2002 in sports

Table of contents

1 Auto Racing 2 Baseball 3 Basketball 4 Boxing 5 Cricket 6 Cycling 7 Figure Skating 8 Football (Soccer) 9 Football (American) 10 Canadian Football League 11 Golf 12 Thoroughbred Horse Racing 13 Harness Racing 14 Ice Hockey 15 Lacrosse 16 Rugby Union 17 Skiing 18 Snooker 19 Tennis 20 General sporting events 21 Births 22 Deaths

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • Ward Burton wins the Daytona 500
  • NASCAR Championship - Tony Stewart
• Indy Racing League - Sam Hornish Jr wins the season championship.
• Indianapolis 500 - Hélio Castroneves
• |CART Racing - Cristiano da Matta wins the season championship.
• Formula One Championship - Michael Schumacher of Germany
• 24 hours of Le Mans won by the team of Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen, and Emanuele Pirro driving an Audi R8.
• V8 Supercar
  • Bathurst 1000 won by Mark Skaife and Jim Richards.
  • Championship won by Mark Skaife, from Greg Murphy and Marcos Ambrose.
• Rally racing:
  • the team of Tommi Mäkinen / Kaj Lindstrom wins the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Subaru Impreza WRC
  • Marcus Grönholm of Finland wins the World Rally Championship.
• Drag racing - Larry Dixon Jr wins the NHRA "Top Fuel" championship.

• World Series: Anaheim Angels win 4 games to 3 over the San Francisco Giants

• Books published:
  • Bill James, Win Shares: Presenting the sabermetrician's new system for evaluating player performance.

• January 20 - Michael Jordan, now of the Washington Wizards, plays his first game in Chicago since rejoining the NBA. The Wizards beat the Chicago Bulls, 77-69.

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • Maryland Terrapins win 64-52 over the Indiana Hoosiers

• NBA Finals:
  • Los Angeles Lakers win 4 games to 0 over the New Jersey Nets

• WNBA Finals
  • Los Angeles Sparks win 2 games to 0 over the New York Liberty

• June 21- Lennox Lewis retains boxing's WBC world Heavyweight crown with an eight round knockout over Mike Tyson

• New Zealand are forced to abandon their tour of Pakistan after a bomb explodes outside their hotel in Karachi
• Domestic competitions
  • County Championship (England and Wales) - Surrey

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Paolo Savoldelli of Italy
• Tour de France - Lance Armstrong of the United States
• World Cycling Championship: Mario Cipollini, of Italy

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Alexej Jagudin, Russia
  • Women's champion: Irina Slutskaja, Russia
  • Pairs champions: Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao, China

• The Football World Cup 2002 is held from May 31 to June 30 in South Korea and Japan. Brazil wins its fifth title, defeating Germany 2 - 0 in the final. Surprisingly, Turkey and host-nation South Korea take 3rd and 4th. This is the first time a World Cup is held in Asia and by two countries simultaneously.

• Champions' League: Real Madrid beats Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in the final. This was Real Madrid's 9th European Cup.

• UEFA Cup: Feyenoord wins 3-2 in the final against Borussia Dortmund, winning the cup for the second time.

• European Super Cup: Real Madrid wins 3-1 over Feyenoord, winning the cup for the first time.

• Intercontinental Cup: Real Madrid beats Olimpia Asunción 2-0, winning the cup for the third time.

• England - FA Cup: Arsenal wins 2-0 over Chelsea

• May - Arsenal wins The Double

• August 31 - Real Madrid signs Inter Milan's world cup winner Ronaldo with a transfer fee of 45 million euros.

• Super Bowl XXXVI: New England Patriots win 20-17 over the St. Louis Rams

• Arena Bowl XVI: San Jose SaberCats win 52-14 over the Arizona Rattlers

• Grey Cup: Montreal Alouettes win 25-16 over the Edmonton Eskimos
• Vanier Cup: Saint Mary's Huskies win 39-23 over the Saskatchewan Huskies

Men's Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May: The Masters - Tiger Woods
  2. June: US Open - Tiger Woods
  3. July: British Open - Ernie Els
  4. August: PGA Championship - Rich Beem

• Tiger Woods is the PGA tour's leading money winner for the year with earnings of $6,912,625 in 18 events.
• Hale Irwin is the leading money winner on the PGA Champions Tour with earnings of $$3,028,304 in 27 events.
• At the Belfry golf course in Sutton Coldfield, England, the European team defeats the United States team 15.5-12.5 to win the Ryder Cup of world golf.

