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The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commonly known as Moscow 1980 (russian: link=no, Москва 1980), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russia. The games were the first to be staged in an
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
country, as well as the first Olympic Games and only Summer Olympics to be held in a Slavic language-speaking country. They were also the only Summer Olympic Games to be held in a self-proclaimed communist country until the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
held in China. These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC Presidency of Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin before he was succeeded by Juan Antonio Samaranch, a Spaniard, shortly afterwards. Eighty nations were represented at the Moscow Games, the smallest number since
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
. Led by the United States, 66 countries boycotted the games entirely, because of the Soviet–Afghan War. Several alternative events were held outside of the Soviet Union. Some athletes from some of the boycotting countries (not included in the list of 66 countries that boycotted the games entirely) participated in the games under the Olympic Flag. The Soviet Union later boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The Soviet Union won the most gold and overall medals, with the USSR and East Germany winning 127 out of 203 available golds.


Host city selection

The only two cities to bid for the 1980 Summer Olympics were Moscow and Los Angeles. The choice between them was made at the 75th IOC Session in Vienna, Austria on 23 October 1974. Los Angeles would eventually host the
1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...
.


Participation overview and boycott

Eighty nations were represented at the Moscow Olympics, the smallest number since
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
. Of the eighty participating nations, seven National Olympic Committees made their first appearance at these Games: Angola, Botswana, Cyprus, Jordan,
Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
, Mozambique and Seychelles. None of these nations won a medal. Although approximately half of the 24 countries that boycotted the
1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...
(in protest against the IOC not expelling New Zealand who sanctioned a rugby tour of apartheid South Africa) participated in the Moscow Games, the 1980 Summer Olympics were disrupted by another, even larger, boycott led by the United States in protest of the 1979 Soviet–Afghan War. The Soviet invasion spurred President Jimmy Carter to issue an ultimatum on 20 January 1980, which stated that the U.S. would boycott the Moscow Olympics if Soviet troops did not withdraw from Afghanistan within one month. 65 countries and regions invited did not participate in the 1980 Olympics. Many of these followed the United States' boycott initiative, while others cited economic reasons for not participating. Iran, under
Ayatollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...
hostile to both superpowers, boycotted when the
Islamic Conference Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the main ...
condemned the invasion. Many of the boycotting nations participated instead in the Liberty Bell Classic, also known as the "Olympic Boycott Games", in Philadelphia. However, the nations that did compete had won 71 percent of all medals, and similarly 71 percent of the gold medals, at the
1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...
in Montreal. This was in part due to state-run doping programs that had been developed in the Eastern Bloc countries. As a form of protest against the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, fifteen countries marched in the Opening Ceremony with the Olympic Flag instead of their national flags, and the Olympic Flag and Olympic Hymn were used at medal ceremonies when athletes from these countries won medals. Competitors from New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain competed under the flags of their respective
National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...
s. Some of these teams that marched under flags other than their national flags were depleted by boycotts by individual athletes, while some athletes did not participate in the march. The boycott impacted the competitiveness of swimming, track and field, boxing, basketball, diving, field hockey and equestrian sports. Whilst competitors from 36 countries became Olympic medalists, the great majority of the medals were taken by the Soviet Union and East Germany in what was the most skewed medal tally since
1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...
.


Events, records and drug tests overview

There were 203 events – more than at any previous Olympics. 36 world records, 39 European records and 74 Olympic records were set at the games. In total, this was more records than were set at Montreal. New Olympic records were set 241 times over the course of the competitions and world records were beaten 97 times. Though no athletes were caught doping at the 1980 Summer Olympics, it has been revealed that athletes had begun using testosterone and other drugs for which tests had not been yet developed. According to British journalist Andrew Jennings, a KGB colonel stated that the agency's officers had posed as anti-doping authorities from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to undermine doping tests and that Soviet athletes were "rescued with hesetremendous efforts". A 1989 report by a committee of the
Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...
claimed that "there is hardly a medal winner at the Moscow Games, certainly not a gold medal winner...who is not on one sort of drug or another: usually several kinds. The Moscow Games might well have been called the Chemists' Games". A member of the IOC Medical Commission, Manfred Donike, privately ran additional tests with a new technique for identifying abnormal levels of testosterone by measuring its ratio to epitestosterone in urine. Twenty percent of the specimens he tested, including those from sixteen gold medalists would have resulted in disciplinary proceedings had the tests been official. The results of Donike's unofficial tests later convinced the IOC to add his new technique to their testing protocols. The first documented case of " blood doping" occurred at the 1980 Summer Olympics as a runner was transfused with two pints of blood before winning medals in the 5000 m and 10,000 m.


