

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship - Cliff Thorburn beats Alex Higgins 18-16, becoming the first non-UK player to win the title
• World rankings - Ray Reardon remains world number one for 1980/81

Swimming

• XXII Olympic Games, held in Moscow, Soviet Union (July 20 - July 27)
• February 2 - USA's Chris Cavanaugh sets a world record in the 50m freestyle (long course) at a swimming meet in Amersfoort, Netherlands, shaving off 0.04 of the previous record (23.70) set by Germany's Klaus Steinbach nearly a year ago: 23.66.
• April 10 - Chris Cavanaugh betters his own world record in the 50m freestyle (long course) at a swimming meet in Austin, Texas (USA): 23.12. At the same event (and on the same day), two other swimmers from the United States, Rowdy Gaines and Bruce Stahl, go under his time, clocking 22.96 and 22.83 respectively.
• August 15 - USA's Joe Bottom betters the world record in the 50m freestyle (long course) at a meet in Honolulu, Hawaii, shaving off 0.12 of the previous record (22.83) set by Bruce Stahl four months earlier: 22.71.

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Brian Teacher
  2. French Open - Björn Borg
  3. Wimbledon championships - Björn Borg
  4. US Open - John McEnroe
• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Hana Mandlíková
  2. French Open - Chris Evert
  3. Wimbledon championships - Evonne Goolagong Cawley
  4. US Open - Chris Evert
• Davis Cup World tennis - Czechoslovakia defeated Italy 4-1.

Water polo

• Water polo at the 1980 Summer Olympics won by USSR

Yacht racing

• The New York Yacht Club retains the America's Cup as Freedom defeats challenger Australia, of the Royal Perth Yacht Club, 4 races to 1

Awards

• ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year: U.S. Olympic Hockey Team
• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year - U.S. Olympic hockey team, Amateur Ice Hockey
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year - Chris Evert, Tennis

References