• Kraft Nabisco Championship -
• US Women's Open - Juli Inkster
• LPGA Championship - Pak Se Ri
• Women's British Open - Karrie Webb
• Annika Sörenstam: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $2,863,904

• Australia - Melbourne Cup won by Media Puzzle
• Canada - Queen's Plate won by T J's Lucky Moon
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Marienbard
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - High Chaparral

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes won by Rock of Gibraltar
  2. Epsom Derby won by High Chaparral
  3. St. Leger Stakes won by Bollin Eric

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby won by War Emblem
  2. Preakness Stakes won by War Emblem
  3. Belmont Stakes won by Sarav

• Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships:
  1. Breeders' Cup Classic won by Volponi
  2. Breeders' Cup Distaff won by Azeri
  3. Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf won by Starine
  4. Breeders' Cup Juvenile won by Vindication
  5. Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies won by Storm Flag Flying
  6. Breeders' Cup Mile won by Domedriver
  7. Breeders' Cup Sprint won by Orientate
  8. Breeders' Cup Turf won by High Chaparral

• North America Cup - Red River Hanover

• United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace won by Art Major
  2. Little Brown Jug won by Million Dollar Cam
  3. Messenger Stakes won by Allamerican Ingot

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian won by Chip Chip Hooray
  2. Yonkers Trot won by Bubba Dunn
  3. Kentucky Futurity won by Like A Prayer

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Smooth Satin
  • Trotters: Game Bid

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames

• Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player:
  • Jose Theodore, Montreal Canadiens

• Stanley Cup: Detroit Red Wings win 4 games to 1 over the Carolina Hurricanes

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Slovakia defeats Russia
  • Junior Men's champion: Russia defeats Canada
  • Women's champion: no tournament

• Canada defeats the United States 5-2 to win the men's Olympic Gold Medal.

• Canada defeats the United States 3-2 to win the women's Olympic Gold Medal.

• Baltimore Bayhawks win the Major League Lacrosse championship over Long Island Lizards

• Six Nations - France (Grand Slam)
• Tri Nations - New Zealand
• Heineken Cup - Leicester Tigers beat Munster 15-9

• Alpine Skiing
  • The men's overall season champion: Stephan Eberharter, Austria
  • The women's overall season champion: Michaela Dorfmeister, Austria

• World Snooker Championship: Peter Ebdon beats Stephen Hendry 18-17
• World rankings: Ronnie O'Sullivan becomes world number one for 2002/03

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Thomas Johansson
  2. French Open - Albert Costa
  3. Wimbledon championships - Lleyton Hewitt
  4. US Open - Pete Sampras

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Jennifer Capriati
  2. French Open - Serena Williams
  3. Wimbledon championships - Venus Williams
  4. US Open - Serena Williams

• At the Palais Omnisports Paris Bercy, in Paris, France, Russia defeats France 3-2 to win the Davis Cup of world tennis.

General sporting events

• 2002 Winter Olympics takes place in Salt Lake City, United States
  • Norway wins the most medals (25), and the most gold medals (13).
  • Top performers include Janica Kostelic, Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Simon Ammann. A scandal in figure skating dominates the news.

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
  • Martin Buser wins with lead dog Bronson

• March 23 - Ben Hollioake, English cricket player

• April 16 - Franz Krienbühl, Swiss speed skater

• May 23 - Sam Snead, U.S golf player

• June 1 - Hansie Cronje, South African cricket player

• June 17 - Willie Davenport, U.S hurdler

• June 20 - Tinus Osendarp, Dutch sprinter

• June 22 - Pedro Alcazar, Panamanian boxer

• June 22: St. Louis pitcher Darryl Kile is found dead in his hotel room prior to scheduled game against the Cubs. His room is locked from the inside and he is believed to have died in his sleep. He was 33.

• July 5 - Ted Williams, great U.S baseball player (1939-1960)

• August 5 - Darrell Porter, U.S baseball player (1971-1987)

• August 12 - Enos Slaughter, Major League Baseball player (1938-1959)

• August 23 - Hoyt Wilhelm, Major League Baseball knuckleballer (1952-1972)

• September 11 - Johnny Unitas, U.S American football player

• September 18 - Bob Hayes, U.S sprinter and American football player

• October 20 - Mel Harder, Major League Baseball player, (1928-1947)

• December 1 - Dave McNally, Major League Baseball pitcher, (1962-1975)