Media and broadcasting

Major broadcasters of the 1980 Games were USSR State TV and Radio (1,370 accreditation cards),
Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
(31 countries, 818 cards) and Intervision (11 countries, 342 cards).1980 Summer Olympics Official Report from the Organizing Committee
, vol. 2, p. 379
TV Asahi with 68 cards provided coverage for Japan, while OTI, representing Latin America, received 59 cards, and the Seven Network provided coverage for Australia (48 cards). NBC, which had intended to be another major broadcaster, canceled its coverage in response to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Games, and became a minor broadcaster with 56 accreditation cards, although they did air highlights and recaps of the Games on a regular basis. ABC aired scenes of the opening ceremony during its ''
Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...
'' program, and promised highlights each night, but later announced that they could not air any highlights as NBC still had exclusive broadcast rights in the US. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) almost canceled their plans for coverage after Canada took part in the boycott, and was represented by nine cards. The television center used 20 television channels, compared to 16 for the Montreal Games, 12 for the Munich Games, and seven for the Mexico City Games. This was also the first time North Korea was watching, as KCTV (Korea Central Television) broadcast it as their first satellite program.


Spectators and commemoration

The Games attracted five million spectators, an increase of 1.5 million from the Montreal Games. There were 1,245 referees from 78 countries. A series of commemorative coins was released in the USSR in 1977–1980 to commemorate the event. It consisted of five platinum coins, six gold coins, 28 silver coins and six copper-nickel coins.


Budget

According to the Official Report, submitted to the IOC by the
NOC A network on a chip or network-on-chip (NoC or )This article uses the convention that "NoC" is pronounced . Therefore, it uses the convention "a" for the indefinite article corresponding to NoC ("a NoC"). Other sources may pronounce it as an ...
of the USSR, total expenditures for the preparations for and staging of the 1980 Games were US$1,350,000,000, total revenues being US$231,000,000.


Cost

''The Oxford Olympics Study'' established the outturn cost of the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics at US$6.3 billion in 2015 dollars. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) ''operational costs'' incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) ''direct capital costs'' incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are ''not'' included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost for Moscow 1980 compares with costs of US$4.6 billion for Rio 2016 (projected), US$40–44 billion for Beijing 2008 and US$51 billion for Sochi 2014, the most expensive Olympics in history. Average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is US$5.2 billion.


Opening ceremony


Highlights of the different events


Archery

*
Tomi Poikolainen Tomi Jaakko Poikolainen (born 27 December 1961) is a retired Finnish archer who competed in five consecutive Olympics from 1980 to 1996. He won an individual gold medal in 1980 and a team silver in 1992, placing fifth individually in 1984. Betwe ...
of Finland, who had not finished any of the previous three days' shooting higher than fourth, came from fourth on the last day to win the men's archery competition, scoring 2455 points. He won gold just three points ahead of a Soviet athlete. * The women's archery gold was won by Ketevan Losaberidze (USSR), who was also the European, Soviet and world champion. * The women's archery silver was won by Natalia Butuzova (USSR), who had set nine national records and three world records in 1979. * The U.S. archery team was one of the strongest ever fielded, but due to the boycott, the team never had a chance to prove itself. This team held every record and featured 1976 Olympic champion Darrell O. Pace, who was averaging 100 points more than the winning score in Moscow at the time.


