- 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
Dark Angel
Oct 3 TV series "Dark Angel" created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee and starring Jessica Alba premieres in the US
You're the One
Oct 3 Warner Bros. Records releases "You're the One", the tenth solo studio album by singer-songwriter Paul Simon; Grammy nomination for Album of the Year makes Simon the first artist nominated in category in five consecutive decades (1960s-2000s)
Country Music Association Awards
Oct 4 34th Country Music Association Awards: Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill & Tim McGraw win
Bulldozer Revolution
Oct 5 Mass demonstrations in Belgrade culminate in the resignation of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milošević, often called the Bulldozer Revolution
- Oct 6 President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milošević resigns
- Oct 6 Swedish comedy drama "Songs from the Second Floor" written and directed by Roy Andersson is released in Sweden
- 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 Musical "Peter Pan" starring Cathy Rigby, and filmed before a live audience, premieres on A&E TV
- 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 11 The 100th Space Shuttle mission (STS-92) is flown
- Oct 12 American destroyer USS Cole is badly damaged in Aden, Yemen, by two suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39
- Oct 15 ICC Men's Cricket KnockOut Trophy, Gymkhana Club, Nairobi: New Zealand win their first international title with a 4 wicket win over India; Man of the Match: Chris Cairns, NZ 102no (113)
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Oct 15 Larry David's comedy show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" debuts on HBO
Event of Interest
Oct 15 Museo de Antioquia re-opens in Medellín, Columbia, featuring works and sculptures donated by Medellín-born artist Fernando Botero
Music History
Oct 18 Zack de la Rocha announces he is leaving rock band Rage Against the Machine
- 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
- Oct 25 A team led by Brigitte Senut and Martin Pickford discover Orrorin tugenensis, one of the earliest species on the human family tree that lived about 6 million years ago, in the Tugen Hills, Kenya
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
- Oct 26 Laurent Gbagbo takes over as president of Côte d'Ivoire following a popular uprising against President Robert Guéï. Bret Hart retires.
- Oct 31 A chartered Antonov An-26 explodes after takeoff in Northern Angola killing 50
- Oct 31 A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 operating as Flight 006 collides with construction equipment upon takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan killing 79 passengers and four crew members
Event of Interest
Oct 31 Pope John Paul II declares Saint Thomas More as "the heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians"
- Oct 31 The last Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) machine shut down
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists