See also: 1946 in sports, other events of 1947, 1948 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'
- August 20 —
Enschede Marathon, Netherlands
- Men's Winner: Eero Riikonen (FIN) 2:44:13
- December 7 —
Fukuoka Marathon, Japan
- Men's Winner: Toshikazu Wada (JPN) 2:45:45
- Wally Parks founds the Southern California Timing Association, to better organize drag racing.
- Rocky Graziano defeats Tony Zale to win boxing’s world middleweight championship.
- December 5 - Joe Louis defeats Jersey Joe Walcott to retain his heavyweight championship
- World Figure Skating Championships
- Men's champion: Hans Gerschwiler, Switzerland
- Ladies' champion: Barbara Ann Scott, Canada
- Pair skating champions: Micheline Lannoy & Pierre Baugniet, Belgium
- Victorian Football League
- Carlton wins the 51st VFL Premiership (Carlton 13.8 (86) d Essendon 11.17 (83))
- Brownlow Medal awarded to Bert Deacon (Carlton)
England
- First Division - Liverpool win the 1946-47 title.
- FA Cup - Charlton Athletic beat Burnley 1-0 after extra time
- World Snooker Championship: Walter Donaldson beats Fred Davis 82-63.
Births
- January 20 — Cyrille Guimard, French racing cyclist
- January 31 — Nolan Ryan, Baseball Hall of Famer
- February 1 — Gaston Rahier, Belgian motocross racer (d. 2005)
- February 5 — Darrell Waltrip, American automobile racer and broadcaster
- February 28 — Włodzimierz Lubański, Polish football (soccer) striker
- March 3 — Ian O'Brien, Australian breaststroke swimmer
- March 7 — Walter Röhrl, German car racer
- March 10 — Zachary Zorn, American swimmer
- April 5 — Đurđica Bjedov, Yugoslav breaststroke swimmer
- April 15 — Onny Parun, New Zealand tennis player
- May 21 — Hans Hoogveld, Dutch water polo player
- May 27 — Branko Oblak, Slovenian football (soccer) player and coach
- May 29 — Peter Lown, UK-born Canadian field hockey player
- June 2 — Giorgio Cagnotto, Italian diver
- June 2 — Sonia Robertson and Sandra Chick, Zimbabwean field hockey players and twin sisters
- June 6 — Marion Coakes, English equestrian show jumper
- June 19 — James Mason, Australian field hockey player
- July 24 — Jacques Fouroux, French rugby union player (d. 2005)
- August 26 — Jan Krekels, Dutch cyclist
- September 7 — Wim Hermsen, Dutch water polo player
- September 8 — Amos Biwott, Kenyan athlete
- September 20 — Victor Zilberman, Romanian boxer
- September 25 — Ali Parvin, Iranian football (soccer) player
- September 27 — Jan Borren, Dutch-born New Zealand field hockey player and coach
- October 3 — Carroll Morgan, Canadian heavyweight boxer
- October 6 — Klaus Dibiasi, Italian diver
- October 8 — Emiel Puttemans, Belgian middle- and long-distance runner
- October 11 — Alan Pascoe, British athlete
- October 23 — Kazimierz Deyna, Polish football (soccer) player (d. 1989)
- November 1 — Rolando Garbey, Cuban boxer
- November 5 — Oleg Antropov, Soviet volleyball player
- November 17 — Keith Remfry, British judoka
- December 16 — Vincent Matthews, American track and field athlete
Deaths
- January 20: Josh Gibson, famed Negro League slugger, dies of a brain tumor at age 35.