1979 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Years:	1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982

Contents 1 Alpine skiing 2 American football 3 Artistic gymnastics 4 Association football (soccer) 5 Australian rules football 6 Baseball 7 Basketball 8 Boxing 9 Canadian football 10 Cricket 11 Cycling 12 Dogsled racing 13 Field hockey 14 Figure skating 15 Golf 16 Harness racing 17 Horse racing 18 Ice hockey 19 Motor racing 20 Rugby union 21 Snooker 22 Swimming 23 Tennis 24 Volleyball 25 Water polo 26 Multi-sport events 27 Awards 28 References

[edit] Alpine skiing

• Alpine Skiing World Cup
  • Men's overall season champion: Peter Lüscher, Switzerland
  • Women's overall season champion: Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austria

[edit] American football

• January 21 - Super Bowl XIII – Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 35-31.

[edit] Artistic gymnastics

• World Artistic Gymnastics Championships –
  • Men's all-around champion: Alexander Dityatin, USSR
  • Women's all-around champion: Nellie Kim, USSR
  • Men's team competition champion: USSR
  • Women's team competition champion: Romania

[edit] Association football (soccer)

• May 12 - England - FA Cup – Arsenal win 3-2 over Manchester United
• Sport Club Internacional win the Brazilian Championship undefeated

[edit] Australian rules football

• Victorian Football League
  • Carlton win the 83rd VFL Premiership (Carlton 11.16 (82) d Collingwood 11.11 (77))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Peter Moore (Collingwood)

[edit] Baseball

• January 23 – Willie Mays receives 409 of 432 votes in the BBWAA election to earn enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.
• August 2 – death of Thurman Munson, New York Yankees catcher, in an air crash
• World Series – Pittsburgh Pirates won 4 games to 3 over the Baltimore Orioles. The Series MVP was Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh

[edit] Basketball

• NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship –
  • Michigan St. wins 75-64 over Indiana St.
• NBA Finals –
  • Seattle SuperSonics, coached by Lenny Wilkens, won 4 games to 1 over the Washington Bullets for the only finals win in Seattle SuperSonics history.
• National Basketball League (Australia) –
  • The Australian NBL was founded. The St Kilda Saints became the first champions by defeating the Canberra Cannons 94-93 in the final.

[edit] Boxing

• September 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Larry Holmes retains his World Heavyweight title with an 11th round TKO of Earnie Shavers.
• November 30 in Las Vegas, dual world championship undercard: Vito Antuofermo retains his world Middleweight title with a 15 round draw (tie) against Marvin Hagler, and Sugar Ray Leonard wins his first world title, beating WBC world Welterweight champion Wilfredo Benitez by knockout in round 15.

[edit] Canadian football

• Grey Cup – Edmonton Eskimos win 17-9 over the Montreal Alouettes
• Vanier Cup – Acadia Axmen win 34-12 over the Western Ontario Mustangs

[edit] Cricket

• Cricket World Cup - West Indies beat England by 92 runs
• World Series Cricket rival competition to official International Cricket Council matches is disbanded.

[edit] Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Giuseppe Saronni of Italy
• Tour de France - Bernard Hinault -France
• World Cycling Championship – Jan Raas of Netherlands

[edit] Dogsled racing

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion –
  • Rick Swenson won with lead dogs: Andy & O.B. (Old Buddy)

[edit] Field hockey

• 1979 Pan American Games men's competition held in San Juan, Puerto Rico and won by Argentina
• August - The 2nd Women's World Field Hockey Championships are held at Vancouver, Canada with the Netherlands as the champions.

[edit] Figure skating

• World Figure Skating Championships –
  • Men's champion: Vladimir Kovalev, Soviet Union
  • Ladies' champion: Linda Fratianne, United States
  • Pair skating champions: Tai Babilonia & Randy Gardner, United States
  • Ice dancing champions: Natalia Linichuk & Gennadi Karponossov, Soviet Union

[edit] Golf

Men's professional

• Masters Tournament - Fuzzy Zoeller defeats Ed Sneed and Tom Watson in the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, the first time the Masters used a sudden-death format.
• U.S. Open - Hale Irwin
• British Open - Seve Ballesteros becomes the first golfer from Continental Europe to win a major since Arnaud Massy of France won this event in 1907.
• PGA Championship - David Graham
• PGA Tour money leader - Tom Watson - $462,636
• Ryder Cup - United States won 17-11 over Europe in the first Ryder Cup to feature a side representing all of Europe.

