2006 in sports

Scheduled events

Athletics

London Marathon
- Men's - Felix Limo, IKenya, 2:06.39
- Women's - Deena Kastor, USA, 2:19:35
May 12 - Justin Gatlin equals the 100m world record. During a race in Doha, Qatar, Gatlin reached a time of 9.77 seconds, equalling Asafa Powell's time. Gatlin was initially given a time of 9.76, that would be a new record, but few days later the time was corrected to 9.77
June 11 - Asafa Powell equalled the 100m world record once again, as he ran the distance in 9.77 seconds at Gateshead, England

Auto Racing

NASCAR — Main articles: 2006 in NASCAR, 2006 in NASCAR Busch Series, 2006 in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
- Daytona 500 — Won by Jimmie Johnson in the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet.
- Coca-Cola 600 — Won by Kasey Kahne in the #9 Dodge.

Indy Racing League — Main article: 2006 in IRL
- March 26: Paul Dana is killed and Ed Carpenter is injured in an accident during the final practice before the Toyota Indy 300. Dana's teammates, Buddy Rice and Danica Patrick, withdraw from the race following the crash.
- Indianapolis 500 — Won by Sam Hornish, Jr..

Formula One - Main article: 2006 Formula One season

Baseball

March 20: Japan wins the first World Baseball Classic, defeating Cuba 10-6 in the championship game.
May 28 - Barry Bonds hits his 715th career home run in a 6-3 home loss to the Colorado Rockies, passing Babe Ruth for second place on the career list and setting a new record for left-handed hitters.

Basketball

College basketball

Men's

March 30: The University of South Carolina wins its second straight NIT title, defeating the University of Michigan 76-64.
April 3: The University of Florida wins its first ever NCAA title, defeating UCLA 73-57.

Women's

April 4: The University of Maryland wins its first ever NCAA women's title, defeating Duke 78-75 in overtime.

Professional competitions

Chinese Basketball Association

Guangdong Southern Tigers defeat Bayi Rockets (4-1) in finals.

National Basketball Association

January 22: Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant scores 81 points in a win over the Toronto Raptors, becoming only the second player in league history to score at least 80 points in one game. It was the second highest individual point total in NBA history (Second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point performance).

June 20th: Miami Heat defeat the Dallas Mavericks in 6 games in the NBA Finals series. Finals MVP Dwyane Wade rallied four consecutive 35-point games to come back from a two games to none deficit and win four straight.

Euroleague

April 30: Russian power CSKA Moscow dethrones the two-time defending Euroleague champions Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) 73-69 at Sazka Arena in Prague. This is CSKA's fifth title in the competition, but first since 1971. Third place goes to TAU Cerámica, which defeated FC Barcelona 87-82 in an all-Spanish affair.

LNB - Pro A (France)

June 18: Le Mans SB defeat the SLUC Nancy 93-88 in the Pro A Final.

Philippine Basketball Association

February 19: Red Bull Barako defeats the Purefoods Chunkee Giants, 4 games to 2 in the Fiesta Conference Finals.

Super League (Israël)

June 8: Maccabi Tel Aviv defeat Hapoel Jerusalem 96-66 in the Super League Final.

Boxing

January 7 - Carlos Manuel Baldomir upsets Zab Judah by unanimous decision and is crowned world welterweight champion by the WBC.
March 3 - Welshman Joe Calzaghe defeats American Jeff Lacy by landslide unanimous decision for the WBO-IBF super middleweight title unification. Calzaghe's stellar performance propelled him to #9 in Ring Magazine's pound for pound list.
March 25 - Edwin Valero's record streak of 18 consecutive first-round knockouts ends when Genaro Trazancos survives until the second round.
April 1 - Sergei Liakhovich wins the WBO world heavyweight title from Lamon Brewster by unanimous decision.
April 8 - Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeats Zab Judah by unanimous decision to win the IBF welterweight title. A mini-riot ensued as Roger Mayweather, Floyd's uncle and trainer, runs into the ring retaliating to a low blow and rabbit punch by Judah. The fight resumed and Mayweather won by decision.
April 22 - Wladimir Klitschko wins the IBF world heavyweight title from Chris Byrd by TKO in round 7.
April 29 - Acelino Freitas defeats Zahir Raheem for the vacant WBO lightweight title by split decision.
May 6 - Oscar de la Hoya returns from a 20-month break and defeats Ricardo Mayorga for the WBC super welterweight title.
May 20 - Marco Antonio Barrera defeats Rocky Juarez by split decision. Juarez was very competitive throughout the fight breaking Barrera's nose in the early rounds. The fight was originally announced as a draw until it was later revealed that there were two scorecard tabilation errors.
June 10 - Bernard Hopkins defeats Antonio Tarver by unanimous to take the light heavyweight world championship.

