1980 Summer Olympics
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| Games of the XXII Olympiad | |
 |
|
| Host city | Moscow, U.S.S.R. |
|---|---|
| Nations participating | 80[1] |
| Athletes participating | 5,179 (4,064 men, 1,115 women)[1] |
| Events | 203 in 21 sports |
| Opening ceremony | July 19 |
| Closing ceremony | August 3 |
| Officially opened by | Leonid Brezhnev |
| Athlete's Oath | Nikolay Andrianov |
| Judge's Oath | Aleksandr Medved |
| Olympic Torch | Sergei Belov |
| Stadium | Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium |
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. Another candidate in the bid to organize the Summer Olympics was Los Angeles. The choice between them was made on October 23, 1974 in the 75th IOC Session in Vienna, Austria. The yachting events were held in Tallinn; preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football (soccer) tournament were held, besides Moscow, at the stadiums of Leningrad, Kiev, and Minsk. It was the first Games ever held in Eastern Europe. The chart's information about the vote result comes from the International Olympic Committee Vote History web page.
| 1980 Summer Olympics Bidding Results | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | NOC Name | Round 1 | ||||
| Moscow |  Soviet Union |
39 | ||||
| Los Angeles, California |  United States |
20 | ||||
[edit] Overview
- Although approximately half of the 24 countries which boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics participated in these, the Games were disrupted by another, even larger, boycott led by the United States followed by 64 other countries in protest of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Only 10 of these nations had won medals in Montreal. Because a number of countries were unlikely to have gone to Moscow anyway for financial reasons, they found it politically expedient to say they were boycotting the Games. It is difficult to compile an exact list of boycotting nations. Olympic historians put the number at 45–50.
- Eighty-one nations participated — the lowest number since 1956. The nations that did compete won 71% of the medals, including 71% of the gold medals, at Montreal. In contrast the nations that competed in Los Angeles in 1984 had won 49% of the medals, including 42% of the gold medals, at Montreal.
- As a form of protest against the USSR 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. One country — New Zealand — competed under their association flag (the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association).
- The Italians won 4 times as many gold medals as they had in Montreal and the French multiplied their gold medal results by 3. Romania won more gold medals than it had at any previous Olympics. In total medals it was Ireland's most successful Olympics since Melbourne 1956. The same is true for Great Britain. "Third World" athletes qualified for more events and took more medals than at any previous Olympics.
- 21% of the competitors were female — a higher percentage than at any previous Olympics.
- There were 203 events — more than at any previous Olympics.
- 36 World records, 39 European records and 74 Olympic records were set. In total this is more records than were set at Montreal.
- Olympic records were improved on 241 times in the course of the competitions and world records were beaten 97 times.
- Prince Alexandre de Merode of Belgium, Chairman of the IOC Medical Commission stated that "There were 9,292 drug tests. None positive".
- As of 2008 four Olympic records set in 1980 still stand — East German women 4×100 metre relay 41.6 seconds; Shot Put Ilona Slupianek of East Germany 22.41 metres; Soviet Nadezhda Olizarenko 800 metres, 1.53.43; Modern Pentathlon Soviet Anatoli Starostin 5568 points.
- The impact of the boycott was mixed. Some events like field hockey and equestrian sports were hard hit. Others like boxing, judo, rowing, swimming, track and field and weightlifting actually had more participants than in 1976.
- 8 nations appeared for the first time at an Olympics — Angola, Vietnam, Botswana, Laos, Nicaragua, Seychelles, Mozambique and Cyprus. Zimbabwe also made its first appearance under that name. It had previously competed as Rhodesia.
- Athletes from 25 countries won Olympic gold (same as LA and 1 less than Montreal) and competitors from 36 countries became Olympic medallists.
