1978 in sports

Artistic Gymnastics

*World Artistic Gymnastics Championships:
**Men's all-around champion: Nikolai Andrianov, USSR
**Women's all-around champion: Elena Mukhina, USSR
**Men's team competition champion: Japan
**Women's team competition champion: USSR

Auto racing

*USAC - A J Foyt won final season championship under USAC.
**CART, Championship Auto Racing Teams open wheel racing established in the United States.
**Indianapolis 500 - won by Al Unser Snr

Baseball

*World Series: New York Yankees win 4 games to 2 over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Series MVP is Bucky Dent, New York

Basketball

*Wilt Chamberlain is elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, along with coaches Sam Barry, Eddie Hickey, John McLendon, Ray Meyer and Pete Newell, and referee Jim Enright
*NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship:
**Kentucky wins 94-88 over Duke
* NBA Finals:
**Washington Bullets won 4 games to 3 over the Seattle SuperSonics
*FIBA World Championship
**Yugoslavia World Champion

*February 15: Leon Spinks defeats Muhammad Ali by decision in 15 rounds to win the world's Heavyweight title.
*September 15: Muhammad Ali recovers the world's Heavyweight title, beating Leon Spinks by decision in their rematch. It is the first time a boxer wins the world Heavyweight title for a third time.

Cycling

*Giro d'Italia won by Johan de Muynck of Belgium
*Tour de France - Bernard Hinault of France
*World Cycling Championship: Gerrie Knetemann of Netherlands

Dogsled racing

*Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
**Dick Mackey won with lead dogs: Skipper & Shrew

Field hockey

* Men's World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina
** Gold Medal: Pakistan
** Silver Medal: The Netherlands
** Bronze Medal: Australia
* Men's European Nations Cup in Hannover, West Germany
** Gold Medal: West Germany
** Silver Medal: The Netherlands
** Bronze Medal: England
* Men's Champions Trophy in Lahore, Pakistan
** Gold Medal: Pakistan
** Silver Medal: Australia
** Bronze Medal: Great Britain
* Women's World Cup in Madrid, Spain
** Gold Medal: The Netherlands
** Silver Medal: West Germany
** Bronze Medal: Argentina / Belgium
* March 11 - In an international women's field hockey match at Wembley Stadium, London. England drew with the United States of America: 2-2.

Figure skating

*World Figure Skating Championships:
**Men's champion: Charles Tickner, United States
**Women's champion: Anett Pötzsch, Germany
**Pairs champions: Irina Rodnina & Alexander Saizew, Soviet Union

Football (American)

*Super Bowl XII: Dallas Cowboys won 27-10 over the Denver Broncos

Football (Australian rules football)

* Victorian Football League
** Hawthorn wins the 82nd VFL Premiership (Hawthorn 18.13 (121) d North Melbourne 15.13 (103))
** Brownlow Medal awarded to Malcolm Blight (North Melbourne)

Football (Canadian)

* Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos win 20-13 over the Montreal Alouettes
* Vanier Cup: Queen's Golden Gaels win 16-3 over the UBC Thunderbirds

Football (Soccer)

*Football World Cup: Argentina wins 3-1 (after extra time) over the Netherlands
*England - FA Cup: Ipswich Town won 1-0 over Arsenal
*England - League: Nottingham Forest won the championship as well as the League Cup

Golf

Men's golf
*Grand Slam of golf results:
*#May - The Masters - Gary Player
*#June - US Open - Andy North
*#July - British Open - Jack Nicklaus
*#August - PGA Championship - John Mahaffey
*PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Tom Watson - $362,429

Women's golf
*US Women's Open - Hollis Stacy
*LPGA Championship - Nancy Lopez
*Nancy Lopez: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $189,213.

