Wikipedia:

1981 in sports

Years in sports: 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
Centuries: 19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades: 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
Years: 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984

Artistic Gymnastics

  • World Artistic Gymnastics Championships:
    • Men's all-around champion: Yuri Korolev, USSR
    • Women's all-around champion: Olga Bicherova, USSR
    • Men's team competition champion: USSR
    • Women's team competition champion: USSR

Athletics

Marathon

  • May 9 — Flag of the Netherlands Amsterdam Marathon, Netherlands
    • Men's Winner: Ferenc Szekeres (HUN) 2:18:11
    • Women's Winner: Marja Wokke (NED) 2:43:38
  • May 23 — Flag of the Netherlands Rotterdam Marathon, Netherlands
    • Men's Winner: John Graham (GBR) 2:09:28
    • Women's Winner: Marja Wokke (NED) 2:43:23
  • July 11 — Flag of the Netherlands Enschede Marathon, Netherlands
    • Men's Winner: Cor Vriend (NED) 2:15:54
    • Women's Winner: Jane Wipf (USA) 2:38:21

Auto Racing

Baseball

  • For a Venezuelans baseball player's strike the Caribbean World Series of this year is cancelled.
  • January 15 - In his first year of eligibility, former Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson is the only player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Gibson won 20 games five times, struck out 3,117 batters, and captured the Cy Young Award and MVP in 1968 with a 1.12 ERA. Players falling short of the 301 votes needed for election include Don Drysdale (243), Gil Hodges (241), Harmon Killebrew (239), Hoyt Wilhelm (238), and Juan Marichal (233). All except Hodges would subsequently gain election.
  • April 18 - An International League game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the visiting Rochester Red Wings set the record for the most innings ever played in a single professional baseball game, at 33 innings (24 extra innings). The game was suspended after 32 innings on the morning of April 19, and was concluded on June 23 with a 3-2 Pawtucket victory.
  • June 12 - Major League Baseball players begin a 49 day strike over the issue of free-agent compensation.
  • World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers win 4 games to 2 over the New York Yankees. The Series MVP is a tie between Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager, Los Angeles

Basketball

  • NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship:
    • Indiana wins 63-50 over North Carolina

Boxing

  • April 11: Larry Holmes defeats Trevor Berbick by a unanimous decision to retain the WBC heavyweight title.
  • August 21: Salvador Sanchez defeats Wilfredo Gómez by knockout in round eight to retain boxing's WBC world Featherweight title.(see: Salvador Sanchez vs. Wilfredo Gómez)
  • September 16: Sugar Ray Leonard defeats Thomas Hearns by knockout in round 14 to unify boxing's world Welterweight title.

Cycling

Dogsled racing

  • Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
    • Rick Swenson won with lead dogs: Andy & Slick

Field Hockey

  • Men's World Cup Qualifier Tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
    • Gold Medal: Soviet Union
    • Silver Medal: Malaysia
    • Bronze Medal: New Zealand
  • Men's Champions Trophy in Karachi, Pakistan
    • Gold Medal: The Netherlands
    • Silver Medal: Australia
    • Bronze Medal: West Germany
  • Women's World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Gold Medal: West Germany
    • Silver Medal: The Netherlands
    • Bronze Medal: Soviet Union
  • March 21 - In an international women's field hockey match at Wembley Stadium, England. England beat Wales 2-1.

Figure skating

Football (American)

  • January 25 - Super Bowl XV: Oakland Raiders won 27-10 over the Philadelphia Eagles
  • October 11 - LeRoy Irvin sets NFL record for most punt return yards in a game (207).

Football (Australian rules football)

  • Victorian Football League
    • Richmond wins the 85th VFL Premiership (Richmond 12.20 (92) d Collingwood 10.12 (72))
    • Brownlow Medal awarded to Barry Round (South Melbourne) and Bernie Quinlan (Fitzroy)
    • At the end of the season, South Melbourne relocates to Sydney and is renamed the Sydney Swans.

Football (Canadian)

Football (Soccer)

For an extensive coverage see 1981 in football (soccer)

Gaelic Athletic Association

  • Camogie
    • All-Ireland Camogie Champion: Kilkenny
    • National Camogie League: Dublin
  • Ladies' Gaelic football
    • All-Ireland Senior Football Champion: Kerry 1-12 d. Offaly 0-8
    • National Football League: Galway 1-11 d. Roscommon 1-3

Golf

Men's Golf

  • PGA Tour leading money winner for the year: Tom Kite - $375,699
  • Champions Tour leading money winner: Miller Barber - $83,136
  • Ryder Cup: United States won 18 1/2 to 9 1/2 over Europe in world team golf.