Cricket

See International cricket in 2005-06, 2005-06 Australian cricket season and 2005-06 West Indian cricket season

Football (American)

BCS Bowl Games

Day	Score	Winner	Loser	Event
January 2	34 - 20	Ohio State	Notre Dame	Fiesta Bowl
January 2	38 - 35	West Virginia	Georgia	Sugar Bowl
January 3	28 - 26 (3 OT)	Penn State	Florida State	Orange Bowl
January 4	41 - 38	Texas Longhorns	USC Trojans	Rose Bowl (National Championship)

NFL Playoffs

February 5: The Pittsburgh Steelers win Super Bowl XL at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, defeating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10.

Pro Football Hall of Fame

Reggie White, Troy Aikman, John Madden, Warren Moon, Harry Carson, and Rayfield Wright are elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Football (soccer)

Events

January 1 - Australia officially leaves the Oceania Football Confederation and joins the Asian Football Confederation.

International tournaments

January 20-February 10: 2006 African Cup of Nations
June 9-July 9: 2006 FIFA World Cup

Major national championships

Argentina Primera División - Boca Juniors (Clausura)
Brazil Campeonato Brasileiro - To be determined
England Premiership -
France Ligue 1 - Lyon
Germany Bundesliga - Bayern Munich
Italy Serie A - No champion. initially won the league, but was later stripped of the title due to involvement in the 2006 Serie A scandal.
Spain La Liga - FC Barcelona

Golf

For fuller coverage see 2006 in golf.

Men's major championships

6-9 April: The Masters — Phil Mickelson wins by two shots to claim his second green jacket and third major victory.
15-18 June: U.S. Open — Geoff Ogilvy wins his first major, defeating Phil Mickelson and two others by one shot after a historic collapse by Mickelson, who had led by two shots going into the final two holes.
20-23 July: The Open Championship (British Open)
17-20 August: PGA Championship

Tour money list / order of merit winners:

PGA Tour - Current money list
European Tour - Current order of merit
Japan Golf Tour - Current money list
Asian Tour - Current order of merit
PGA Tour of Australasia - Current order of merit
Sunshine Tour - Charl Schwartzel of South Africa topped the 2005-6 Order of Merit with earnings of 1,207,459.70 South African Rand. full list.

Team event

22-24 September: Ryder Cup

LPGA majors

30 March - 2 April: Kraft Nabisco Championship - Australia's Karrie Webb defeated 18, 36 and 54 hole leader Lorena Ochoa in a playoff to claim her seventh major championship. Ochoa had shot a 62 in the first round, setting a tournament record and equalling the record low score in an LPGA major.
8-11 June: LPGA Championship - Se Ri Pak defeated Karrie Webb in a playoff to claim her third LPGA Championship and fifth major title

29 June - 2 July: U.S. Women's Open
3-6 August: Weetabix Women's British Open

Ice Hockey

19 June: Stanley Cup Finals The Carolina Hurricanes defeat the Edmonton Oilers 4 games to 3 to win the Stanley Cup

Ice skating

Long track speed skating

European Championships, Hamar, Norway:
- Men allround: Enrico Fabris, Italy 151.523 points (36.75–1:47.57–6:24.33–13:29.69)
- Ladies allround: Claudia Pechstein, Germany 163.159 points (39.60–1:58.04–4:08.47–7:08.02)
World Sprint Championships, Heerenveen, Netherlands:
- Men: Joey Cheek, United States 139.990 points (35.19–1:09.25–35.09–1:10.17)
- Ladies: Svetlana Zhurova, Russia 153.625 points (38.35–1:17.20–38.28–1:16.79)
World Allround Championships, Calgary, Canada:
- Men: Shani Davis, United States 145.742 points (35.17–1:42.68–6:10.49–13:05.94)

- Ladies: Cindy Klassen, Canada 154.580 points (37.51–1:51.85–3:53.34–6:48.97)

Olympics

See: 2006 Winter Olympics

Rugby union

France win the 2006 Six Nations Championship
Sale Sharks win the Guinness Premiership
London Wasps win the 2005-06 Powergen Cup
Ulster win the Celtic League
New Zealand win gold at the Rugby Sevens event at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
Munster win the 2005-06 Heineken Cup
The Crusaders win the Super 14 final in foggy conditions.
Fiji win the 2005-06 World Sevens Series, becoming the first team other than New Zealand to win the overall crown in the seven-year history of the World Sevens Series.