- The USSR won 16 gold medal titles in Montreal that they failed to retain in Moscow (Women's platform diving; Kayak fours, men 1000 metres; kayak doubles, women 500 metres; canoeing doubles, men 500 metres; canoeing doubles, men 1000 metres; fencing foil women's team; gymnastics men's floor exercise; men's handball team final; Rowing coxed fours men; weightlifting lightweight, middle heavyweight; judo, heavyweight; Graeco-Roman wrestling (lightweight, welterweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight).
- Associated Press, on the basis of a comparative analysis of the best results of 1980 including national championships of the leading sports powers of the world, noted that, even if American, Japanese, Canadian and West German competitors had taken part in the Games, the USSR and East Germany would have headed the medal table as they had in Montreal.
- Major broadcasters of the Games were USSR State TV and Radio (1,370 accreditation cards), Eurovision (31 countries, 818 cards) and Intervision (11 countries, 342 cards).[2] Asahi TV with 68 cards provided coverage for Japan, while OTI representing the Spanish-speaking world received 59 cards and the Channel Seven provided coverage for Australia (48 cards).[2] NBC, which had intended to be another major broadcaster, canceled its coverage in response to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, and became a minor broadcaster with 56 accreditation cards,[2] although the network did air highlights and recaps of the games on a regular basis. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation almost canceled their plans for coverage after Canada took part in the boycott and was represented by 9 cards.[2]
- The television centre used 20 TV channels. Montreal had used 16, Munich 12, Mexico City 7.
- During the opening ceremony, Salyut 6 crew Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin sent their greetings to the Olympians and wished them happy starts in the live communication between the station and the Central Lenin Stadium. They appeared on the stadium's scoreboard and their voices were translated via loud speakers.[3]
- According to the Official Report, submitted to the IOC by the NOC of the USSR, total expenditures for the preparations for and staging of the Games were 862.7 million rubles, total revenues being 744.8 million rubles.
- 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.
- Athletes reported that some Soviet fans at the track and field events were excessively jingoistic, even booing athletes of close USSR allies such as East Germany and Poland. In contrast the crowds at the women's gymnastic events were reported "to be better behaved than many we have seen in recent years".
- There were 5 million spectators in the arenas — 1.5 million more than at Montreal.
- There were 1,245 referees from 78 countries.
- At the closing ceremony, the Los Angeles city flag — rather than the United States flag — was raised to symbolize the next host of the Olympic Games.
[edit] Sporting highlights
[edit] Archery
- Tomi Poikolainen of Finland, who had not finished any of the previous 3 days shootings higher than 4th, came from 4th on the last day to win the men's archery competition, scoring 2455 points. He won gold just 3 points ahead of a Soviet. It was the equivalent of winning a marathon just a few paces ahead of a rival.
- Women's archery gold was won by Ketevan Losaberidze (USSR) who was also the world, European and Soviet champion.
- Women's archery silver was won by Natalia Butuzova (USSR). In 1979 she had set 9 national records and 3 world records.
[edit] Athletics
- Ethiopian Miruts Yifter won the 5000 metre and 10000 metre athletics double, emulating Lasse Viren's 1972 and 1976 performances.
- "I have a 90% chance of winning the 1,500 meters" wrote Steve Ovett in an article he did for one of Britain's Sunday papers just before the start of the Olympics. After he won the 800 metres Olympic gold, beating the world record holder Sebastian Coe, Ovett boosted his claim saying he would not only win but would beat the world record by as much as 4 seconds. Ovett had won 45 straight 1,500 meter races since May 1977.In contrast Coe had competed in only 8 1,500 meter races between 1976-1980. But Coe wins, holding off Ovett in the final straight. Ovett finished third.
- Scotsman Allan Wells beat Cuban Silvio Leonard and becomes the first Briton since 1924 to win the Olympic 100 meters. It was the closest 100m race at the Olympics in 28 years. It was a photo finish with both runners timed at 10.25 seconds.
- Gerd Wessig — who had made the East German team only 2 weeks before the Games — easily won the gold medal with a 2.36m (7'9") high jump. This was 9cm higher than he had ever jumped before. For the first time in history the world record in high jump was broken at the Olympic Games.
