See also: 1995 in sports, other events of 1996, 1997 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • Dale Jarrett won the Daytona 500
• NASCAR Championship - Terry Labonte
  • Rusty Wallace wins the Suzuka NASCAR Thunder 100 at Suzuka City November 24, the first NASCAR event held in Japan.
• Indy Racing League - Mike Groff wins inaugural IRL championship
  • Indianapolis 500 - Buddy Lazier
• CART - 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 - Tommi Mäkinen won the World Rally Championship
  • 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

• January 8 - For the first time in 25 years, no one garners 75 percent of the votes needed to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Phil Niekro comes closest with 68 percent.

• 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

• April 1 - 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.

Cricket

• Cricket World Cup - Final: Sri Lanka beat Australia by 7 wickets

Cycling

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

Field Hockey

• December 7 - 15 - Champions Trophy held for the first time in India at Chennai.

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Todd Eldredge, United States
  • Women's champion: Michelle Kwan, United States
  • Pairs champions: Marina Eltsova & Sergei Bushkov , Russia

Football (Soccer)

• England - FA Cup: Manchester United won 1-0 over Liverpool
• Major League Soccer Kicks-Off: On April 6th an overflow crowd of 31,683 packed Spartan Stadium to witness the historic first game. San Jose Clash forward Eric Wynalda scored the league's first goal in a 1-0 victory over D. C. United.

Football (American)

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

Football (Australian Rules)

• Australian Football League
  • North Melbourne wins the 100th AFL premiership (North Melbourne 19.17 (131) d Sydney Swans 13.10 (88))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to James Hird (Essendon) and Michael Voss (Brisbane Bears)
  • At the end of the season Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears merge, forming the Brisbane Lions.

Football (Canadian)

• 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

• Major championship 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

• Tiger Woods became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. This was the sixth consecutive year in which he won a USGA championship, one short of Bobby Jones' record of seven. In September, he turned professional. In the last five regular tournaments of the year on the PGA TOUR, his finishes were 5-3-1-3-1, placing him among the tour's top 30 money-winners for the year and thereby qualifying him for the season-ending TOUR Championship. Woods was named the PGA TOUR's Rookie of the Year.

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 golf 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

• Breeders' Cup:
  1. Breeders' Cup Classic - Alphabet Soup
  2. Breeders' Cup Distaff - Jewel Princess
  3. Breeders' Cup Juvenile - Boston Harbor
  4. Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies - Storm Song
  5. Breeders' Cup Mile - Da Hoss
  6. Breeders' Cup Sprint - Lit de Justice
  7. Breeders' Cup Turf - Pilsudski

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

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: Stephen Hendry beats Peter Ebdon 18-12
• World rankings: Stephen Hendry remains world number one for 1996/97

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

• 1996 Summer Olympics takes place in Atlanta, United States
  • United States wins the most medals (101), and the most gold medals (44).

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
  • Jeff King wins with lead dogs: Jake & Booster

Births

Deaths

• May 11 - Rodney Culver , 26, San Diego Chargers running back, died in a plane crash
• October 12 - René Lacoste, champion tennis player