Thoroughbred horse racing

*Australia - Melbourne Cup - Arwon
*Canada - Queen's Plate - Regal Embrace
*France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Alleged
*Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Shirley Heights
*English Triple Crown Races:
*#Two Thousand Guineas Stakes - Roland Gardens
*#Epsom Derby - Shirley Heights
*#St. Leger Stakes - Julio Mariner
*July 13: At Belmont Park, Elmont, New York, star jockey, Ron Turcotte is injured in a racing accident ending his career, leaving him a paraplegic.
*Affirmed, ridden by jockey Steve Cauthen, wins the United States Triple Crown Races by narrowly defeating Alydar in all three races:
*#Kentucky Derby - Affirmed, Alydar
*#Preakness Stakes - Affirmed, Alydar
*#Belmont Stakes - Affirmed, Alydar

Harness racing

*United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
*#Cane Pace - Armbro Tiger
*#Little Brown Jug - Happy Escort
*#Messenger Stakes - Abercrombie
*United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
*#Hambletonian - Speedy Somolli
*#Yonkers Trot - Speedy Somolli
*#Kentucky Futurity - Doublemint
*Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
**Pacers: Markovina
**Trotters: Derby Royale

Ice hockey

*Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Guy Lafleur, Montreal Canadiens
*Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Guy Lafleur, Montreal Canadiens
*Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens win 4 games to 2 over the Boston Bruins
*World Hockey Championship
** Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Czechoslovakia
** Junior Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Sweden
**Note: In the early years of the Junior tournament, Canada did not send a true National Junior team to the event. Instead, the Memorial Cup champions usually went to represent Canada. The exception was 1978 in Montreal, when an "all-star" team was put together.

Skiing

*Alpine Skiing
**The men's overall season champion: Ingemar Stenmark, Sweden
**The women's overall season champion: Hanni Wenzel, Liechtenstein

Snooker

*World Snooker Championship: Ray Reardon beats Perrie Mans 25-18
*World rankings: Ray Reardon remains world number one for 1978/79.

Speed skating

* First ISU Short Track Speed Skating Championships for men and ladies held in Solihull, UK

Tennis

*Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
*#Australian Open - Guillermo Vilas
*#French Open - Björn Borg
*#Wimbledon championships - Björn Borg
*#US Open - Jimmy Connors
*Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
*#Australian Open - Chris O'Neil
*#French Open - Virginia Ruzici
*#Wimbledon championships - Martina Navratilova
*#US Open - Chris Evert
*Davis Cup: United States won 4-1 over Great Britain in world tennis.
* US Open moves to hard courts of the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.
* Total prize money at US Open exceeds US $500,000.

Triathlon

*First Ironman Triathlon held in Hawaii

Water Polo

* Men's World Championship in Berlin, West Germany
** Gold Medal: Italy
** Silver Medal: Hungary
** Bronze Medal: Yugoslavia

General sporting events

* Third All-Africa Games held in Algiers, Algeria
* Eighth Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand
* British Commonwealth Games held in Edmonton, Canada
* Ninth Winter Universiade held in Špindlerův Mlýn, Czechoslovakia

Births

January

* January 4 — Dominik Hrbaty, Slovakian tennis player
* January 8 — Lovrenco Franičević, Croatian butterfly swimmer
* January 8 — Gennaro Gattuso, Italian football player
* January 12 — Bonaventure Kalou, Ivorian football (soccer) player
* January 13 — Nenad Buljan, Croatian freestyle swimmer
* January 14 — Shawn Crawford, American athlete
* January 17 — Petra Mandula, Hungarian tennis player
* January 18 — Thor Hushovd, Norwegian cyclist
* January 18 — Bogdan Lobont, Romanian football (soccer) player
* January 18 — Stev Theloke, German swimmer
* January 19 — Zbigniew Malkowski, Polish football (soccer) player
* January 19 — Megan Sargeant, Australian field hockey player
* January 20 — Lim Jung-Woo, South Korean field hockey player
* January 26 — Corina Morariu, American tennis player
* January 27 — Dipsy Selolwane, Botswana football (soccer) player
* January 28 — Gianluigi Buffon, Italian football (soccer) player
* January 28 — Takumo Sato, Japanese Formula 1-driver
* January 28 — Paul Wettlaufer, Canadian field hockey player
* January 31 — Clemens Arnold, German field hockey goalkeeper

