1996 in sports

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • Dale Jarrett[?] wins the Daytona 500
  • NASCAR Championship - Terry Labonte[?]
• Indy Racing League -
• Indianapolis 500 - Buddy Lazier[?]
• CART Racing - Jimmy Vasser[?] won the season championship
• Formula One Championship - Damon Hill of Great Britain
• 24 hours of Le Mans: won by the team of Manuel Reuter[?] / Davy Jones[?] / Alexander Wurz[?] driving a TWR-Porsche[?]
• Rally racing - the team of Patrick Bernardini[?] / Bernard Occelli[?] won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Ford Escort RS Cosworth[?]
• Drag racing - Kenny Bernstein[?] won the NHRA "Top Fuel" championship.

Baseball

• World Series: New York Yankees won 4 games to 2 over the Atlanta Braves. The Series MVP was relief pitcher, John Wetteland[?], New York

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • Kentucky wins 76-67 over Syracuse

• NBA Finals:
  • Chicago Bulls win 4 games to 2 over the Seattle Supersonics, after a record-breaking 72-10 regular season.

Boxing

• March 16 - Christy Martin defeats Deirdre Gogarty by a decision in six rounds to retain her Women's boxing world title in front of a national tv audience. This fight is credited with making the general public aware of women's boxing.

• June 7 - Oscar De La Hoya defeats Julio Cesar Chavez by a knockout in four rounds to win the WBC's world Jr. Welterweight championship.

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Pavel Tonkov[?] of Russia
• Tour de France - Bjarne Riis[?] of Denmark
• World Cycling Championship: Johan Museeuw[?] of Belgium

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Todd Eldredge[?], United States
  • Women's champion: Michelle Kwan, United States
  • Pairs champions: Marina Eltsowa[?] & Sergej Buschkow[?], Russia

Football (Soccer)

• England - FA Cup: Manchester United won 1-0 over Liverpool

Football (American)

• Super Bowl XXX: Dallas Cowboys won 27-17 over the Pittsburgh Steelers

Canadian Football League

• Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts win 43-37 over the Edmonton Eskimos
• Vanier Cup: Saskatchewan Huskies[?] win 31-12 over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men[?]

Golf

Men's Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May - The Masters - Nick Faldo[?]
  2. June - US Open - Steve Jones
  3. July - British Open - Tom Lehman[?]
  4. August - PGA Championship - Mark Brooks[?]

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Tom Lehman[?] - $1,780,159
• PGA Champions Tour leading money winner: Jim Colbert[?] - $1,627,890

Women's Golf

• US Women's Open - Annika Sörenstam
• LPGA Championship - Laura Davies[?]
• Karrie Webb[?] is the leading money winner on the LPGA tour with earnings of $1,002,000 becoming the first ever woman to earn more than a million dollars in one golfing season.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Saintly[?]
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Victor Cooley[?]
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Helissio[?]
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Zagreb[?]

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes - Mark of Esteem[?]
  2. Epsom Derby - Shaamit[?]
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Shantou[?]

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby - Grindstone[?]
  2. Preakness Stakes - Louis Quatorze[?]
  3. Belmont Stakes - Editor's Note[?]

Harness Racing June 22 - the fastest race mile in harness racing history was set by Jenna's Beach Boy[?] (1:47.3) at Meadowlands Racetrack[?].

• The North America Cup - Arizona Jack[?]

• United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace - Scoot To Power[?]
  2. Little Brown Jug - Armbro Operative[?]
  3. Messenger Stakes - Go For Grins[?]

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian - Continentalvictory[?]
  2. Yonkers Trot - Continentalvictory[?]
  3. Kentucky Futurity - Running Sea[?]

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Young Mister Charles[?]
  • Trotters: Pride Of Petite[?]

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins

• Hart Memorial Trophy: for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins

• Stanley Cup - the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Florida Panthers 4 games to 0.

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Czech Republic defeated Canada
  • Junior Men's champion: Canada defeated Sweden

Skiing

• Alpine Skiing
  • The men's overall season champion: Lasse Kjus[?], Norway
  • The women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger[?], Germany

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Boris Becker
  2. French Open - Yevgeny Kafelnikov[?]
  3. Wimbledon championships - Richard Krajicek
  4. US Open - Pete Sampras

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Monica Seles[?]
  2. French Open - Steffi Graf
  3. Wimbledon championships - Steffi Graf
  4. US Open - Steffi Graf

• Davis Cup: France won 3-2 over Sweden in world tennis.

General sporting events

• Embassy World Snooker Championship[?]:
  • Stephen Hendry[?] won 18-12 over Peter Ebdon[?]

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
  • Jeff King[?] won with lead dogs: Jake & Booster

Births

Deaths

• May 11 - Rodney Culver[?], 26, San Diego Chargers running back, died in a plane crash