- The 1980 Olympic women's long jump competition produced a surprise when the 3rd string Soviet jumper, Tatiana Kolpakova, bested her compatriots and other competitors by setting a new Olympic record of 7.06m (23'2").
- Poland's Władysław Kozakiewicz won the pole vault with a jump of 5.78m (18'11.5") — only the 2nd pole vaulting world record to be established during an Olympics. The previous time had been at the Antwerp Olympics 1920.
- In the pole vault competition, despite pleas for silence in 3 languages, jeers, chants and whistles among the different factions in the crowd supporting French, Soviet and Polish pole vaulters could be heard. Immediately after Kozakiewicz secured his gold medal, he responded to the jeering Soviet crowds with an obscene bent elbow gesture. This gesture is now referred to in Polish as "Kozakiewicz's gesture".
- In the pole vault an athlete topped the Olympic record by 15cm (6") and yet was only 4th. Similarly athletes who broke the Olympic record in men's high jump by 5cm (2"), the women's long jump by 13cm (5"),and the women's javelin by 60cm (2'), wound up no better than 4th. 12 track and field athletes performed so well that their scores would have won any previous Olympics, yet at Moscow they went home without a medal.
- In the long jump competition 3 women beat 23 feet for the first time ever in one competition.
- Waldemar Cierpinski of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) won his second consecutive marathon 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.
- Soviet walker Anatoly Solomin was leading the 20km walk with 1 lap to go when he was disqualified. The race was won by a hitherto little known Italian, Maurizio Damilano, in an Olympic record time.
- For the first time in the history of the Olympics all 8 male participants in the long jump final beat the mark of 8 metres.
- Spain and Bulgaria earned their first ever medals in Men's track.
- Lutz Dombrowski (GDR) won the long jump gold. His was the longest jump recorded at sea level and he became only the 2nd human to jump further than 28 feet.
- In the triple jump final Viktor Saneyev who won gold at Mexico, Munich and Montreal won silver behind his compatriot Jaak Uudmäe.
- Yuriy Sedykh (USSR) won gold in the hammer throw event.4 of his 6 throws broke the world record of 80m.No hammer thrower in the world had ever achieved this before. As in Montreal the USSR win 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 - 69.96m.She had been undefeated since Montreal.
- Cuba's Maria Colon won the women's javelin setting a new Olympic record and beating the favored Soviet throwers.
- Sara Simeoni of Italy won the women's high jump setting a new Olympic record. She had won a silver in Montreal (behind Rosemarie Ackermann of East Germany whom she defeated in Moscow) and would go on to win a silver in LA.
- In track-and-field 6 world records,18 Olympic records and 9 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 L.A. Olympics.
- Dainis Kula (USSR) 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.
- One popular rumor was that the stadium gates behind the javelin competition were opened each time a Soviet athlete threw, so there would be a following breeze.
- IAAF President Adrian Paulen of Holland said "Whereas at the 1976 Games in Montreal the Jury of Appeal had to deal with 16 protests, the fact remains that in Moscow there were only 2. This was the smallest number of protests at any Olympic Games since Tokyo 1964".
[edit] Boxing
- Teófilo Stevenson of Cuba became the first boxer to win three consecutive Olympic titles in heavyweight, the only boxer to win the same event in 3 Games. (László Papp from Hungary was the first boxer to win three titles). In boxing Cuba won 6 gold, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes, a haul only equaled once before in the entire history of the Olympics (by the USA at St. Louis in 1904 when there were hardly any other boxers from other nations present). The USSR won 1 gold medal, the same as Italy, Yugoslavia,East Germany and Bulgaria.
- The Val Barker Trophy is presented by the International Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) 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. In his final Oliva defeated Serik Konakbaev ( USSR).In 1979 Konakbaev had beaten Oliva in the final of the European Championships.
