1980s Sports Trivia
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60 free 1980s Sports trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The 1980s in sport opened with a bunch of American college kids beating the Soviet hockey machine at Lake Placid and closed with an earthquake stopping the World Series, and this 1980s sports trivia quiz covers everything in between: the boycotted Moscow and Los Angeles Olympics, Carl Lewis matching Jesse Owens, Mary Lou Retton, Ben Johnson's 9.79 and the stanozolol test in Seoul, Flo-Jo's records and Steffi Graf's Golden Slam. There are questions on the 1985 Bears and the Super Bowl Shuffle, The Catch and Hail Flutie, Dan Marino's 48 touchdowns, Wayne Gretzky's trade to Los Angeles, Bird and Magic, Michael Jordan's draft and banned sneakers, Villanova and NC State's upsets, Bill Buckner, Kirk Gibson's home run, Pete Rose's ban, Maradona's Hand of God, Mike Tyson, No Más, Hagler-Hearns, Boris Becker, Navratilova, Nicklaus at 46, Greg LeMond's eight seconds, Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsled team. Easy questions open each sport, deeper cuts follow. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on the events and athletes, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Miracle on Ice took place at which 1980 Winter Olympics?
Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York, hosted the 1980 Winter Olympics, where a US team of college players beat the Soviet Union 4-3 on 22 February 1980.
Q 02Which broadcaster asked "Do you believe in miracles?" as the clock ran out on the US-Soviet game?
Al Michaels
Al Michaels, calling the game for ABC, shouted 'Do you believe in miracles? Yes!' as the final seconds of the 4-3 win ran out.
Q 03Which team did the US have to beat after the Soviets to clinch the 1980 hockey gold?
Finland
The US beat Finland 4-2 on 24 February 1980, scoring three third-period goals after trailing 2-1, to take the gold ahead of the Soviet Union.
Q 04Why did the United States and 65 other countries boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics?
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
President Carter led the boycott after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979; the Soviet Union answered by boycotting Los Angeles in 1984.
Q 05How many Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics?
14
14 countries, led by the Soviet Union and East Germany, stayed away from Los Angeles in 1984; Romania was the only Warsaw Pact member to attend.
Q 06Whose 1936 feat of four track and field golds did Carl Lewis match in Los Angeles in 1984?
Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens won the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay at Berlin in 1936; Lewis took the same four events in Los Angeles 48 years later.
Q 07Which event was held for women for the first time at the 1984 Olympics?
The marathon
The women's marathon debuted at Los Angeles in 1984; American Joan Benoit won it in 2:24:52, with Norway's Grete Waitz second.
Q 08Who became the first American woman to win the Olympic gymnastics all-around title in 1984?
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton, a 16-year-old from Fairmont, West Virginia, scored a perfect 10 on the vault to win the 1984 all-around by 0.05 points.
Q 09Barefoot runner Zola Budd famously tangled with which American in the 1984 Olympic 3,000m?
Mary Decker
Mary Decker, the reigning world 1,500m and 3,000m champion, fell after tangling with Budd, and Romania's Maricica Puica went on to win the race.
Q 10Which drug did Ben Johnson test positive for after winning the Seoul 1988 100m in a world-record 9.79?
Stanozolol
Johnson's sample showed the anabolic steroid stanozolol; he was stripped of the gold and the 9.79 record, and Carl Lewis was awarded the title.
Q 11Florence Griffith Joyner ran a world-record 21.34 seconds in 1988 over which distance?
200m
Griffith Joyner ran 21.34 in the 200m final at Seoul on 29 September 1988, a world record; her 100m mark of 10.49 came at the US trials that July.
Q 12What did Steffi Graf achieve in 1988 that no tennis player had before?
The Golden Slam: all four majors plus Olympic gold in one year
Tennis had only just returned to the Olympics in Seoul.
Q 13How old was Boris Becker when he became the youngest men's Wimbledon champion in 1985?