February

* February 3 — Beat Hefti, Swiss bobsledder
* February 6 — Rustam Saidov, Uzbek boxer
* February 17 — Amir Hadad, Israeli tennis player
* February 28 — Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier
* February 28 — Mariano Zabaleta, Argentinian tennis player

March

* March 8 — Johanna Sjöberg, Swedish swimmer
* March 14 — Pieter van den Hoogenband, Dutch swimmer
* March 18 — Brooke Hanson, Australian swimmer
* March 18 — Antonio Margarito, Mexican boxer
* March 21 — Ronnie Jagday, Canadian field hockey player
* March 21 — Sally Barsosio, Kenyan distance runner
* March 23 — György Kozmann, Hungarian canoer
* March 24 — Eric Pacome N'Dri, Ivorian athlete
* March 26 — Ron van der Hoff, Dutch archer

April

* April 2 — Chiel Warners, Dutch athlete
* April 3 — Tommy Haas, German tennis player
* April 5 — Franziska van Almsick, German swimmer
* April 7 — Vladimir Voltchkov, Belarussian tennis player
* April 9 — Naman Keita, French track and field athlete
* April 11 — Victor Sikora, Dutch football player
* April 13 — Carles Puyol, Spanish football player
* April 13 — Raemon Sluiter, Dutch tennis player
* April 16 — Noam Okun, Israeli tennis player
* April 20 — David Sánchez, Spanish tennis player
* April 26 — Elson Becerra, Colombian football (soccer) player (d. 2006)
* April 29 — Bob and Mike Bryan, American twins and tennis players

May

* May 1 — Tracey Larson, American field hockey midfielder
* May 2 — Matthew Wells, Australian field hockey defender
* May 3 — Dai Tamesue, Japanese athlete
* May 7 — Peter Wessels, Dutch tennis player
* May 8 — Danilo Turcios, Honduran football midfielder
* May 15 — Sue Rolph, British swimmer
* May 24 — Caroline Casaretto, German field hockey midfielder
* May 26 — Dan Parks, Scottish rugby union footballer
* May 29 — Sebastien Grosjean, French tennis player

June

* June 1 — Aleksandar Šapić, Serbian water polo player
* June 3 — María Olay, Spanish breaststroke swimmer
* June 7 — Tomás MacCormik, Argentine field hockey midfielder
* June 15 — Wilfred Bouma, Dutch football player
* June 18 — Pablo ("Pol") Amat Escudé, Spanish field hockey striker
* June 19 — Dirk Nowitzki, German NBA player
* June 22 — José Meolans, Argentinian swimmer
* June 24 — Shunsuke Nakamura, Japanese football player
* June 24 — Juan Román Riquelme, Argentinian football player
* June 26 — Mark Veens, Dutch swimmer

July

* July 1 — Vladimer Tchanturia, Georgian boxer
* July 4 — Fatima Moreiro de Melo, Dutch field hockey player
* July 4 — Peter Mankoc, Slovenian swimmer
* July 7 — Jana Toepel, American field hockey midfielder
* July 8 — Urmas Rooba, Estonian football (soccer) defender
* July 11 — Massimiliano Rosolino, Italian swimmer
* July 12 — Florien Cornelis, Dutch field hockey player
* July 15 — Kim Baker, Canadian field hockey player
* July 21 — Kyoko Iwasaki, Japanese breaststroke swimmer
* July 22 — Ishe Smith, American boxer
* July 29 — Joseph Batangdon, Cameroonian sprints athlete
* July 29 — Caroline Jack, South African field hockey goalkeeper

August

* August 5 — Kim Gevaert, Belgian athlete
* August 5 — Harel Levy, Israeli tennis player
* August 9 — Wesley Sonck, Belgian football player
* August 11 — Jermain Taylor, American boxer
* August 12 — Jesse Mahieu, Dutch field hockey player
* August 14 — Marcel Fischer, Swiss fencer
* August 17 — Mehdi Baala, French middle-distance athlete
* August 20 — Alberto Martin, Spanish tennis player
* August 22 — Kutre Dulecha, Ethiopian middle distance runner
* August 23 — Kobe Bryant, American basketball player
* August 23 — Georgi Chilikov, Bulgarian football (soccer) player
* August 26 — Hestrie Cloete, South African high jumper
* August 29 — Jens Boden, German speed skater

September

* September 2 — Pietie Coetzee, South African field hockey striker
* September 3 — Sam Oud, Dutch canoer
* September 6 — Amy Agulay, Canadian field hockey player
* September 10 — Jyoti Sunita Kullu, Indian field hockey player
* September 13 — Jill Orbinson, Irish field hockey midfielder
* September 15 — Kew Jaliens, Dutch football (soccer) player
* September 20 — Sophie Simard, German-born swimmer from Canada
* September 21 — Alexander Heath, South African alpine skier
* September 24 — Wietse van Alten, Dutch archer
* September 25 — Laura Nicholls, Canadian freestyle swimmer
* September 26 — Gert-Jan Liefers, Dutch athlete
* September 26 — Judith Meulendijks, Dutch badminton player
* September 29 — Karel Klaver, Dutch field hockey player

October

* October 3 — Claudio Pizarro, Peruvian football (soccer) striker
* October 4 — Daniël Mensch, Dutch rower
* October 8 — Ewout Holst, Dutch swimmer
* October 9 — Jacob Carstensen, Danish swimmer
* October 9 — Kristy Kowal, American swimmer
* October 10 — Caroline Evers-Swindell, New Zealand rower
* October 14 — Paul Hunter, British snooker player
* October 16 — Andria Shannon, Canadian field hockey player
* October 19 — Ruslan Chagaev, Uzbek boxer
* October 20 — Virender Sehwag, Indian cricketer
* October 25 — Matt Shirvington, Australian athlete
* October 29 — Alwin de Prins, Luxembourgish swimmer
* October 31 — Emmanuel Izonritei, Nigerian boxer
* October 31 — Martin Verkerk, Dutch tennis player

November

* November 1 — Andrew Smith, Australian field hockey striker
* November 2 — Christian Gyan, Ghanaian football player
* November 2 — Alexander Östlund, Swedish football player
* November 6 — Dean Kent, New Zealand swimmer
* November 7 — Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Dutch football player
* November 8 — Tim de Cler, Dutch football player
* November 11 — Michael Halika, Israeli medley swimmer
* November 12 — Eric Addo, Ghanaian football player
* November 15 — Paul Miller, Australian boxer
* November 22 — Magdalena Grzybowska, Polish tennis player
* November 22 — Francis Obikwelu, Nigerian-born athlete
* November 27 — Radek Štěpánek, Czech tennis player
* November 30 — Chris Thompson, American freestyle swimmer

December

* December 2 — Sven Coster, Dutch sailor
* December 2 — Louisa Walter, German field hockey goalkeeper
* December 9 — Gaston Gaudio, Argentinian tennis player
* December 12 — Kassim Ouma, Ugandan boxer
* December 14 — Patty Schnyder, Swiss tennis player
* December 15 — Christophe Rochus, Belgian tennis player
* December 16 — Rachel Imison, Australian field hockey goalkeeper
* December 20 — Lechedzani Luza, Botswanan boxer
* December 21 — Emiliano Brembilla, Italian swimmer
* December 21 — Jackie Stiles, WNBA player
* December 22 — Kristal Timmer, Canadian field hockey player
* December 27 — Antje Buschschulte, German swimmer
* December 29 — Kieron Dyer, English football player
* December 29 — Wayne Fernandes, Canadian field hockey player
* December 29 — Brian Pinas, Dutch football player

Deaths

* January 13 — Joe McCarthy, baseball manager
* January 21 — Dit Clapper, NHL player, Boston Bruins
* March 20 — Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (b. 1895)
* March 27 — Sverre Farstad, Norwegian speed skater (b. 1920)
* September 3 — Alexander Belov (26), USSR Olympic basketball player
* September 15 — Ricardo Zamora (77), Spanish football player
* September 23 — Lyman Bostock, Major League Baseball player
* November 28 — Fernando Peyroteo (60), Angola-born Portuguese football player (b. 1918)

1978 in sports: Encyclopedia BETA

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