WINTER OLYMPICS
Feb. 10-26. Turin (Italy). Over 17 days, 84 sets of medals will be awarded. It is expected that about two and a half thousand athletes from 85 countries from all continents will take part in the Games. The main inconvenience of the Olympics is the dispersal of sports venues over fairly large distances from each other in the vicinity of Turin.
BADMINTON
Apr. 21-29. European Championship. Den Bosch (Holland).
BASKETBALL
Apr. 28-30. ULEB Euroleague "Final Four". Prague. The main Euroleague matches will be held for the first time in a country that is not represented in the tournament.
Aug. 19 - Sept. 3. World Championship. Men. Japan. Four special invitations went to Turkey, Puerto Rico, reigning world champions Serbia and Montenegro, and the trendsetters of European basketball, the Italians.
Sept. 12-23. World Championship. Women. Brazil.
BOXING
Jul. 13-24. European Championship. Plovdiv (Bulgaria).
WRESTLING
Sept. 26 - Oct. 1. World Championship. China.
ROAD CYCLING
May 6-28. Giro d'Italia stage race. Traditionally, the main protagonist of the Italian stage race has been sprinter Alessandro Petacchi. But this season, no less accomplished finisher, German Erik Zabel, will ride in a new team with him. But most likely, at the home race, they will still "carry" the Italian to victories. By the way, in this cycling stage race, the leader of the general classification wears not a yellow jersey, but a pink one. The fact is that the organizer of the competition is the publication "Gazzetta dello Sport", which is printed on pink paper.
Jul. 1-23. Tour de France stage race. For seven consecutive years, the greatest Lance Armstrong won the world's most important professional cycling race. But Iron Lance has left big-time sports, and now those who constantly stayed behind the American can count on winning the Tour de France: German Jan Ullrich, Italian Ivan Basso, and Alexander Vinokourov from Kazakhstan, as well as Russian Denis Menshov.
Aug. 26 - Sept. 17. Stage race on the roads of Spain, the Vuelta.
Sept. 19-24. World Championship. Salzburg (Austria).
WATER POLO
Sept. 1-10. European Championship. Men. Women. Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro).
VOLLEYBALL
Mar. 25-26. Men's Champions League "Final Four".
Aug. 23-27. World League. Men. Final tournament. The venue for the final tournament has not yet been determined.
Oct. 31 - Nov. 16. World Championship. Women. Japan.
Nov. 17 - Dec. 3. World Championship. Men.
HANDBALL
Jan. 26 - Feb. 5. European Championship. Men. Switzerland.
Dec. 7-17. European Championship. Sweden. Women.
SPEED SKATING
Jan. 21-22. World Sprint Speed Skating Championships. Heerenveen (Holland).
Mar. 18-19. World Allround Speed Skating Championships. Calgary (Canada).
ATHLETICS
Mar. 10-12. World Indoor Championships. Moscow. Since 2003, these competitions have been held every season, not every two years as before.
Aug. 7-13. European Championship. Gothenburg (Sweden). Once every four years, the strongest athletes of the Old World sort things out among themselves. The upcoming tournament is the 19th edition.
Sept. 9-10. World Series Final. Stuttgart (Germany).
TABLE TENNIS
Mar. 24 - Apr. 1. World Team Championship. Bremen (Germany). Only once has the national team of our country won this tournament, although its history already spans 80 years. In 1969, the USSR women's team became first, and the host of that championship, like the upcoming competition, was Germany.
SWIMMING
Apr. 5-9. World Short Course Championships (in a 25-meter pool). Shanghai (China).
SHOOTING
Jul. 21 - Aug. 5. World Championship. Zagreb (Croatia).
ARCHERY
Aug. 20-26. World Championship. Gothenburg (Sweden).
TENNIS
Jan. 16-29. Australian Open. Melbourne. The first of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the year truly opens the tennis season. This year, the Australian Open will celebrate its 101st anniversary. Last year's winner was Marat Safin.
Feb. 10-12. Davis Cup. First round of the World Group.
Apr. 22-23. Fed Cup. Quarterfinal.
