Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by 38 events. They were held in the

Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium Luzhniki Stadium ( rus, стадион «Лужники», p=stədʲɪˈon lʊʐnʲɪˈkʲi, ''Stadion Luzhniki'') is the national stadium of Russia, located in its capital city, Moscow. The full name of the stadium is Grand Sports Arena of the ...

at Luzhniki (south-western part of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

) between July 24 and August 1. There were a total number of 959 participating athletes from 70 countries.

Medal table

Medal summary

Men

Women

Controversy

Polish gold medallist

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

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 th ...

showed an obscene

bras d'honneur A (), Iberian slap,, ; pt, manguito; ca, botifarra, . forearm jerk, Italian salute,, . or Kozakiewicz's gesture, or . is an obscene gesture that communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent in meaning to " fuck you", "s ...

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 advantage Soviet athletes, and causing other disturbances to opposing athletes. The Soviet Union's

Jaak Uudmäe Jaak Uudmäe (born 3 September 1954) is an Estonian former triple jumper and long jumper who competed for the Soviet Union. He was the gold medalist at the 1980 Summer Olympics. He set a personal best of in his Olympic victory – a mark which ...

and

Viktor Saneyev Viktor Danilovich Saneyev (russian: Виктор Данилович Санеев; ka, ვიქტორ სანეევი, Vikt’or Saneevi; 3 October 1945 – 3 January 2022) was a Georgian triple jumper who competed internationally for ...

won the first two places in the triple jump, ahead of Brazil's world record holder

João Carlos de Oliveira João Carlos de Oliveira, also known as "João do Pulo" (May 28, 1954May 29, 1999) was a Brazilian athlete who competed in the triple jump and the long jump. Born in Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo De Oliveira won two Olympic bronze medals. His perso ...

. 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 he hadn't 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. Similar allegations were made about a favorable call aiding

Tatyana Kolpakova Tatyana Alekseyevna Kolpakova (Abbyasova) (russian: Татьяна Алексеевна Колпакова (Аббясова)) (born October 18, 1959 in village Alamedin, Kyrgyz SSR) is a retired long jumper who represented the USSR. Kolpakov ...

in the women's long jump.

References

External links

International Olympic Committee results database

{{Athletics at the Summer Olympics 1980 Summer Olympics events O 1980 1980 Olympics 1980 Olympics