Athletics

* Ethiopian Miruts Yifter won the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres athletics double, emulating
Lasse Virén Lasse Artturi Virén (born 22 July 1949) is a Finnish former long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Virén recaptured the image of the "Flying Finns" promoted by runners like Hannes Kolehmainen, Paa ...
's 1972 and 1976 performances. * "I have a 90% chance of winning the 1,500 metres," wrote
Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set 5 world records for 1500 metres and the ...
in an article for one of Britain's Sunday papers just before the start of the Olympics. After he won the 800 metres Olympic gold, beating world-record holder
Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...
, Ovett stated he would not only win the 1,500 metres race, but would beat the world record by as much as four seconds. Ovett had won 45 straight 1,500 metres races since May 1977. In contrast, Coe had competed in only eight 1,500 metres races between 1976 and 1980. Coe won the race, holding off Ovett in the final lap, who finished third. * Aided by the absence of American opposition,
Allan Wells Allan Wipper Wells (born 3 May 1952) is a Scottish former track and field sprinter who became the 100 metres Olympic champion at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Within a fortnight of that, he also took on and beat America's best sprinters ...
beat Cuban
Silvio Leonard Silvio Leonard Sarría also known as Silvio Leonard Tartabull (born September 20, 1955 in Cienfuegos) is a former sprinter from Cuba. Career Leonard first announced his talent when he set a new Cuban 100 metres national junior record in 197 ...
to become the first Briton since 1924 to win the Olympic 100 metres race. * Gerd Wessig, who had made the East German team only two weeks before the Games, easily won the gold medal with a high jump. This was 9 cm higher than he had ever jumped before. * In the 1980 Olympic women's long jump competition, Soviet jumper Tatiana Kolpakova bested her compatriots and other competitors by setting a new Olympic record of . * Poland's
Władysław Kozakiewicz Władysław Kozakiewicz (born 8 December 1953) is a retired Polish athlete who specialised in the pole vault. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and the bras d'honneur gesture which he showed to the ...
won the pole vault with a jump of – only the second pole vaulting world record to be established during an Olympics. The previous time had been at the Antwerp Olympics 1920. * In the long jump competition, three women beat for the first time ever in one competition. *
Waldemar Cierpinski Waldemar Cierpinski (born 3 August 1950) is a former East German athlete and two time Olympic Champion in the marathon. He lives in Halle an der Saale. Career He was born to Polish parents who had moved to Germany in 1945, in Ne ...
of the German Democratic Republic ( East Germany) won his second consecutive
marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
gold. * Bärbel Wöckel, also of the GDR, winner of the 200 metres in Montreal, became the first woman to retain the title. * Tatiana Kazankina (USSR) retained the 1,500m title that she had won in Montreal. * In the women's pentathlon, Soviet
Nadiya Tkachenko Nadiya Volodymyrivna Tkachenko ( uk, Надія Володимирівна Ткаченко) or Nadezhda Vladimirovna Tkachenko (russian: Надежда Владимировна Ткаченко) (born 19 September 1948) is a Ukrainian former pent ...
(present day- Ukraine) scored 5,083 points to become the first athlete to exceed 5,000 points in the event during Olympic competition, winning gold. * For the first time in Olympic history, all eight male participants in the long jump final beat the mark of . * Lutz Dombrowski (GDR) won the long jump gold. His was the longest jump recorded at sea level and he became only the second ever to jump further than . * In the triple jump final, Viktor Saneyev (USSR; present day- Georgia), who won gold at Mexico, Munich and Montreal, won silver behind Jaak Uudmäe (USSR; present day- Estonia) and ahead of Brazil's world record holder João Carlos de Oliveira. Both de Oliveira and Australia's Ian Campbell produced long jumps, but they were declared fouls by the officials and not measured; in Campbell's case, his longest jump was ruled a "scrape foul", with his trailing leg touching the track during the jump. Campbell insisted that he had not scraped, and it was alleged the officials intentionally threw out his and de Oliveira's best jumps to favor the Soviets, similarly to a number of other events. * Yuriy Sedykh (USSR) won gold in the hammer throw event. Four of his six throws broke the world record of 80m. No hammer thrower in the world had ever achieved this before. As in Montreal, the USSR won gold, silver and bronze in this event. * Evelin Jahl (GDR), the 1976 Olympic champion, won discus gold again. She won with a new Olympic record – – having been undefeated since Montreal. * Cuba's María Caridad Colón won the women's javelin, setting a new Olympic record. * Sara Simeoni of Italy won the women's high jump, setting a new Olympic record. She had won a silver in the 1976 Games and would go on to win a silver in the 1984 Games. * In track-and-field, six world records, eighteen Olympic records and nine best results of the year were registered. * In women's track and field, events alone either a world or Olympic record was broken in almost every event. * Daley Thompson of Great Britain won the gold in the Decathlon. He won gold again at the Los Angeles Olympics. * Soviet Dainis Kula won gold in the men's javelin. He also had the best sum total of throws, showing his consistency. He finished ahead of his teammate Alexander Makarov. * Polish gold medallist pole vaulter
Władysław Kozakiewicz Władysław Kozakiewicz (born 8 December 1953) is a retired Polish athlete who specialised in the pole vault. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and the bras d'honneur gesture which he showed to the ...
showed an obscene bras d'honneur gesture in all four directions to the jeering Soviet public, causing an international scandal and almost losing his medal as a result. There were numerous incidents and accusations of Soviet officials using their authority to negate marks by opponents to the point that
IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
officials found the need to look over the officials' shoulders to try to keep the events fair. There were also accusations of opening stadium gates to give Soviet athletes advantage, and causing other disturbances to opposing athletes.