- Michael Anthonys bronze medal in the bantamweight class was the 1st Olympic medal ever won by an athlete from Guyana.
- Donald F.Hull, US president of the Amateur International Boxing Federation (IABA)said "I consider the organization of the present boxing tournament to be the best among the last 3 Olympics".
[edit] Canoeing and rowing
- East Germany dominated rowing, winning eleven of the fourteen titles. The East German men won 7 out of 8 events, foiled from achieving a clean sweep by Pertti Karppinen of Finland (who defended his Olympic title from Montreal). East German women won 4 of their 6 events. The Soviets had been expected to win most of these titles considering their success at Munich and Montreal.
- The prophets of the canoeing world had predicted that the USSR would triumph in at least 9 of the 11 classes for which there were gold medals to be won at the 1980 Olympic regatta. At Montreal the USSR had won 6 of 11 titles and at Munich 6 out of 7.
- Sergei Postrekhin (USSR) was favored to win the single canoe 1,000 metres gold but is beaten by Lubomir Lubenov of Bulgaria.
- The East German women's eights team win gold despite only having being selected 3 months before the Olympics began.
- In canoeing Australia won its first medal since 1956.
- Ivan Patzaichin (Romania) won gold medals over a 16 year period,1968-1984.
- Apart from the boycott of the LA Olympics Birgit Fischer (East Germany) won medals in each Olympics from 1980-2004. In the 500 metres kayak singles for women she won gold in Moscow, silver in Seoul, gold in Barcelona.
- Belarusian Uladzimir Parfianovich of the USSR won 3 gold medals in canoeing.
- In the rowing eights with coxswain the British team win silver just 0.74 seconds behind East Germany. The Britons had never rowed together before the Olympic trials and had only 10 weeks to prepare for Moscow. The stroke, Richard Stanhope, had never stroked on an 8 man shell before and in the final their steering broke.
[edit] Cycling
- Lothar Thoms of East Germany won the 1,000 metre individual pursuit cycling gold, breaking the world record by nearly 4 seconds.
- The surprise winner of the bronze in that race was Jamaica's David Weller who also broke the 16 year old world record.
- In the 4,000 metre team pursuit qualifying heats new world indoor records were set 8 times.
- In the 4,000 metre individual pursuit the Olympic flag was flown for all 3 medal winning positions - Switzerland gold, France silver, Denmark bronze. Robert Dill-Bundi became the 1st Olympic champion in the history of Swiss cycling.
- The 189 kilometer individual road race gold was won by Sergei Sukhoruchenkov (USSR). British team manager Peter Crinnon called it "The greatest exhibition of power riding ever". Sukhoruchenkov is voted best racer in the world by the International Amateur Cycling Federation.
- In this race only a photo-finish can tell the next 2 finishers apart, giving the silver medal to the Polish cyclist and the bronze to a Soviet cyclist.
- The cycling team road race is won by the Soviet team as they had done in Munich and Montreal.
- In cycling world records were toppled 21 times.
[edit] Diving
- As Aleksandr Portnov waited to do a 2 and 1/2 reverse somersault in the springboard final, cheers broke out in three adjoining swimming pool during the closing stages of 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. He crashed badly. On protest to the Swedish referee G.Olander he was allowed to repeat the dive and went ahead again of Mexico's Carlos Giron. 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 the International Amateur Swimming Federation (FINA). FINA President Javier Ostas of Mexico 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 4th after the preliminary high dives, behind 2 Soviets and a Mexican, 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 10 dives in the preliminaries she amassed a unique number of points : 478.86.In the previous 4 years no diver had scored so many.
- In this final the Mexican judge A.Marsikal allowed Karin Guthke (East Germany) re-take a dive. Guthke then won bronze ahead of the Soviet Zhanna Tsirulnikova.
