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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 first North American to ever win the classic race.

American football

• Super Bowl XIV – Pittsburgh Steelers won 31-19 over the Los Angeles Rams

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 Nadezhda Olizarenko sets the world record in the women's 800 metres, clocking 1:54.85 at Moscow
• July 27 – Nadezhda 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.
• Japan's Sadaharu Oh retires from the Yomiuri Giants as the all time professional baseball home run king.

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship –
  • Louisville wins 59-54 over UCLA
• NBA Finals –
  • Los Angeles Lakers won 4 games to 2 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 Duran 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 Duran.

Canadian football

• Grey Cup – Edmonton Eskimos win 48-10 over the Hamilton Tigercats
• 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
• World Cycling Championship – Bernard Hinault of France

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 Regöczy & Andras 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 d. Roscommon 1-6
  • National Football League – Cork 0-11 d. 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 d. 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.

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. Epsom 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

Motor racing

• Stock car racing –
  • NASCAR Championship - Dale Earnhardt
  • Buddy Baker won the Daytona 500
• CART Racing - Johnny Rutherford won the season championship
  • Indianapolis 500 - Johnny Rutherford
• Formula One Champion - Alan Jones of Australia
• 24 hours of Le Mans – the team of Jean Rondeau / Jean-Pierre Jaussaud won, driving a Rondeau M379B
• Rally racing - Walter Röhrl in a Fiat won the World Rally Championship
  • The team of Walter Röhrl / Christian Geistdörfer won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Fiat 131 Abarth
• Drag racing - Shirley Muldowney won the NHRA Top Fuel championship.
• Touring car racing - Peter Brock and Jim Richards won their third consecutive Bathurst 1000, driving a Holden Torana

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 – inaugural State of Origin match is won by Queensland who defeat New South Wales 20–10 at Lang Park

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 Mandlikova
  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.

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

Water polo

• Water polo at the 1980 Summer Olympics won by USSR

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