Here are the sporting highlights of the world of sport in 1996. See the Top Earners for 1996. The major event of this year in sport was the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta USA.
The year of the Olympics, which did not offer anything out of the ordinary, remains in memory for an unfortunate incident. On July 27th, Centennial Olympic Park was bombed which resulted in one death and 111 injuries. Fortunately many were evacuated before the bomb exploded which averted a major disaster.
It is a surprising fact that, Major League Baseball, which has been in existence for well over 100 years, did not allow Interleague play until it was decided by unanimously decision by team owners on Jan 18th to start Interleague play from 1997. Up until that, the American League teams and the National League teams never played each other except in the World Series.
Boris Becker won the Australian Open title for the second time which was also his sixth and final grand slam title. The year's Australian Open win gave Monica Seles her 9th and final title. Steffi Graf continued her dominance in women's tennis by winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. In a shocker, Pete Sampras who dominated the Wimbledon Championships from 1993 to 2000 lost his only Wimbledon match in this period to Richard Krajicek, who went on to win his only grand slam title of his career.
The Chicago Bulls had a season unlike any other winning 72 games. The feat has never happened before and has not happened in the two decades since. At the time when this article was written in March 2016, the Golden State Warriors were 64-7, making it very much possible for them to surpass the record.
The Tour de France was won by Bjarne Riis, though he later admitted to the use of doping during the Tour. The Tour de France organizers have stated they no longer consider him to be the winner, although Union Cycliste Internationale has so far refused to change the official status due to the amount of time passed since his win. Jan Ullrich was placed second.
In English football, Manchester United became the first club to win the Double twice (league title and FA Cup) when they clinched a record ninth FA Cup.
The US golf masters will be remmebered for the choking of player Greg Norman, who went into the final round with a six shot lead, and had one of the worst meltdowns in major championship history. Nick Faldo went on to win by 5 strokes.
At least 83 people were killed and more than 140 injured in a stampede just prior to a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification match between Guatemala and Costa Rica at Estadio Nacional Mateo Flores. An excessive number of fans attempted to enter the General Sur section, creating a human avalanche into the bottom of the stands, which is separated from the field by a fence.
See some videos from the world of sport in 1996. Below is a timeline of some significant results in the world of sport for the year 1996.
Date | Results |
---|---|
Jan | Tennis Australia Open won by Boris Becker and Monica Seles |
Jan | Super Bowl held in Tempe won by Dallas Cowboys |
April | Golf Masters won by Nick Faldo (3rd win) |
May | Tennis French Open won by Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Steffi Graf |
June | Golf US Open won by Steve Jones |
July | the 1996 Cycling Tour de France was won by Bjarne Riis |
July | Tennis Wimbledon won by Richard Krajicek and Steffi Graf |
July | Golf The Open Championship won by Tom Lehman |
Jul 19 - Aug 9 | Summer Olympic Games were held in Atlanta, USA |
Aug | Golf US PGA won by Mark Brooks |
Sep | Tennis US Open won by Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf |
Oct | The Baseball World Series won by New York Yankees |
Please note that the dates for past events are not always known, and are sometimes just placed in the month that the current event is held. If no exact date is listed, then it is just an estimated month that it was held.
If you have a correction or know of events that should be included here, please let me know.
Related Pages
- Ballon D'or Winners for 1996
- Timeline (all years) in the world of sport
- For future sporting events, see the Calendar of Major Sporting Events
- More about the World of Sport
Old Comments
- What happened with NBA in 1996.. Michael Jordan ? (from Dom'monique, Sept 2012)