[edit] Equestrian
- In the individual show jumping event Poland's Jan Kowalczyk and USSR's Nikolai Koralkov both had 8 faults But Kowalczyk won gold as his horse competed the course the quicker. So Poland won the last of the 203 gold medals contested.
- Austrian horsewoman Elisabeth Theurer, despite the decision of the federation of equastrian sports of her country not to participate in the Olympics, was flown to Moscow by former racing driver Nikki Lauda. Theurer won the gold medal in the dressage competition.
- The oldest medalist at the Moscow Olympics was Petre Rosca (Romania)in the dressage at 57 years 283 days.
[edit] Fencing
- Soviet foil fencers, who had taken possession of all the World and Olympic titles, were not among the 6 challengers in the finals. The Soviet 5 time world champion Alexander Romankov won a bronze.
- France took 4 golds in fencing, an Olympic record in the post World War II era.
- In the team sabre fencing final, for the 5th Olympics in a row, Italy and the USSR met. The USSR won as they did in Tokyo, Mexico and Montreal.
- In the men's foil final the USSR and France record 8 wins each but the Frenchmen made more hits and this won them the gold.
[edit] Football
- The USSR were favorites to win gold in soccer but won bronze instead. Czechoslovakia won the gold medal beating German Democratic Republic (Eastern Germany) 1:0 in the final. After many years in the doldrums, Olympic soccer had a revival in 1980 when the matches attracted nearly 2 million spectators.
[edit] 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 8 medals at an Olympics. He scored several 10's, the first perfect scores in men's gymnastics since the 1924 Paris Olympics.
- 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.
- Zoltan Magyar (Hungary) retained the Olympic title on pommel horse that he had won in Montreal. He was also 3 times World champion and 3 times European champion on this piece of apparatus.
- In women's gymnastics the USSR won 1 medal in the All-Around competition. In each Olympics before this they had always won 2 and in Rome 1960 had won all 3. In the Friendship Games at Olomouc '84 and at Seoul '88 they would win 2 again. In the Team Competition they won the gold medal for the eighth time, continuing the "gold" series started in 1952.
- In the women's gymnastics event finals, for the first time ever, a Romanian gymnast medals on each piece of apparatus. This they had never achieved before and achieved only once again (Seoul '88) in the next 6 Olympics.
- In women's gymnastics there was a judging scandal when the Romanian head judge refused to post the score of her fellow Romanian Nadia Comaneci. This score gave Comaneci a silver medal behind Yelena Davydova of the USSR, but the Romanian judge, Mili Simionescu, tried to persuade the other judges to increase Comaneci's score so that she would win gold. After the Olympics, Simionescu was severely criticized by the International Gymnastics Federation. Before the LA 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.
[edit] Handball
- East Germany beat the USSR 23-22 in the handball final to take their first medal of any sort in the men's event.
[edit] Hockey
- Women's field hockey was an Olympic sport for the first time. Six countries competed: Austria, India, Poland, Czechoslovakia, USSR, and Zimbabwe. The gold medal was won by the team of Zimbabwe ahead of the firm favorites of the USSR who won bronze. 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. They had not trained at all together before the tournament and warmed up by playing some friendly matches with different Soviet club teams.
- India won a record 8th title in men's field hockey.
[edit] Judo
- In Japan's absence, the USSR was expected to improve its showing in judo but wound up with 5 medals, the same as Montreal, despite the fact that there were 2 more weight categories. 15 countries shared the medals in judo, more than the record 12 countries in Munich and Montreal.
[edit] Modern Pentathlon
- In the women's pentathlon the Soviet Nadezhda Tkachenko scored 5,083 points to become the first athlete to exceed 5,000 points in the event during Olympic competition.
- Although she won the silver medal Olga Rukavishnikova (USSR) held the world record for 0.4 seconds as she finished 1st in the last event of 800m.That gave her the shortest reign of any world record holder ever.
- In the men's Pentathlon Anatoly Starostin (USSR) became the youngest ever Olympic champion in this sport.
