Auto racing

• Grand Prix racing - Main article: 1932 Grand Prix season. European Champion: Tazio Nuvolari

Baseball

• Brooklyn's major league baseball team, known informally until now as the "Superbas", the "Robins", or the "Trolley Dodgers", officially selects the name Brooklyn Dodgers.
• The New York Yankees defeat the Chicago Cubs in the World Series, 4-0. Babe Ruth hits his famous "called shot" home run--which is followed immediately by a Lou Gehrig solo home run--in Game 3.

Basketball

• The South American Basketball Championship 1932 in Santiago, Chile is won by Uruguay.

Cricket

• 25 June-28 June, London - India plays its first Test match, against England. England win by 159 runs.

Field Hockey

• Olympic Games (Men's Competition) in Los Angeles, United States
• Gold Medal: India
• Silver Medal: Japan
• Bronze Medal: United States

Football (Australian rules football)

• Victorian Football League
• Richmond wins the 36th VFL Premiership (Richmond 13.14 (92) d Carlton 12.11 (83))
• Brownlow Medal awarded to Haydn Bunton, Sr (Fitzroy)

American Football

• Chicago Bears win the National Football League title, defeating the Portsmouth Spartans, 9-0, in the 1932 NFL Playoff Game.
• The Washington Redskins are founded.

Football (soccer)

England

• First Division - Everton win the 1931-32 title.
• FA Cup - Newcastle United beat Arsenal 2-1.

Golf

• June 10 - U.S. Open - Gene Sarazen
• June 25 - British Open - Gene Sarazen
• September 4 - PGA Championship - Olin Dutra

Men's amateur

• British Amateur - John De Forest
• U.S. Amateur - Ross Somerville

Women's professional

• Women's Western Open - Jane Weiller

Horse Racing

• May 7 - Burgoo King wins the Kentucky Derby

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: Joe Davis beats Clark McConachy 30-19

Multi-sport events

• 1932 Summer Olympics takes place in Los Angeles, United States
• United States wins the most medals (103), and the most gold medals (41).

• 1932 Winter Olympics takes place in Lake Placid, United States
• United States wins the most medals (12), and the most gold medals (6).

• The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.
• France defeats the United States in the Davis Cup.
• Eddie Tolan sets the men's world record for the 100 meter dash in 10.3 seconds.
• Karl Schäfer wins the World Figure Skating Championships.

Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Gene Sarazen, PGA golf
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Babe Didrikson, Track and field

Births

• January 14 — Tony DeMarco, American boxer
• January 15 — Jules Maenen, Dutch road bicycle and track cyclist (d. 2007)
• January 27 — Boris Shakhlin, Russian gymnast (d. 2008)
• January 28 — Parry O'Brien, American shot put champion
• February 9 — Daniel Bekker, South African boxer
• February 23 — Fidel Negrete, Mexican long-distance runner
• March 20 — Tetsuo Okamoto, Brazilian swimmer
• April 14 — Eliana Gaete, Chilean hurdler
• April 19 — Andrea Mead-Lawrence, American alpine skier
• May 21 — Jean Stablinski, French cyclist of Polish origin
• May 23 — Jack Foster, New Zealand long-distance runner (d. 2004)
• June 3 — Sandro Gamba, Italian basketball coach and player
• June 12 — Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian runner (d. 2002)
• June 15 — Arnoldo Devonish, Venezuelan athlete
• July 4 — Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian marathon runner
• July 22 — Doug Kyle, Canadian long-distance runner
• August 28 — Andy Bathgate, American Hockey Hall of Fame player
• September 22 — Ingemar Johansson, Swedish heavyweight boxer
• October 14 — Francisco Caballer, Spanish field hockey player
• Bernie Faloney — CFL football player (d. 1999)
• October 25 — Jerzy Pawłowski, Polish fencer (d. 2005)
• November 27 — Mustapha Larfaoui, Algerian IOC-member and FINA-president
• December 8 — Charly Gaul, Luxembourgish cyclist (d. 2005)
• December 20 — Teijiro Tanikawa, Japanese swimmer

Deaths

• February 9 — Paul Neumann (56), Austrian swimmer (b. 1875)
• April 2 — Phar Lap, Australian Horse
• April 25 — Lia Manoliu, Romanian discus thrower
• September 9 — Alojz Sokol (61), Slovak athlete from the Kingdom of Hungary (b. 1871)