80s Sports Trivia
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8correct to beat the crowd
69 free 80s Sports trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This 80s sports trivia quiz runs year by year through the decade, from the Miracle on Ice at Lake Placid in February 1980 to the earthquake that stopped the 1989 World Series. In between are the two Olympic boycotts, Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton in Los Angeles, Ben Johnson and Flo-Jo in Seoul, Eddie the Eagle in Calgary, and the Torvill and Dean Boléro. The American pro sports questions cover the 1985 Bears, The Catch, Buckner's error, Kirk Gibson's homer, the Gretzky trade, Showtime and the Bad Boys. There is plenty from outside the US too: Maradona's Hand of God, Boris Becker's Wimbledon at 17, Steffi Graf's Golden Slam, Europe's first Ryder Cup, Australia II ending a 132-year streak, and Greg LeMond's eight-second Tour de France. Every answer has been checked against a Wikipedia article on the event or athlete, and each explanation adds one detail worth remembering.
30 of 69 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The 'Miracle on Ice' saw the US beat which country in ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics?
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union had won the last four Olympic golds and had routed the same US team 10-3 in an exhibition days earlier; the Americans still had to beat Finland two days later to clinch the gold.
Q 02Which broadcaster asked 'Do you believe in miracles?' as the 1980 US hockey upset ended?
Al Michaels
Al Michaels got the assignment because he was the only ABC announcer who had ever called a hockey game, and only one: at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo.
Q 03Which American speed skater won five individual gold medals at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics?
Eric Heiden
Eric Heiden swept the men's speed skating golds at Lake Placid in 1980, winning every event from the 500 to the 10,000 metres with an Olympic record in each; he later became an orthopedic surgeon.
Q 04Why did the United States boycott the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics?
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
The US led a boycott in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979; President Carter even sent Muhammad Ali on a diplomatic tour of Africa to rally support.
Q 05Which British runner beat Sebastian Coe to win the 800 metres at the 1980 Moscow Olympics?
Steve Ovett
Steve Ovett, the favourite for the 1,500 m, instead beat Sebastian Coe over 800 m in Moscow; days later Coe turned the tables and won the 1,500 m.
Q 06Why was Rosie Ruiz stripped of her 1980 Boston Marathon win eight days later?
She had not run the entire course
Investigators concluded she had not run the entire course, having jumped in near the finish; New York officials then found she had also cheated in the 1979 NYC Marathon that qualified her for Boston.
Q 07Which rookie replaced the injured Kareem at center and scored 42 to clinch the 1980 NBA Finals?
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson, a 20-year-old point guard, started at center in Game 6 in Philadelphia and played every position, finishing with 42 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists to be named Finals MVP.
Q 08Who won the 1980 Wimbledon final in five sets after losing an 18-16 fourth-set tiebreak to John McEnroe?
Björn Borg
Björn Borg let five match points slip in that 34-point tiebreak, then won the fifth set 8-6 for his fifth straight Wimbledon title; McEnroe beat him in the final a year later.
Q 09Which Dodgers rookie pitcher won both the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year in 1981?
Fernando Valenzuela
Fernando Valenzuela's screwball and eight shutouts in 1981 set off 'Fernandomania' at Dodger Stadium; he became the first player to win the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year in one season.
Q 10Who caught 'The Catch', Joe Montana's winning pass in the January 1982 NFC Championship?
Dwight Clark
Dwight Clark leapt to pull in Montana's pass at the back of the end zone with 51 seconds left; the 49ers beat Dallas 28-27 and won their first Super Bowl two weeks later.
Q 11Which Oakland outfielder stole a modern-record 130 bases in 1982, breaking Lou Brock's single-season mark?
Rickey Henderson
Rickey Henderson passed Lou Brock's 118 from 1974, but the running had a cost: he was also caught stealing 42 times that year, a single-season record of its own.
Q 12Which country won the 1982 FIFA World Cup, beating West Germany 3-1 in Madrid?
Italy
Italy drew all three first-round games; then Paolo Rossi, just back from a two-year ban over a betting scandal, scored six goals in the last three matches to win the title.
Q 13Which Georgia running back won the 1982 Heisman Trophy before jumping to the USFL's New Jersey Generals?
Herschel Walker
Q 21Which Warsaw Pact country defied the Eastern Bloc boycott and competed at Los Angeles in 1984?
Romania
Romania was the only Warsaw Pact member to send a team to Los Angeles in 1984; its athletes got a standing ovation at the opening ceremony and finished second in the gold-medal table.