- 26 competitors scored over 5,000 points. In Munich 12 topped this mark and in Montreal 21.
- It was the 1st time ever at either a world championship or an Olympics that as many as 8 teams topped the 15,000 point level.
- In the modern pentathlon George Horvath (Hungary) recorded a perfect score in the pistol shoot. It had been achieved only once before, at the 1936 Olympics.
[edit] Sailing
- Soviet sailor Valentyn Mankin won a gold medal in "Star" class. He won Olympic champion titles in "Finn" and "Tempest" classes before, and as of 2007 remains the only sailor in Olympic history to win gold medals in three different classes.
- Both Finland (gold) and Ireland (silver) won their first ever Olympic yachting medals.
- The USSR had its worst Olympic regatta since Mexico 1968.
- In 1980 the medals were awarded to yachtsmen from 12 countries, the widest medal distribution in the sport at an Olympics.
[edit] Shooting
- The 3-day skeet shooting marathon was won by Hans Kjeld Rasmussen of Denmark, the 2nd Olympic gold for Danish shooters since the 1900 Paris Games.
- In the smallbore rifle, prone event, Hungarian Karoly Varga captured the gold and equalled the world record despite having broken his shooting hand just prior to the competition.
[edit] Swimming
- Vladimir Salnikov (USSR) won three gold medals in swimming. He became the first man in history to break the magic 15 minute barrier in the 1500 metre freestyle, swimming's equivalent of breaking the 4-minute mile. He missed the LA Games because of the boycott but won gold again in this event at Seoul 88.
- Salnikov also won gold in the 4x200m relay and the 400m freestyle. In the 400m freestyle he set a new Olympic record which was just eleven-hundreths of a second outside his own world record.
- In the Montreal final of the 400m freestyle the 7th and 8th place finalists finished in over 4 minutes. In Moscow 16 swimmers finished in under 4 minutes and 8 of them didn't make the final.
- Duncan Goodhew of Great Britain won the 100 metres breaststroke, beating Miskarov, a strongly favoured Soviet, into second place by half a second.
- Sweden's Bengt Baron, participating in his 1st major international competition, won gold in the 100 meter backstroke ahead of 2 Soviets.
- In the men's 4×100 metres medley relay each of the 8 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. The Australians had been expecting to win silver behind the hot favourites from the USSR but with Neil Brooks swimming the final leg, the Australians swam the 2nd fastest time in history.
- East German women dominated the swimming events, winning 9 of 11 individual titles, both the relays and setting 6 world records. They also won all 3 medals in 6 different races. In total they won 26 of the available 35 medals.
- Barbara Krause (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 Metschuk (East Germany) beats her more experienced team-mate Andrea Pollack to win gold.
- Petra Schneider ( East Germany) shaved 3 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.
- Yulia Bogdanova (USSR), the recent world title winner in the 200m breaststroke did not qualify for the Olympic final, the title in this event was won by her teammate Lina Kačiušytė.
- The Soviet women swimmers in the 4×100 metres freestyle relay were disqualified.
- Michelle Ford (Australia) won the 800m freestyle more than 4 seconds ahead of her East German rivals.
- In swimming 230 national, 22 Olympic and 10 World records were set.
- Poland won its first ever swimming medal.
- The youngest male gold medallist of these Olympics was Hungarian backstroke swimmer Sandar Wladar, 17 years and 1 week old.
[edit] Volleyball
- The prominent nation in both volleyball competitions was the USSR; only once had their teams failed to reach the final. The Soviet men and women had lost only 6 games between them in the 5 Olympics since volleyball was incorporated into the list of Olympic sports at Tokyo 1964.
[edit] Waterpolo
- Hungary won a bronze medal in waterpolo. This continued their run of always winning a medal in this event since 1924.
[edit] Weightlifting
- The standard of weightlifting was the highest in the history of the Olympics. There were 18 senior world records,2 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 13 times.