Basketball

* Basketball was one of the hardest hit sports due to the boycott. Though replacements were found, five men's teams including the defending Olympic Champion United States withdrew from the competition in addition to the US Women's team. * In the women's competition, the host Soviet Union won the competition beating Bulgaria for gold, Yugoslavia won bronze. * The men's competition featured only the second instance of the US Men's Basketball team not winning gold with the first one being in Munich. Yugoslavia took home the gold beating Italy in the final. The hosts, Soviet Union, winners in 1972, won the bronze.


Boxing

* Teófilo Stevenson of Cuba became the first boxer to win three consecutive Olympic titles in heavyweight, and indeed the only boxer to win the same event in three Games. ( László Papp from Hungary was the first boxer to win three titles). In boxing, Cuba won six gold, two silvers and two bronzes. * The Val Barker Trophy is presented by the AIBA to the competitor adjudged to be the best stylist at the Games. The winner was Patrizio Oliva of Italy, who won gold at light-welterweight.


Canoeing

* Uladzimir Parfianovich of the USSR won three gold medals in
canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other acti ...
. * Apart from the boycotted Los Angeles Olympics, Birgit Fischer of East Germany won medals in each Olympics from 1980 to 2004. In the 500 metres kayak singles, she won gold in Moscow, silver in Seoul, gold in Barcelona.


Cycling

* Lothar Thoms of East Germany won the 1,000-metre individual pursuit cycling gold, breaking the world record by nearly four seconds. * The winner of the bronze in that race was Jamaica's David Weller who also broke the sixteen-year-old world record. * In the 4,000-metre team pursuit qualifying heats, new world indoor records were set eight times. * The 189-kilometer individual road race gold was won by
Sergei Sukhoruchenkov Sergei Nikolaevich Sukhoruchenkov (russian: Серге́й Николаевич Сухорученков, born 10 August 1956) is a former Soviet and Russian cyclist and Olympic Champion. He won the gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow ...
( USSR). * The cycling team road race was won by the Soviet team as they had done in Munich and Montreal. * In cycling, world records were toppled 21 times.