Q 22Who was taken first overall in the 1984 NBA draft, two picks ahead of Michael Jordan?
Hakeem Olajuwon
Hakeem Olajuwon went to Houston, which won a coin flip for the top pick; Portland, which already had guard Clyde Drexler, took center Sam Bowie second and left Michael Jordan for Chicago.
Q 23Which team beat the Redskins 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII in January 1984?
Los Angeles Raiders
Herschel Walker won the 1982 Heisman at Georgia and signed with the USFL's New Jersey Generals in 1983; his 1989 trade from Dallas to Minnesota is credited with building the Cowboys' 1990s dynasty.
Q 14Which team's 1983 NCAA title ended with Lorenzo Charles's buzzer-beating dunk and Jim Valvano running around the court?
NC State
NC State's Wolfpack beat Houston's 'Phi Slama Jama' 54-52 when Lorenzo Charles dunked Dereck Whittenburg's 30-foot airball at the buzzer.
Q 15Australia II ended the New York Yacht Club's 132-year hold on which trophy in 1983?
The America's Cup
Australia II won the America's Cup 4-3 off Newport, Rhode Island, with skipper John Bertrand rallying from 3-1 down against Dennis Conner's Liberty.
Q 16Where were the 1984 Winter Olympics held?
Sarajevo
Sarajevo, then in Yugoslavia, hosted the 1984 Winter Games; many of its venues were wrecked in the Bosnian War that began in 1992.
Q 17Which ice dancers earned perfect 6.0 artistic scores from every judge at the 1984 Winter Olympics?
Torvill and Dean
Torvill and Dean had been an insurance clerk and a policeman in Nottingham until city grants let them skate full-time; their Boléro drew 6.0 for artistic impression from all nine judges.
Q 18Carl Lewis won four gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, matching whose 1936 feat?
Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens won the same four events in Berlin: the 100 m, 200 m, long jump and 4x100 m relay. Lewis was also drafted in 1984 by the Chicago Bulls and the Dallas Cowboys, though he played neither sport in college.
Q 19Who became the first American woman to win the Olympic gymnastics all-around title in 1984?
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton, 16, needed a perfect 10 on her final vault to overtake Ecaterina Szabo, got it, and won the all-around by 0.05 points in Los Angeles.
Q 20Which event made its Olympic debut in 1984 and was won by Joan Benoit?
The women's marathon
The women's marathon was new to the Games in 1984; Joan Benoit pulled away at the three-mile mark, nobody followed, and she won by more than a minute, months after knee surgery.
The Los Angeles Raiders routed Washington 38-9 in Tampa; Marcus Allen ran for 191 yards and was MVP, and Apple aired its famous '1984' Macintosh commercial during the broadcast.
Q 24Doug Flutie's 'Hail Mary' pass in November 1984 beat which team?
Miami
Gerard Phelan caught Flutie's 48-yard heave as time expired to beat Miami 47-45 in the Orange Bowl, stunning Bernie Kosar's defending champion Hurricanes.
Q 25Which eighth-seeded team upset Georgetown 66-64 in the 1985 NCAA final?
Villanova
Villanova, coached by Rollie Massimino, shot 22 of 28 from the field to beat Patrick Ewing's Georgetown 66-64 in Lexington; no lower seed had ever won the title.
Q 26Which challenger did Marvin Hagler knock out in the third round of 'The War', their 1985 middleweight title fight?
Thomas Hearns
Thomas Hearns broke his right hand in a furious first round and was stopped in the third; The Ring called it 'the most electrifying eight minutes ever' and named it fight of the year.
Q 27Who became the youngest ever men's Wimbledon singles champion in 1985 at age 17?
Boris Becker
Boris Becker was ranked 20th when Wimbledon seeded only 16 players, so his win over Kevin Curren made him the first unseeded men's champion, and the first German one.
Q 28Pete Rose broke whose all-time hits record in September 1985?
Ty Cobb
Hit number 4,192, a single off San Diego's Eric Show at Riverfront Stadium, passed Ty Cobb's 4,191; four years later Rose was banned for gambling.
Q 29Team Europe won the Ryder Cup for the first time in 1985 at which English course?
The Belfry
Tony Jacklin's Europe beat the US 16½–11½ at The Belfry in Warwickshire in 1985, Europe's first win; two years later at Muirfield Village they became the first visiting side to win on American soil.
Q 30Which umpire made the blown first-base call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series?
Don Denkinger
Don Denkinger called Jorge Orta safe at first in the ninth inning of Game 6; St. Louis lost that game and then Game 7 11-0, and the call became Cardinals lore.