- 56kg : Daniel Nunez (Cuba) won gold ahead of the favourite Yurik Sarkisian (USSR).
- 60kg : Viktor Mazin (USSR), holder of all the world records in this class, was the expected winner with a new Olympic record total. But if only Marek Sewelyn (Poland) had succeeded with his last jerk, he would have scored a surprise win. After fixing the 162.5 kg bar overhead, he let it fall while making a faulty recovery.
- 90 kg : After the 1976 Olympic champion and undisputed favourite, David Rigert (USSR) failed to register a snatch, Peter Baczako (Hungary) became the surprise winner.
- Yurik Vardanyan ( USSR) became the 1st middleweightlifter to clear more than 400kg (lift and jerk).
- In the super heavyweight class Vasily Alexeyev (USSR) Olympic champion at Munich and Montreal,8 times world champion and who in his career set 80 world records, failed to make a single lift.
- The new category in weightlifting - up to 100kg - was won by Ota Zaremba of Czechoslovakia.
[edit] Wrestling
- In Graeco-Roman wrestling Ferenc Kocsis of Hungary was declared the winner of the 163 pound class when the Olympic and Soviet defending champion Anatoly Bykov was disqualified for passivity.
- 1980 witnessed the first ever "Graeco" to win a Graeco-Roman title at an Olympics; Greece's Stilianos Migiakis took the gold in the featherweight division.
- In the 106 pound freestyle wrestling final Italy's Claudio Pollio put Soviet grappler and twice world champion Sergei Kornilaev to the mat to take an unexpected gold on point standings.
- None of the experts rated the Bulgarian welterweight freestyle wrestler Valentin Raitchev. He had no experience of international competition but wins gold.
- The Soviet national head coach said that Nikolai Balboshin - the reigning Olympic champion from Montreal - was unbeatable in his heavyweight division. However Balboshin fails to win a medal.
[edit] Venues
- Central Lenin Stadium area
- Grand Arena² - opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, football/soccer finals, equestrian events
- Minor Arena² - volleyball
- Swimming Pool² - water polo
- Palace of Sports² - gymnastics, judo
- Druzhba Multipurpose Arena¹ - volleyball
- Olympiiski Sports Center
- Indoor Stadium¹ - basketball, boxing
- Swimming Pool¹ - swimming, diving, swimming event of modern pentathlon, water polo
- CSKA (Central Sports Club of the Army) Sports Complex
- Athletics Fieldhouse, Central Sports Club of the Army¹ - wrestling
- Football Fieldhouse, Central Sports Club of the Army¹ - fencing
- Palace of Sports, Central Sports Club of the Army¹ - basketball, fencing event of modern pentathlon
- Venues in metropolitan Moscow
- Grand Arena, Dynamo Central Stadium² - football/soccer preliminaries
- Minor Arena, Dynamo Central Stadium² - hockey
- Young Pioneers' Stadium² - hockey
- Dynamo Palace of Sports¹, Khimki-Khovrino - handball
- Trade Unions' Equestrian Complex¹ - equestrian events, equestrian and cross-country events of modern pentathlon
- Izmailovo Palace of Sports¹ - weightlifting
- Sokolniki Sports Palace² - handball
- Dynamo Shooting Range², Mytishchi - shooting events, shooting event of modern pentathlon
- Krylatskoye Sports Complex
- Canoeing and Rowing Basin², Krylatskoye - canoeing, rowing
- Olympic Velodrome¹, Krylatskoye - cycling
- Archery Field¹, Krylatskoye - archery
- Venues outside Moscow
- Kirov Stadium², Leningrad, Russian SFSR - soccer/football preliminaries
- Dynamo Stadium², Minsk, Byelorussian SSR - soccer/football preliminaries
- Republican Stadium², Kiev, Ukrainian SSR - soccer/football preliminaries
- Olympic Yachting Center¹, Tallinn, Estonian SSR - yachting
¹ New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games. ² Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.