Diving

* As Aleksandr Portnov waited to do a 2 and 1/2 reverse somersault in the springboard final, cheers broke out in the adjoining swimming pool during the closing stages of Vladimir Salnikov's world record breaking 1,500m swim. The diver delayed his start until the noise had subsided but, as he took his first steps along the board, even greater cheers broke out as Salnikov touched in under 15 minutes. Under the rules, Portnov, having started, could not stop before take-off. On protest to the Swedish referee G.Olander, he was allowed to repeat the dive, and went ahead again of Mexico's
Carlos Girón Carlos Armando Girón Gutiérrez (3 November 1954 — 13 January 2020) was a Mexican diver. He competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics, winning one medal. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, he finished ninth in the 3 metre s ...
. Later protests by Mexico against the re-dive and by East Germany that their Falk Hoffmann wanted to re-dive after allegedly being disturbed by photographic flashlights were both turned down by FINA. FINA President Javier Ostas stated that the decision taken by the Swedish referee was the "correct one". FINA assessed all the Olympic diving events and considers the judging to have been objective. Portnov remained the winner, with Giron taking silver and Cagnatto of Italy bronze. * Martina Jaschke ( East Germany) was fourth after the preliminary high dives, but came back to win gold on the second day of competition. * Irina Kalinina ( USSR) won gold in the springboard final. As a result of her ten dives in the preliminaries, she amassed a unique number of points: 478.86. In the previous four years, no diver had scored so many. * In this final, the Mexican judge A. Marsikal allowed Karin Guthke ( East Germany) to re-take a dive.


Equestrian

* In the individual show jumping event, Poland's
Jan Kowalczyk Jan Kowalczyk (18 December 1941 – 24 February 2020) was a Polish show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrianism, equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, Show hunter, hunters, and equitat ...
and the USSR's Nikolai Korolkov each had 8 faults, but Kowalczyk won gold as his horse completed the course the quicker. Poland won the last of the 203 gold medals contested. * The oldest medalist at the Moscow Olympics was
Petre Rosca Petre is a surname and given name derived from Peter. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Petre * Charles Petre Eyre (1817–1902), English Roman Catholic prelate * Ion Petre Stoican (circa 1930–1990), Romanian vi ...
(Romania) in the dressage at 57 years 283 days.


Fencing

* France took four gold medals in fencing. * In the team sabre fencing final, for the fifth Olympics in a row, Italy and the USSR met. The USSR won as they did in Tokyo, Mexico and Montreal, while Italy's silver was its only medal in fencing.


Football

* The USSR won bronze. Czechoslovakia won the gold medal beating German Democratic Republic (East Germany) 1:0 in the final. * The matches were played in Moscow and Leningrad, and in Kyiv and Minsk, in the Ukrainian SSR and
Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор ...
respectively.


Gymnastics

* Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin won a medal in each of the eight gymnastics events, including three titles. He was the first athlete to win eight medals at an Olympics. He scored several 10s, the first perfect scores in men's gymnastics since
1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...
. * Nikolai Andrianov, who had won gold on floor at both Munich and Montreal, was pipped this time by Roland Bruckner of East Germany. Andrianov retained the vault title he had won in Montreal. * Zoltán Magyar (Hungary) retained the Olympic title on pommel horse that he had won in Montreal. He was also a three-time world champion and three-time European champion on this piece of apparatus. * In the team competition, the USSR won the gold medal for the eighth consecutive time, continuing the "gold" series that started in 1952. * In the women's gymnastics event finals, a Romanian gymnast medals on each piece of apparatus for the first time: ** Balance Beam – Nadia Comăneci (gold) ** Floor – Nadia Comăneci (gold) ** Uneven Bar –
Emilia Eberle Gertrúd Emilia Eberle (; born 4 March 1964) is a retired Romanian gymnast of German-Hungarian descent.Emili ...
(silver) & Melita Ruhn (bronze) ** Vault – Melita Ruhn (bronze) * Before the Los Angeles Olympics, the United States gymnastics federation proposed a change in the rules so that a head judge cannot interfere and meddle in the scoring of competitors.


Handball

* In the men's event, East Germany beat the USSR 23–22 in the handball final. * In the women's tournament, the USSR won all its matches and retained the Olympic handball title. Yugoslavia and East Germany gained silver and bronze medal respectively.


