Austrian racing driver Niki Lauda wins the first of three Formula One world championship titles

The Swedish tennis player Björn Borg wins the first of five consecutive singles titles at Wimbledon

Liverpool football player Kevin Keegan begins six years as captain of England

19-year-old Spanish golfer Severiano Ballesteros ends the year as number one in Europe

Muhammad Ali is the first boxer to become world heavyweight champion three times, defeating Leon Spinks in a return match a year after losing the title

Czech-born US tennis player Martina Navratilova wins the first of nine singles titles at Wimbledon

English cricketer Ian Botham sets a new Test record, scoring a century and taking eight wickets against Pakistan at Lord's

Belgian cyclist Eddie Merckz retires after a 14-year career with a record 445 victories

20-year-old US tennis player John McEnroe wins the singles title in the US Open for the first of four times

US basketball champion Magic Johnson begins 12 years with the Los Angeles Lakers

British snooker player Steve Davis wins the first of six world championship titles

Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona is sold to Barcelona for a new record fee of about £3 million, almost double the highest previous figure

British skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean earn a perfect score for their Bolero programme in the Sarajevo winter Olympics

English athlete Daley Thompson sets an Olympic and world record in the decathlon at the Los Angeles Olympics

Diego Maradona is sold to Napoli for a new record fee of about £5 million, two years after being sold to Barcelona for £3 million

US sprinter and long-jumper Carl Lewis wins four gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics

Australian bowler Dennis Lillee's total of 351 Test wickets sets a new record

Ian Botham is the first player to achieve the double triple, with a total of more than 3000 runs and 300 wickets in Test cricket

17-year-old German tennis-player Boris Becker becomes the youngest ever to win the men's singles at Wimbledon

French racing driver Alain Prost wins the first of his four Formula One titles

22-year-old Gary Kasparov defeats Anatoly Karpov and becomes the youngest-ever world champion in chess

Argentina wins the World Cup quarter final against England with help from Maradona and 'the hand of God'

20-year-old US boxer Mike Tyson knocks out Trevor Berbick to become the youngest ever world heavyweight champion

18-year-old German tennis player Steffi Graf deposes Martina Navratilova as world no. 1

British golfer Nick Faldo wins the first of three victories in six years in the British Open