1980’s Sports The eighties were a great time of talented athletes, it was a decade of all sports. The popularity of many sports were increased in this decade, mostly because of television. The Olympics were a big part of the 1980’s. The world records, the Olympic records, the introduction of new sports and women’s sports. Baseball, basketball, football, boxing, and some other sports also had their part in this decade. In 1982 the IOC voted to return the medals to the Thorpe family and to put his name back in the record books. Jim Thorpe was an American Indian who had easily won the decathlon and the pentathlon, but unfortunately