Field hockey

* Six countries competed in the women's field hockey: Austria, India, Poland, Czechoslovakia, USSR, and Zimbabwe. The gold medal was won by the team of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe did not learn it would get a place in the tournament until 35 days before the Games began, and chose its team only the weekend before the opening ceremony. None of their players had prior playing experience on an artificial surface. Soviet Union won bronze. * India won a record eighth title in men's field hockey. The Soviet Union won bronze.


Judo

* In Japan's absence, the USSR won five medals.


Modern Pentathlon

* In the modern pentathlon,
George Horvath George Horvath (14 March 1960 – 3 May 2022) was a Swedish modern pentathlete. He competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), o ...
(Sweden) recorded a perfect score in the pistol shoot. It had been achieved only once before in
1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
.


Rowing

* East Germany dominated rowing, winning eleven of the fourteen titles. The East German men won seven out of eight events, foiled from achieving a clean sweep by Pertti Karppinen of Finland (who defended his Olympic title from Montreal). East German women won four of their six events. * In the rowing eights with coxswain, the British team won silver just 0.74 seconds behind East Germany.


Sailing

* The sailing event was held in Tallinn, Soviet-occupied Estonia. * Soviet sailor Valentyn Mankin won a gold medal in "Star" class. He won Olympic champion titles in "
Finn The word Finn (''pl.'' Finns) usually refers to a member of the majority Balto-Finnic ethnic group of Finland, or to a person from Finland. Finn may also refer to: Places * Finn Lake, Minnesota, United States * Finn Township, Logan County, Nor ...
" and " Tempest" classes before, and remains the only sailor in Olympic history to win gold medals in three different classes .


Shooting

* The three-day skeet shooting marathon was won by Hans Kjeld Rasmussen of Denmark. * In the smallbore rifle, prone event, Hungarian
Károly Varga Károly Varga (born 28 September 1955 in Budapest) is a Hungarian sport shooter and Olympic champion. He won a gold medal in the 50 metre rifle prone 50 meter rifle prone (formerly known as one of four free rifle disciplines) is an Inter ...
captured the gold and equalled the world record.


Swimming

* Vladimir Salnikov (USSR) won three gold medals in swimming. He became the first man in history to break the 15-minute barrier in the 1500 metre freestyle, swimming's equivalent of breaking the four-minute mile. He missed the 1984 Games because of the boycott but won gold again in this event at Seoul 1988. * Salnikov also won gold in the 4 × 200 m relay and the 400m freestyle. In the 400m freestyle, he set a new Olympic record which was just eleven-hundredths of a second outside his own world record. * In the Montreal final of the 400m freestyle, the seventh and eighth place finalists finished in over four minutes. In Moscow sixteen swimmers finished in under four minutes and eight of them did not make the final. * Duncan Goodhew of Great Britain won the 100 metres breaststroke. * Sweden's Bengt Baron won gold in the 100 meter backstroke. * In the men's 4 × 100 metres medley relay, each of the eight teams taking part in the final broke its country's national record. * The first Australian gold since 1972 came in the 4 × 100 men's medley relay, with Neil Brooks swimming the final leg, the Australians swam the second-fastest time in history. * East German women dominated the swimming events, winning nine of eleven individual titles, both the relays and setting 6 world records. They also won all three medals in six different races. In total they won 26 of the available 35 medals. As it was revealed later, their results were aided by the state-sponsored doping system. *
Barbara Krause Barbara Krause (later Wanja, born 7 July 1959 in East Berlin) is a former freestyle swimmer from East Germany. She was a three-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-time world record holder. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Krause won go ...
(East Germany) became the first woman to go under 55 seconds for the 100 m freestyle. * Backstroker Rica Reinisch (East Germany) was 20th in the world rankings for 100m in 1979 and not in the top 100 for the 200 m. At the Olympics she broke the world records in both distances winning golds. * In the 100m butterfly, Caren Metschuck (East Germany) beats her more experienced teammate Andrea Pollack to win gold. * Petra Schneider (East Germany) shaved three seconds off the world record in the 400m medley. * As in Montreal, the Soviet women made a clean sweep of the medals in the 200m breaststroke. The title in this event was won by
Lina Kačiušytė Lina Kačiušytė (born 1 January 1963 in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR) is a Lithuanian swimmer who competed for the Soviet Union, winner of a gold medal in 200 m breaststroke with the Olympic record time of 2:29:54 at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Biogr ...
. *
Michelle Ford Michelle Jan Ford (born 15 July 1962) is an Australian former long-distance freestyle and butterfly swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle, bronze in the 200-metre butterfly, and 4th in the 400-metres ...
(Australia) won the 800m freestyle more than four seconds ahead of her East German rivals. * In swimming, 230 national, 22 Olympic and ten World records were set. * The youngest male gold medallist of these Olympics was Hungarian backstroke swimmer
Sándor Wladár Sándor Wladár (born 19 July 1963 in Budapest) is a Hungarian retired male swimmer. He won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow in 200 m backstroke. Wladár was a swimmer of Központi Sportiskola (1972–1980), Újpest ...
at 17 years old.