[edit] Medals awarded
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
[edit] Medal count
These are the top medal-collecting nations for the 1980 Games. (Host country is highlighted) and (Highest amount in bold).
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Soviet Union |
80 | 69 | 46 | 195 |
| 2 |  East Germany |
47 | 37 | 42 | 126 |
| 3 |  Bulgaria |
8 | 16 | 17 | 41 |
| 4 |  Cuba |
8 | 7 | 5 | 20 |
| 5 |  Italy |
8 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| 6 |  Hungary |
7 | 10 | 15 | 32 |
| 7 | .svg/22px-Flag_of_Romania_(1965-1989).svg.png){kind=small} Romania |
6 | 6 | 13 | 25 |
| 8 | France |
6 | 5 | 3 | 14 |
| 9 | Great Britain |
5 | 7 | 9 | 21 |
| 10 |  Poland |
3 | 14 | 15 | 32 |
[edit] Participating nations
A total of 81 nations were represented at the Moscow Games, but Liberia withdrew after marching in the Opening Ceremony, so a total of 80 nations actually competed.
Despite the large boycott, six nations made their first Olympic appearance in 1980: Angola, Botswana, Jordan, Laos, Mozambique, and Seychelles. Cyprus made its debut at the Summer Olympics, but had appeared earlier at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Sri Lanka competed for the first time under its new name (previously as Ceylon) and Zimbabwe competed for the first time under that name (previously as Rhodesia).
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.
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.svg/22px-Flag_of_Brazil_(1968-1992).svg.png){kind=small}
.svg/22px-Flag_of_Ethiopia_(1975-1987,_1991-1996).svg.png){kind=small}
.svg/22px-Flag_of_Iraq_(1963-1991).svg.png){kind=small}
.svg/22px-Flag_of_Lesotho_(1966).svg.png){kind=small}
.svg/22px-Flag_of_the_People's_Republic_of_Mongolia_(1949-1992).svg.png){kind=small}
.svg/22px-Flag_of_Mozambique_(1975-1983).svg.png){kind=small}
.svg/22px-Flag_of_Peru_(state).svg.png){kind=small}
(Nations in italics marched under the Olympic flag at the opening and closing ceremonies.)
[edit] Boycotting countries and regions
Main article: American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics
62 Countries and regions took part in the US led boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games. A number of these countries cited economic reasons for not coming.[4]
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.svg/22px-Flag_of_the_Philippines_(navy_blue).svg.png){kind=small}
[edit] References
- ^ a b Moscow 1980
- ^ a b c d 1980 Summer Olympics Official Report from the Organizing Committee, vol. 2, p. 379
- ^ (Russian) History — Moscow-1980
- ^ "Partial Boycott - New IOC President", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 26, December 1980, Page 30599.
[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
- Official Report from the Organizing Committee (3 volumes)
- (Russian) Theme songs of the 1980 Summer Olympics - lyrics and links to MP3 files
- Bear Cub Misha Lover's Association, 1980 Summer Olympics mascot Misha's fan page (in Japanese)
- Moscow Life: A retrospective of the 1980 Moscow Olympics
- The Olympic Games in Occupied Estonia. An appeal
[edit] Literature
- John Goodbody, The Illustrated History of Gymnastics, 1982, ISBN 0-09-143350-9.
- Bill Henry, An Approved History of the Olympic Games, ISBN 0-88284-243-9.
- The Olympic Games, 1984, Lord Killanin and John Rodda, ISBN 0-00-218062-6.
- Stan Greenberg, Whitakers Olympic Almanack, 2004 ISBN 0-7136-6724-9.
- Olympics 1984, produced by Philips International B.V.
- Chronicle of the Olympics, ISBN 0-7894-2312-X.
- Peter Arnold, The Olympic Games, ISBN 0-603-03068-8
- Official British Olympic Association Report of the 1980 Games, published 1981, ISSN 0143-4799
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