Women's Golf

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

  • August 30 - John Henry becomes the first horse to win a million dollar race, the Inaugural Arlington Million, at Arlington Park in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois.
  • United States Triple Crown Races:
    1. Kentucky Derby - Pleasant Colony
    2. Preakness Stakes - Pleasant Colony
    3. Belmont Stakes - Summing

Harness Racing

  • United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
    1. Cane Pace - Wildwood Jeb
    2. Little Brown Jug - Fan Hanover (Filly)
    3. Messenger Stakes - Seahawk Hanover

Ice Hockey

  • Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers
  • World Hockey Championship
    • Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Sweden
    • Junior Men's champion: Sweden defeated Finland

Rugby union

  • The 1981 Springbok Tour caused major controversy and riots in New Zealand.

Skiing

  • Alpine Skiing
    • The men's overall season champion: Phil Mahre, USA
    • The women's overall season champion: Marie-Theres Nadig, Switzerland

Snooker

Swimming

Records

  • August 15 — USA's Robin Leamy of UCLA sets a world record in the 50m freestyle (long course) at a swimming meet in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, shaving off 0.17 of the previous record (22.71) set by Joseph Bottom exactly one year ago in Honolulu, Hawaii: 22.54.

Tennis

  • Davis Cup: United States wins 3-1 over Argentina in world tennis.

General sporting events

  • Eleventh Summer Universiade held in Bucharest, Romania
  • Tenth Winter Universiade held in Jaca, Spain

Awards

Births

January

February

  • February 1 — Angie Skirving, Australian field hockey player
  • February 2 — Dmitry Lobkov, Russian speed skater
  • February 6 — Niall Stott, Scottish field hockey player
  • February 10 — Fränzi Aufdenblatten, Swiss alpine skier
  • February 15 — Nicolas Rostoucher, French freestyle and medley swimmer
  • February 17 — Bernhard Eisel, Austrian road bicycling racer
  • February 18 — Andrei Kirilenko, Russian NBA player
  • February 19 — Thomas Buffel, Belgian football player
  • February 19 — Tina Pisnik, Slovenian tennis player
  • February 19 — Andreas Vinciguerra, Swedish tennis player
  • February 22 — Assan Bazayev, Khazakstan cyclist
  • February 24 — Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
  • February 24 — Mauro Rosales, Argentinian football player
  • February 25 — Ulrich Bubolz, German field hockey goalkeeper
  • February 25 — Marek Plawgo, Polish athlete
  • February 26 — Daniel Geale, Australian boxer

March

  • March 10 — Samuel Eto'o, Cameroon football player
  • March 10 — Akira Ito, Japanese field hockey player
  • March 12 — Katarina Srebotnik, Slovenian tennis player
  • March 15 — Brice Guyart, French foil fencer
  • March 16 — Andrew Bree, Irish breaststroke swimmer
  • March 20 — Tibor Weißenborn, German field hockey player
  • March 28 — Yuniel Hernández, Cuban hurdling athlete
  • March 30 — Tulashboy Doniyorov, Uzbek boxer
  • March 31 — Eileen Coparropa, Panamanian swimmer
  • March 31 — Lourdes Dominguez Lino, Spanish tennis player
  • March 31 — Maarten van der Weijden, Dutch long distance swimmer

April

  • April 2 — Michael Clarke, Star Australian Cricketer
  • April 3 — Heath Ramsay, Australian butterfly swimmer
  • April 4 — Lucas Cammareri, Argentine field hockey forward
  • April 5 — Pieter Weening, Dutch cyclist
  • April 6 — Ceferino Labarda, Argentine bantamweight boxer
  • April 8 — Frédérick Bousquet, French freestyle swimmer
  • April 21 — Kim Lammers, Dutch field hockey player
  • April 23 — Jenny McDonough, Irish field hockey forward
  • April 24 — Taylor Dent, US tennis player

May

  • May 1 — Niklas Meinert, German field hockey midfielder
  • May 6 — Robert Hammond, Australian field hockey midfielder
  • May 8 — Yasuko Tajima, Japanese medley swimmer
  • May 10 — Lloyd Stephenson, New Zealand field hockey player
  • May 10 — Ignace Tirkey, Indian field hockey player
  • May 11 — Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
  • May 12 — Rob Bontje, Dutch volleyball player
  • May 13 — Jean-Philippe Brulé, Belgian field hockey player
  • May 14 — Ramón Alegre, Spanish field hockey player
  • May 19 — Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
  • May 20 — Morgan Knabe, Canadian breaststroke swimmer
  • May 20 — Daniel McPherson, Australian field hockey goalkeeper
  • May 21 — Beth Botsford, American backstroke swimmer
  • May 21 — Rob Moore, English field hockey midfielder and forward
  • May 21 — Anna Rogowska, Polish track and field athlete
  • May 22 — Jürgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player
  • May 26 — Anthony Ervin, American swimmer