Volleyball

* The prominent nation in both volleyball competitions was the USSR; its teams won both golds.


Water polo

* Hungary won a bronze medal in water polo. This continued their run of always winning a medal in this event since 1928.


Weightlifting

* The standard of weightlifting was the highest in the history of the Olympics. There were eighteen senior world records, two junior world records, more than 100 Olympic records and 108 national records set. * The oldest of weightlifting's Olympic records – the snatch in the lightweight class set in 1964 – was bettered thirteen times. * Yurik Vardanyan (USSR) became the first middleweight to total more than 400 kg, he won gold. * In the super heavyweight class, Vasily Alexeyev (USSR) Olympic champion at Munich and Montreal, eight-time world champion, who in his career set 80 world records, failed to medal. * Soviet weightlifters won 5 golds. * The new category in weightlifting – up to 100 kg – was won by Ota Zaremba of Czechoslovakia.


Wrestling

* In Greco-Roman wrestling, Ferenc Kocsis of Hungary was declared the winner of the 163 pound class when the defending champion Anatoly Bykov was disqualified for passivity. * Soviet wrestlers won 12 golds.


Closing ceremony

Because of the U.S. boycott, changes were made to the traditional elements of the closing ceremony that represent the handover to the host city of the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Among them, the flag of the city of Los Angeles instead of the United States flag was raised, and the Olympic Anthem instead of the
national anthem of the United States "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bo ...
was played. There was also no "Antwerp Ceremony", where the ceremonial Olympic flag was transferred from the Mayor of Moscow to the Mayor of Los Angeles; instead the flag was kept by the Moscow city authorities until 1984. Furthermore, there was no next host city presentation. Both the opening and closing ceremonies were shown in Yuri Ozerov's 1981 film ''Oh, Sport – You Are The World!'' (russian: link=no, О спорт, ты – мир!).


