# 1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships

The 1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in Grenoble, a city in France, between 21–22 February 1981. It was the second time the championships were held in the city. The track used for the championships was 180 metres long.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 50 metres details | Marian Woronin (POL) | 5.65 | Vladimir Muravyov (URS) | 5.76 | Andrey Shlyapnikov (URS) | 5.77 |
| 400 metres details | Andreas Knebel (GDR) | 46.52 | Martin Weppler (FRG) | 46.88 | Stefano Malinverni (ITA) | 46.96 |
| 800 metres details | Herbert Wursthorn (FRG) | 1:47.70 | András Paróczai (HUN) | 1:47.73 | Antonio Páez (ESP) | 1:48.31 |
| 1500 metres details | Thomas Wessinghage (FRG) | 3:42.64 | Uwe Becker (FRG) | 3:43.02 | Mirosław Żerkowski (POL) | 3:44.32 |
| 3000 metres details$^1$ | Alex Gonzalez (FRA) | 7:22.71 | Evgeni Ignatov (BUL) | No time | Valeriy Abramov (URS) | No time |
| 50 metres hurdles details | Arto Bryggare (FIN) | 6.47 | Javier Moracho (ESP) | 6.48 | Guy Drut (FRA) | 6.54 |
| 5000 metres walk details | Hartwig Gauder (GDR) | 19:08.59 CR | Maurizio Damilano (ITA) | 19:13.90 | Gérard Lelievre (FRA) | 19:55.02 |
| High jump details | Roland Dalhäuser (SUI) | 2.28 | Carlo Thränhardt (FRG) | 2.25 | Dietmar Mögenburg (FRG) | 2.25 |
| Pole vault details | Thierry Vigneron (FRA) | 5.70 =WR | Aleksandr Krupskiy (URS) | 5.65 | Jean-Michel Bellot (FRA) | 5.65 |
| Long jump details | Rolf Bernhard (SUI) | 8.01 | Antonio Corgos (ESP) | 7.97 | Shamil Abbyasov (URS) | 7.95 |
| Triple jump details | Shamil Abbyasov (URS) | 17.30 WR | Klaus Kübler (FRG) | 16.73 | Aston Moore (GBR) | 16.73 |
| Shot put details | Reijo Ståhlberg (FIN) | 19.88 | Luc Viudès (FRA) | 19.41 | Zlatan Saracevic (YUG) | 19.40 |
$^1$ The race was stopped one lap short (at 2820m) due to an official's error.

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 50 metres details | Sofka Popova (BUL) | 6.17 | Linda Haglund (SWE) | 6.17 | Marita Koch (GDR) | 6.19 |
| 400 metres details | Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH) | 50.07 CR | Natalya Bochina (URS) | 52.32 | Verona Elder (GBR) | 52.37 |
| 800 metres details | Hildegard Ullrich (GDR) | 2:00.94 | Svetla Zlateva (BUL) | 2:01.37 | Nikolina Shtereva (BUL) | 2:02.50 |
| 1500 metres details | Agnese Possamai (ITA) | 4:07.49 | Valentina Ilyinykh (URS) | 4:08.17 | Lyubov Smolka (URS) | 4:08.64 |
| 50 metres hurdles details | Zofia Bielczyk (POL) | 6.74 =WR | Maria Kemenchezhi (URS) | 6.80 | Tatyana Anisimova (URS) | 6.81 |
| High jump details | Sara Simeoni (ITA) | 1.97 CR | Elżbieta Krawczuk (POL) | 1.94 | Urszula Kielan (POL) | 1.94 |
| Long jump details | Karin Hänel (FRG) | 6.77 WR | Sigrid Heimann (GDR) | 6.66 | Jasmin Fischer (FRG) | 6.65 |
| Shot put details | Ilona Slupianek (GDR) | 20.77 | Helena Fibingerová (TCH) | 20.64 | Helma Knorscheidt (GDR) | 20.12 |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | East Germany (GDR) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 2 | West Germany (FRG) | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | France (FRA) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | Poland (POL) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 5 | Italy (ITA) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Finland (FIN) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Switzerland (SUI) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Soviet Union (URS) | 1 | 5 | 5 | 11 |
| 9 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Spain (ESP) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 12 | Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 15 | Yugoslavia (YUG) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (15 entries) | Totals (15 entries) | 20 | 20 | 20 | 60 |

## Participating nations

* Austria (8)
* Belgium (6)
* Bulgaria (18)
* Czechoslovakia (10)
* Denmark (5)
* East Germany (12)
* Finland (10)
* France (38)
* Great Britain (17)
* Greece (5)
* Hungary (8)
* Iceland (2)
* Italy (21)
* Netherlands (3)
* Norway (1)
* Poland (10)
* Portugal (1)
* Soviet Union (22)
* Spain (12)
* Sweden (9)
* Switzerland (6)
* West Germany (27)
* Yugoslavia (6)