17
Becker was 17 years and 227 days old when he beat Kevin Curren in the 1985 final, also becoming the first unseeded champion and the first German winner.
Q 21What was the 1985 Chicago Bears' regular-season record?
15-1
The Bears went 15-1 in 1985, their only loss coming 38-24 at Miami on Monday Night Football, which kept the 1972 Dolphins' perfect season unmatched.
Q 22By what score did the Bears win Super Bowl XX?
46-10
The Bears beat New England 46-10 in New Orleans on 26 January 1986; the 36-point margin stood as a Super Bowl record until the 49ers' 55-10 win four years later.
Q 23Who caught "The Catch" from Joe Montana in the January 1982 NFC Championship Game?
Dwight Clark
Dwight Clark leapt to take Montana's 6-yard pass at the back of the end zone with 51 seconds left, giving the 49ers a 28-27 win over Dallas on 10 January 1982.
Q 14How many consecutive singles majors did Martina Navratilova win across 1983 and 1984?
6
Navratilova won 6 straight majors: Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open in 1983, then the French, Wimbledon and the US Open in 1984, before Helena Sukova stopped her in Melbourne.
Q 15Against which country did Diego Maradona score the Hand of God goal in 1986?
England
Maradona punched the ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton in the Mexico City quarter-final of 22 June 1986, then scored the Goal of the Century four minutes later.
Q 16Which England striker won the Golden Boot at the 1986 World Cup with six goals?
Gary Lineker
Gary Lineker scored six goals at Mexico 1986, including a hat-trick against Poland, to win the Golden Boot and earn a move to Barcelona.
Q 17How old was Mike Tyson when he became the youngest heavyweight champion in history in 1986?
20
Tyson was 20 years and 4 months old when he stopped Trevor Berbick in two rounds on 22 November 1986 to take the WBC title.
Q 18How long did Tyson need to knock out Michael Spinks in 1988?
91 seconds
Tyson knocked Spinks out in 91 seconds of the first round at Atlantic City on 27 June 1988, adding Spinks's lineal title to his undisputed belts.
Q 19Which boxer turned away and quit in the eighth round of the 1980 "No Más" fight?
Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán turned away saying 'no más' in the eighth round at the New Orleans Superdome on 25 November 1980, five months after beating Leonard in Montreal.
Q 20The 1985 middleweight fight known as "The War" lasted how many rounds?
3
Marvin Hagler stopped Thomas Hearns in what are often called the greatest three rounds in boxing.
Q 24Doug Flutie's 1984 Hail Mary pass beat which defending national champion?
Miami
Boston College beat Miami 47-45 at the Orange Bowl on 23 November 1984 when Gerard Phelan caught Flutie's 48-yard heave as time expired.
Q 25How many touchdown passes did Dan Marino throw in his record 1984 season?
48
Marino threw 48 touchdown passes and 5,084 yards in 1984; Peyton Manning finally broke the touchdown mark with 49 in 2004.
Q 26To which team was Wayne Gretzky traded on August 9, 1988?
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings sent Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, three first-round picks and US$15 million to Edmonton for Gretzky, Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski.
Q 27How many Stanley Cups did Gretzky win with the Edmonton Oilers?
4
Gretzky captained Edmonton to 4 Stanley Cups, in 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1988; the Oilers won a fifth in 1990 without him.
Q 28Larry Bird won three consecutive NBA MVP awards in which years?
1984 to 1986
Bird took the MVP in 1984, 1985 and 1986, matching the three straight awards of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, who were both centres.
Q 29How many NBA titles did Magic Johnson win with the Showtime Lakers?
5
Magic Johnson won 5 titles with the Lakers, in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988, taking Finals MVP as a rookie in 1980.
Q 30Which two players were drafted ahead of Michael Jordan in 1984?
Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie
Houston took Hakeem Olajuwon first after winning a coin flip, and Portland chose Sam Bowie second with a pick acquired from Indiana; Chicago took Jordan third.