Venues

* Central Lenin Stadium area ** Grand Arena2 – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, football (final), equestrian (jumping individual) ** Minor Arena2 – volleyball **
Swimming Pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
2 – water polo ** Sports Palace2 – gymnastics, judo ** Druzhba Multipurpose Arena1 – volleyball ** Streets of Moscow – Athletics (20 & 50 km walk, marathon) * Olympiysky Sports Complex ** Indoor Stadium1 – basketball (final), boxing **
Swimming Pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
1 – swimming, diving, modern pentathlon (swimming), water polo (final) * CSKA ( Central Sports Club of the Army) Sports Complex ** CSKA Athletics Fieldhouse, Central Sports Club of the Army1 – wrestling ** CSKA Football Fieldhouse, Central Sports Club of the Army1 – fencing, modern pentathlon (fencing) ** CSKA Palace of Sports1 – basketball * Venues in metropolitan Moscow ** Dynamo Central Stadium, Grand Arena2 – football preliminaries ** Dynamo Central Stadium, Minor Arena2 – field hockey ** Young Pioneers Stadium2 – field hockey (final) ** Dynamo Palace of Sports1, Khimki-Khovrino – handball **
Trade Unions' Equestrian Complex The Trade Unions' Equestrian Complex (now Equestrian Complex «Bitsa» ) is an equestrian venue located near the Bitsa Park in the South District of Moscow city, Russia. During the 1980 Summer Olympics, it hosted the riding and running portion ...
1 – equestrian, modern pentathlon (riding, running) **
Izmailovo Sports Palace The Izmailovo Sports Palace is an indoor arena located in the Eastern Planning Zone in Moscow, Russia. It hosted the weightlifting competitions for the 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийск ...
1 – weightlifting ** Sokolniki Sports Palace2 – handball (final) **
Dynamo Shooting Range The Dynamo Shooting Range is a firing range located in Mytishchi in the then Eastern Planning Zone of Moscow, Russia. Constructed in 1957 and renovated in 1979, it hosted the shooting and the shooting part of the modern pentathlon events for t ...
2, Mytishchi – shooting, modern pentathlon (shooting) * Krylatskoye Sports Complex ** Krylatskoye Sports Complex Canoeing and Rowing Basin2, Krylatskoye – canoeing, rowing ** Krylatskoye Sports Complex Velodrome1, Krylatskoye – cycling (track) ** Krylatskoye Sports Complex Cycling Circuit – cycling (individual road race) ** Krylatskoye Sports Complex Archery Field1, Krylatskoye – archery * Venues outside Moscow ** Moscow-Minsk Highway – cycling (road team time trial) ** Kirov Stadium2, Leningrad, Russian SFSR – football preliminaries ** Dinamo Stadium2, Minsk,
Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор ...
– football preliminaries ** Republican Stadium2, Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR – football preliminaries ** Tallinn Olympic Yachting Centre1, Tallinn,
Estonian SSR The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...
– sailing 1 New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. 2 Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.


Medals awarded

The 1980 Summer Olympic programme featured 203 events in the following 21 sports: *Aquatics ** ** ** * * * * * * **Road (2) **Track (4) * **Dressage (2) **Eventing (2) **Show jumping (2) * * * * * * * * * * * * * **Freestyle (10) **Greco-Roman (10)


Calendar

:''All times are in Moscow Time ( UTC+3)''


Medal count

This is a list of all nations that won medals at the 1980 Games.


List of participating countries and regions

In the following list, the number in parentheses indicates the number of athletes from each nation that competed in Moscow. Nations in italics competed under the Olympic flag (or, in the cases of New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, under the flags of their respective National Olympic Committees):


See also

* Use of performance-enhancing drugs in the Olympic Games – 1980 Moscow


Notes


References


External links

*
Official Report from the Organizing Committee (3 volumes)The 1980 Summer Olympics Newsreels
– Net-Film Newsreels and Documentary Films Archive (in Russian)

– lyrics and links to MP3 files


Further reading

* John Goodbody, ''The Illustrated History of Gymnastics'', 1982, . * Bill Henry, ''An Approved History of the Olympic Games'', . * ''The Olympic Games'', 1984, Lord Killanin and John Rodda, . * Stan Greenberg, Whitakers Olympic Almanack, 2004 . * ''Olympics 1984'', produced by Philips International B.V. * ''Chronicle of the Olympics'', . * Peter Arnold, ''The Olympic Games'', * ''Official British Olympic Association Report of the 1980 Games'', published 1981, ISSN 0143-4799


Boycott

* * Evelyn Mertin, ''The Soviet Union and the Olympic Games of 1980 and 1984: Explaining Boycotts to their Own People''. In: S. Wagg/D. Andrews (Eds.) East plays West. Sport and the Cold War, 2007, Oxon: Routledge, pp. 235–252, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Summer Olympics,1980 1980 in Soviet sport 1980 in Moscow
1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...
1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...
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Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
Olympic Games
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