May 21-28. ATP World Team Championship. Düsseldorf (Germany). Teams from seven countries automatically received entry to Düsseldorf. Another team will receive a special invitation from the organizers. The selection criterion is the lowest sum of positions of the country's two best tennis players in the 2005 ATP Champions Race. The tournament participants include the USA, Argentina, Spain, Russia, Croatia, Czech Republic, and France. If any player is unable to participate, the team automatically loses its ranking. Switzerland, Sweden, and 2004 winner Chile are currently on the so-called "waiting list". In all likelihood, the "wild card" will go to the Germans – they are both the hosts of the competition and the reigning champions.
May 29 - June 11. French Open. Paris. By the way, the Roland Garros stadium, where the championship will take place, was named not after some tennis player or politician, but after a French World War I pilot who, by sniper-like dropping a bomb from his plane onto a German aircraft, saved Paris from bombardment.
Jun. 26 - Jul. 9. Wimbledon. London.
Aug. 28 - Sept. 10. US Open. New York. The only Grand Slam tournament where the prize money is equally divided between men and women.
Sept. 16-17. Fed Cup. Final.
Nov. 6-11. WTA Championships. Madrid (Spain). Many female tennis players are pleased that the WTA Championships were moved from Los Angeles to Madrid. In their opinion, in Europe it will enjoy greater spectator interest than in California.
Nov. 12-20. Masters Cup. Shanghai (China).
1-3 December. Davis Cup. Final.
FENCING
29 September – 7 October. World Championship. Turin (Italy).
FIGURE SKATING
16-22 January. European Championship. Lyon (France).
20-26 March. World Championship. Calgary (Canada).
FORMULA 1
12 March. Start of the World Championship. Bahrain. From the new season, all F1 cars will have new eight-cylinder engines with a displacement of 2.4 liters. But, most likely, not all teams will have time to refine the new engines to perfection, which will make the 19 rounds of the Formula 1 World Championship unpredictable. The World Championship will finish on 22 October in Brazil.
FOOTBALL
10 May. UEFA Cup final. Eindhoven (Netherlands).
17 May. Champions League final. Paris (France). The total prize fund of the Champions League is €598 million. Each of the 32 clubs that reach the group stage will receive a starting fee of €1.6 million and €321 thousand for each match played. In addition, clubs will earn €321 thousand for each win and €161 thousand for a draw. The 16 teams that reach the Champions League playoff will receive another €1.6 million, quarterfinalists – €1.9 million, semifinalists – €2.6 million. The team that reaches the final will earn another €3.9 million, and the tournament winner – €6.4 million.
9 June – 9 July. World Championship. Germany. During the planet's football championship, FIFA has banned the holding of all other official football tournaments. In turn, 32 national teams will take part in Germany. The December draw produced the following results. Group A: Germany, Costa Rica, Poland, Ecuador. Group B: England, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Sweden. Group C: Argentina, Côte d'Ivoire, Netherlands, Serbia and Montenegro. Group D: Mexico, Iran, Angola, Portugal. Group E: Italy, Ghana, USA, Czech Republic. Group F: Brazil, Croatia, Australia, Japan. Group G: France, Switzerland, Korea, Togo. Group H: Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia. Each of these national teams received $8.2 million from FIFA just for participating in the World Championship. The Ukrainian national team, a debutant at the World Championships, has a good chance of advancing from the group. In this case, Oleg Blokhin's team will meet one of the winners of Group G in the Round of 16.
BANDY
28 January – 5 February. World Championship. Sweden. Since 2003, the World Championships have been held not once every two years, but every season.
HOCKEY
5-8 January. European Champions Cup. St. Petersburg. The tournament is being held for the second time in its current format. Six teams from European countries occupying the highest places in the International Ice Hockey Federation ranking are divided into two trios at the preliminary stage. The group winners advance to the final.
13-15 January. Continental Cup. Hungary.
5-21 May. World Championship. Riga (Latvia).
RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS
14-22 October. World Championship. Aarhus (Denmark). The absolute hegemony of the Russian "artists" is unlikely to contribute to the popularization of the sport worldwide. In the autumn of 2005 in Baku, Olga Kapranova won five gold medals, including the all-around, while the Ukrainian Vera Bessonova always finished second.
SHORT TRACK
31 March – 2 April. World Championship. Minneapolis (USA).