- Oct 1 An all-African podium for the men's marathon at the Sydney Olympics as Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia runs 2:10:11 for the gold medal, 0.20s ahead of Kenyan Erick Wainaina with bronze to Ethiopian Tesfaye Tola
- Oct 1 Cuban boxer Félix Savon wins his 3rd consecutive Olympic heavyweight gold medal at the Sydney Games; easily beats Russian Sultan Ibragimov on points 21-13; retires after victory ceremony
- Oct 1 German canoeist Birgit Fischer teams with Katrin Wagner to win the K2 500m gold medal at the Sydney Olympics; becomes first woman to win 2 or more medals at 4 Summer Olympics; only 4th woman to win 7 career gold
- Oct 1 Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the IOC declares the XXVII Olympics in Sydney, Australia the "best Olympic Games ever" at the closing ceremony
- Oct 1 NBA stars Ray Allen and Vince Carter each score 13 points as the US beats France 85-75 to win the men's basketball gold medal at the Sydney Olympics
- Oct 1 Norwegian canoeist Knut Holmann beats Petar Merkov of Bulgaria for the second consecutive day to win the K-1 500m gold medal at the Sydney Olympics; beat Markov in K-1 1000m the previous day
- Oct 1 Stephanie Cook of Great Britain scores 5,318 points to beat American Emily de Riel by just 8 points to win the inaugural Olympic women's modern pentathlon at the Sydney Games
- Oct 1 United States wins the most medals (97), and the most gold medals (40) in Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia
- Oct 7 Last ever competitive soccer match at Wembley Stadium, England defeated 1-0 by Germany, last goal scored by Liverpool's Dietmar Hammann. Match is Tony Adams' 60th at Wembley, the record for most appearances at the stadium.
F1 World Champion
Oct 8 German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher wins Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka to clinch his 3rd, and 1st of 5 straight F1 World Drivers Championships
- Oct 8 Solheim Cup Women's Golf, Loch Lomond GC: Europe regains Cup 14½-11½; Carin Koch holes winning putt, coming back from 3 down to beat Michele Redman
Cricket History
Oct 11 South African Cricket Board issues former captain Hansie Cronje with a life ban as a result of match-fixing allegations
- Oct 16 MLB National League Championship: New York Mets beat St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 1
- Oct 17 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Seattle Mariners, 4 games to 2
- Oct 22 German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher wins Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, his 4th straight race victory to finish season; 3rd, and 1st of 5 straight F1 World Drivers Championships; wins by 19 points from Mika Häkkinen
President's Cup
Oct 22 Presidents Cup Golf, Robert Trent Jones GC: Davis Love III, Stewart Cink and Kirk Triplett are unbeaten as US outclasses International team, 21½–10½
- Oct 23 "Monday Night Miracle", down 30-7 at the end of the third quarter, New York Jets pull together an improbable comeback with 4 touchdowns and a field goal in the fourth quarter, eventually defeating the Miami Dolphins 40-37 in overtime
World Series
Oct 26 Baseball World Series: NY Yankees beat NY Mets, 4-2 in Game 5 at Shea Stadium to win "Subway Series"; Yankees 3rd straight title; MVP: Derek Jeter
Baseball Players
Basketball Stars
Boxers
Footballers
NFL Stars
Tennis Champions