| January 1 | International Year of Elderly |
| January 1 | Rose Bowl, Wisconsin Badgers beat UCLA Bruins 38 - 31 |
| January 7 | Senate begins to try President Clinton on lying under oath and obstruction of justice in the Lewisnky case |
| January 25 | Earthquake kills about 1,185 in Armenia, Colombia |
| January 31 | Super Bowl XXXIII, Pro Player Stadium, Miami, Denver Broncos beat Atlanta Falcons 34-19 |
| February 12 | Senate acquits President Clinton of lying under oath and obstruction of justice in the Lewinski case |
| February 24 | 41st Grammy Awards, Celine Dion, Lauryn Hill and Eric Clapton win major awards |
| March 15 | Pluto again becomes outermost planet |
| March 21 | 71st Academy Awards Oscar Ceremony, Whoopi Goldberg hosts, Shakespeare in Love wins Best Picture, Roberto Benigni and Gwyneth Paltrow win lead acting awards |
| March 28 | 18th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: at San Jose |
| March 29 | 61st NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: at ThunderDome St. Petersburg |
| April 11 | 63rd Golf Masters Championship: |
| April 20 | Two disaffected students brought guns to their high school in Columbine, Colorado and murdered twelve students, one teacher and then killed themselves |
| May 1 | 125th Kentucky Derby |
| May 9 | During a bombing run over Belgrade, NATO accidentally bombs the Chinese embassy, killing four which launches massive protests throughout China |
| May 15 | 125th Preakness |
| May 16 | 125th Preakness |
| June 19 | Stanley Cup Finals, Dallas Stars beat Buffalo Sabres 4 games to 2 |
| June 20 | 99th U.S. Golf Open: at Pinehurst CC New Jersey |
| June 25 | NBA Finals, San Antonio Spurs beat New York Knicks 4 games to 1 |
| July 4 | Wimbledon Men's Doubles Finals, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes beat |
| July 4 | Wimbledon Men's Finals, Pete Sampras beat Andre Agassi |
| July 4 | Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Finals, Leander Paes and Lisa Raymond beat |
| July 4 | Wimbledon Women's Doubles Finals, Lindsay Davenport and Corina Morariu beat Mariaan de Swardt and Elena Tatarkova |
| July 4 | Wimbledon Women's Finals, Lindsay Davenport beat Steffi Graf |
| July 11 | 20th U.S. Seniors Golf Open: at Des Moines GC, W Des Moines, Iowa |
| July 18 | 128th British Golf Open: at Camoustie Scot |
| July 25 | 54th U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship |
| August 11 | Total solar eclipse in India-North -France (2m23s) |
| August 17 | Earthquake kills 17,000 in northwest Turkey |
| September 5 | Men's championship at U.S. Tennis Open |
| September 5 | WNBA Championships, Houston Comets beat New York Libery 2 games to 1 |
| September 21 | Earthquake kills 2,295 in central Taiwan |
| October 27 | World Series, New York Yankees beat Atlanta Braves 4 games to 0 |
| October 29 | Cyclone/tidal surge kills as many as 10,000 in eastern India |
| October 31 | EgyptAir flight 990 crashes 60m off coast of Nantucket, killing 217, likely cause was an Islamist suicide replacement pilot |
| November 11 | Last upside down date until January 1, 6000 |
| November 12 | Earthquake kills 700 in Duzce, Turkey |
| November 15 | Next transit of Mercury visible in North America |
| December 20 | Portugal returns Macau to China |
| December 31 | Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama |
| December 31 | The London Eye, the world's largest Ferris wheel, opens by the banks of the Thames |