Men's amateur

• British Amateur - Jay Sigel
• U.S. Amateur - Mark O'Meara

Women's professional

• LPGA Championship - Donna Caponi
• U.S. Women's Open - Jerilyn Britz
• Classique Peter Jackson Classic - Amy Alcott
• LPGA Tour money leader - Nancy Lopez - $197,489

[edit] Harness racing

• The Hambletonian is awarded to Meadowlands Racetrack, starting in 1981.
• United States Pacing Triple Crown races –
  1. Cane Pace - Happy Motoring
  2. Little Brown Jug - Hot Hitter
  3. Messenger Stakes - Hot Hitter
• United States Trotting Triple Crown races –
  1. Hambletonian - Legend Hanover
  2. Yonkers Trot
  3. Kentucky Futurity
• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship –
  • Pacers: Rondel
  • Trotters: No Response

[edit] Horse racing

Steeplechases

• Cheltenham Gold Cup – Alverton
• Grand National – Rubstic

Flat races

• Australia – Melbourne Cup won by Hyperno
• Canada – Queen's Plate won by Steady Growth
• France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Three Troikas
• Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes won by Troy
• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Tap On Wood
  2. Epsom Derby – Troy
  3. St. Leger Stakes – Son of Love
• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby – Spectacular Bid
  2. Preakness Stakes – Spectacular Bid
  3. Belmont Stakes – Coastal

[edit] Ice hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders
• Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders
• Stanley Cup – Montreal Canadiens win 4 games to 1 over the New York Rangers
• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Czechoslovakia
  • Junior Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Sweden
• Réal Cloutier of the Quebec Nordiques became the second NHL player to score a hat trick in his debut NHL game.

[edit] Motor racing

• Stock car racing –
  • NASCAR Championship - Richard Petty
  • February 18 - Richard Petty won the Daytona 500 it was the first Daytona 500 to be televised flag-to-flag by CBS Sports
• CART Racing (replaced USAC): Rick Mears won the season championship
  • May - Indianapolis 500 - Rick Mears
• Formula One Champion - Jody Scheckter of South Africa
• 24 hours of Le Mans – the team of Klaus Ludwig / Bill Whittington / Don Whittington win driving a Porsche 935
• Rally racing - the team of Bernard Darniche / Alain Mahe win the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Lancia Stratos HF
• Drag racing –
  • Rob Bruins won the NHRA Top Fuel championship.
  • Don Garlits won Top Fuel at the [NHRA] World Finals
• Touring car racing - Peter Brock and Jim Richards won their second consecutive Bathurst 1000, driving a Holden Torana

[edit] Rugby union

• 85th Five Nations Championship series is won by Wales

[edit] Snooker

• World Snooker Championship – outsider Terry Griffiths beats Dennis Taylor 24-16
• World rankings – Ray Reardon remains world number one for 1979/80

[edit] Swimming

• Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico
• July 23 – West Germany's Klaus Steinbach sets a world record in the 50m freestyle at a swimming meet in Freiburg, shaving off 0.02 of the previous record (23.72) set by Ron Manganiello nearly a year ago: 23.70.

[edit] Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Guillermo Vilas
  2. French Open - Björn Borg
  3. Wimbledon championships - July 7 - Björn Borg
  4. US Open - John McEnroe
• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Barbara Jordan
  2. French Open - Chris Evert
  3. Wimbledon championships - July 7 - Martina Navratilova
  4. US Open - Tracy Austin, youngest US Open Champion at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 28 days defeating 4-time defending champion Chris Evert 6-4, 6-3 in the final after defeating 2nd seeded Martina Navratilova in the semifinal making Evert lose for the first time in 32 matches.
• Davis Cup – United States wins 5-0 over Italy in world tennis.

[edit] Volleyball

• Asia Volleyball Championship: men's and women's tournaments both won by China
• European Volleyball Championship held in France: men's and women's tournaments both won by USSR
• Volleyball at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico: men's and women's tournaments both won by Cuba

[edit] Water polo

• 1979 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup held in Yugoslavia and won by Hungary
• 1979 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup held in Merced, California and won by USA

[edit] Multi-sport events

• 8th Pan American Games held in San Juan, Puerto Rico
• 8th Mediterranean Games held in Split, Yugoslavia
• Tenth Summer Universiade held in Mexico City, Mexico
• September 7 - The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) makes its debut.

[edit] Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year – Willie Stargell, Major League Baseball
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Tracy Austin, Tennis
• ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year: Willie Stargell, Major League Baseball

[edit] References

v • d • e Sports by year 1951 – 2000 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 to 1850 • 1851 – 1900 • 1901 – 1950 • 1951 – 2000 • from 2001