June

  • June 2 — Nikolay Davydenko, Russian tennis player
  • June 7 — Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
  • June 8 — Miguel Albarracin, Argentine judoka
  • June 9 — Dean Couzins, New Zealand field hockey player
  • June 9 — Irakli Labadze, Georgian tennis player
  • June 9 — Bastiaan Tamminga, Dutch swimmer
  • June 13 — Wieteke Cramer, Dutch speed skater
  • June 14 — Hope Munro, Australian field hockey player
  • June 19 — Moss Burmester, New Zealand swimmer
  • June 25 — Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper

July

August

  • August 5 — Jim Piper, Australian breaststroke swimmer
  • August 8 — Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
  • August 9 — Li Jiawei, Singaporean table tennis player
  • August 10 — Guillaume Elmont, Dutch judoka
  • August 12 — Djibril Cissé, French football player
  • August 15 — Brendan Hansen, American breaststroke swimmer
  • August 17 — Richard Mantell, English field hockey full back
  • August 21 — David Guest, Australian field hockey player
  • August 29 — Hugues Duboscq, French breaststroke swimmer
  • August 29 — Rob Reckers, Dutch field hockey player
  • August 31 — Örn Arnarson, Icelandic swimmer

September

  • September 6 — Brandon Simpson, Jamaican athlete
  • September 12 — Staciana Stitts, American breaststroke swimmer
  • September 12 — Sabina Wojtala, Polish figure skater
  • September 16 — Sebastian Biederlack, German field hockey midfielder
  • September 18 — Helen Richardson, British field hockey player
  • September 19 — Damiano Cunego, Italian cyclist
  • September 20 — Feliciano Lopez, Spanish tennis player
  • September 23 — Robert Doornbos, Dutch Formula 1-driver
  • September 26 — Serena Williams, US tennis player
  • September 26 — Klaas Veering, Dutch field hockey player

October

  • October 3 — Zlatan Ibrahimović, Swedish football (soccer) player
  • October 5 — Enrico Fabris, Italian long track speed skater
  • October 5 — Juan Camilo Novoa, Colombian boxer
  • October 11 — Kate Hector, South African field hockey player
  • October 12 — Sun Tiantian, Chinese tennis player
  • October 15 — Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player
  • October 15 — Guo Jingjing, Chinese diver
  • October 19 — Sarah Taylor, Australian field hockey player
  • October 20 — Elka Graham, Australian swimmer
  • October 20 — Stefan Nystrand, Swedish swimmer
  • October 22 — Clementine Stoney, Australian backstroke swimmer
  • October 23 — Rodrigo Vila, Argentine field hockey striker
  • October 25 — Carlos Valcarcel, Puerto Rican boxer
  • October 28 — Milan Baroš, Czech football (soccer) player
  • October 29 — Amanda Beard, American swimmer

November

December

  • December 7 — Frédérique Ankoné, Dutch speed skater
  • December 9 — Mardy Fish, American professional tennis player
  • December 10 — Liam De Young, Australian field hockey player
  • December 10 — Ryan Pini, Papua New Guinean swimmer
  • December 11 — Javier Saviola, Argentinian football (soccer) player
  • December 12 — Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricketer
  • December 14 — Émilie Heymans, Belgium-born Canadian diver
  • December 15 — Hossam Ghaly, Egyptian football player
  • December 17 — Miek van Geenhuizen, Dutch field hockey player
  • December 18 — Nick Brunelli, American freestyle swimmer
  • December 18 — Bekzod Khidirov, Uzbek boxer
  • December 19 — Najai Turpin, American boxer (d. 2005)
  • December 21 — Justin Kane, Australian boxer
  • December 22 — Nico Freriks, Dutch volleyball player
  • December 26 — Robert Horstink, Dutch volleyball player
  • December 28 — Khalid Boulahrouz, Dutch football (soccer) player
  • December 28 — Mika Väyrynen, Finnish football (soccer) player
  • December 29 — Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater

Deaths

  • Canonero II — champion thoroughbred race horse
  • January 20 — Vittorio Tamagnini (70), Italian boxer (b. 1910)
  • August 27 — Mike Marino, British wrestler (b. 1930)
  • August 27 — Valery Kharlamov (33), Russian ice hockey player
  • October 3 — Fidel La Barba, US boxer and sportswriter (b. 1905)
  • August 2 — Delfo Cabrera (62), Argentine long-distance runner (b. 1919)

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 
 

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