Ski jumping

Four Hills Tournament: Janne Ahonen and Jakub Janda are joint winners, for the first time in the tournament's 54-year history.
Ski-flying World Championships:
- Gold: Roar Ljøkelsøy, Norway 788.0 points (Distances in metres: 202.5–207.5–190–207.5)
- Silver: Andreas Widhölzl, Austria 762.4 points (205–182.5–191–208.5)
- Bronze: Thomas Morgenstern, Austria 752.2 points (195.5–195.5–182–210)

Tennis

Australian Open

16 January to 29 January. See 2006 Australian Open for details.
- Men's Singles: Roger Federer of Switzerland d. Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2.
- Women's Singles: Amélie Mauresmo of France d. Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, 6-1, 2-0 ret.

French Open

28 May to 11 June. See 2006 French Open for details.
- Men's Singles: Rafael Nadal of Spain d. Roger Federer of Switzerland, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
- Women's Singles: Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium d. Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, 6-4, 6-4.

Wimbledon

26 June till 9 July. See 2006 Wimbledon for details.
- Men's Singles: Roger Federer of Switzerland d. Rafael Nadal of Spain, 6-0, 7-6(7-5), 6-7(2-7), 6-3.
- Women's Singles: Amélie Mauresmo of France d. Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

US Open

- Men's Singles:
- Women's Singles:

News

Andre Agassi will retire after U.S. Open.

Deaths

January-March

January 4 — Steve Rogers, 51, Australian rugby league player and CEO of the Cronulla Sharks
January 5 — Rod Dedeaux, 91, American college baseball coach
January 8 — Elson Becerra, 27, Colombian football (soccer) player (murdered)
January 9 — Jack Snow, 62, American football player
January 11 — Eric Namesnik, 35, American swimmer
January 14 — Bubba Morton, 79, MLB outfielder and college baseball coach
January 19 — Geoff Rabone 84, New Zealand cricketer
January 19 — Tom Nugent, 92, American college football coach and sportscaster; inventor of the I formation
January 22 — Alec Coxon, 90, English cricketer
February 3 — Johnny Vaught, 96, American college football coach
February 9 — Ron Greenwood, 84, English football (soccer) player and manager
February 16 — Ernie Stautner, 80, German-American football player
February 17 — Roy Chapman, 79, American racehorse owner (Smarty Jones)
February 20 — Curt Gowdy, 86, American sports broadcaster
February 23 — Telmo Zarraonaindía, 85, Spanish footballer
March 1 — Peter Osgood, 59, English football (soccer) player
March 4 — Roman Ogaza, 53, Polish football (soccer) player
March 6 — Kirby Puckett, 45, American baseball player (Minnesota Twins) (stroke)
March 8 — Teresa Ciepły, 68, Polish sprinter and hurdler (b. 1937)
March 11 — Bernie Geoffrion, 75, Canadian ice hockey player
March 11 — Jesús Miguel Rollán, 37, Spanish water polo goalkeeper
March 12 — Jonatan Johansson, 26, Swedish snowboarder
March 15 — Red Storey, 88, Canadian pro football player and ice hockey referee
March 17 — Ray Meyer, 92, American college basketball coach
March 26 — Paul Dana, 30, American Indy Racing League Driver (On-track crash)

April-June

April 6 — Maggie Dixon, 28, American women's college basketball coach (Army)
April 9 — Billy Hitchcock, 89, American baseball player and manager
April 9 — Jimmy Outlaw, 93, a MLB third baseman/outfielder
May 3 — Earl Woods, 72, father of Tiger Woods (b. 1932)
May 11 — Floyd Patterson, 71, American heavyweight boxing champion (b. 1935)
May 26 — Ted Schroeder, 84, American tennis player
June 5 — Eric Gregg, 55, National League umpire