# 1981 European Cup (athletics)

The 1981 European Cup was the 8th edition of the European Cup of athletics. It was the last edition to feature multiple stages of competition before being replaced by the promotion/relegation system since 1983.
The "A" Finals were held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. The first two teams qualified for the 1981 IAAF World Cup.

## "A" Final

Held in Zagreb on 15 and 16 August.

### Team standings

Men :
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | East Germany | 128 |
| 2 | Soviet Union | 124.5 |
| 3 | Great Britain | 106.5 |
| 4 | West Germany | 97 |
| 5 | Italy | 75 |
| 6 | Poland | 74 |
| 7 | France | 71 |
| 8 | Yugoslavia | 41 |
Women :
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | East Germany | 108.5 |
| 2 | Soviet Union | 97 |
| 3 | West Germany | 74 |
| | Great Britain | 74 |
| 5 | Bulgaria | 72 |
| 6 | Poland | 53.5 |
| 7 | Hungary | 41 |
| 8 | Yugoslavia | 20 |

### Results summary
#### Men's events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 m (Wind: -0.9 m/s) | Allan Wells Great Britain | 10.17 | Frank Emmelmann East Germany | 10.21 | Hermann Panzo France | 10.29 |
| 200 m (Wind: +0.3 m/s) | Frank Emmelmann East Germany | 20.33 CR | Allan Wells Great Britain | 20.35 | Patrick Barré France | 20.60 |
| 400 m | Hartmut Weber West Germany | 45.32 | Mauro Zuliani Italy | 45.35 | Andreas Knebel East Germany | 45.76 |
| 800 m | Sebastian Coe Great Britain | 1:47.03 | Willi Wülbeck West Germany | 1:47.72 | Olaf Beyer East Germany | 1:47.73 |
| 1500 m | Olaf Beyer East Germany | 3:43.52 | Nikolay Kirov Soviet Union | 3:43.68 | Steve Cram Great Britain | 3:43.72 |
| 5000 m | Dave Moorcroft Great Britain | 13:43.18 | Valeriy Abramov Soviet Union | 13:43.69 | Hansjörg Kunze East Germany | 13:43.72 |
| 10,000 m | Werner Schildhauer East Germany | 28:45.89 | Julian Goater Great Britain | 28:55.04 | Karl Fleschen West Germany | 28:57.74 |
| 3000 m steeplechase | Mariano Scartezzini Italy | 8:13.32 CR | Bogusław Mamiński Poland | 8:17.23 | Patriz Ilg West Germany | 8:21.13 |
| 110 m hurdles (Wind: -0.6 m/s) | Mark Holtom Great Britain | 13.79 | Andreas Schlisske East Germany | 13.85 | Romuald Giegiel Poland | 13.88 |
| 400 m hurdles | Volker Beck East Germany | 48.94 | Harald Schmid West Germany | 49.12 | Dmitriy Shkarupin Soviet Union | 49.71 |
| 4 × 100 m | Poland Krzysztof Zwoliński Zenon Licznerski Leszek Dunecki Marian Woronin | 38.66 | Soviet Union Andrey Shlyapnikov Nikolay Sidorov Aleksandr Aksinin Vladimir Muravyov | 38.80 | France Philippe Le Joncour Bernard Petibois Antoine Richard Hermann Panzo | 38.83 |
| 4 × 400 m | Italy Stefano Malinverni Alfonso Di Guida Roberto Ribaud Mauro Zuliani | 3:01.42 | Soviet Union Pavel Roshchin Vitaliy Fedotov Viktor Burakov Viktor Markin | 3:01.69 | Great Britain Roy Dickens Harry Cook Steve Scout David Jenkins | 3:02.93 |
| High jump | Valeriy Sereda Soviet Union | 2.30 | Gerd Nagel West Germany | 2.28 | Massimo Di Giorgio Italy | 2.26 |
| Pole vault | Jean-Michel Bellot France Konstantin Volkov Soviet Union | 5.40 | | | Keith Stock Great Britain | 5.30 |
| Long jump | Uwe Lange East Germany | 7.98 | Shamil Abbyasov Soviet Union | 7.93 | Joachim Busse West Germany | 7.82w |
| Triple jump | Jaak Uudmäe Soviet Union | 16.97 | Aston Moore Great Britain | 16.86 | Miloš Srejović Yugoslavia | 16.54 |
| Shot put | Udo Beyer East Germany | 21.41 | Yevgeniy Mironov Soviet Union | 20.33 | Ralf Reichenbach West Germany | 19.70 |
| Discus throw | Armin Lemme East Germany | 64.06 | Dmitriy Kovtsun Soviet Union | 59.60 | Alwin Wagner West Germany | 59.16 |
| Hammer throw | Yuriy Sedykh Soviet Union | 77.68 | Karl-Hans Riehm West Germany | 75.86 | Roland Steuk East Germany | 73.34 |
| Javelin throw | Detlef Michel East Germany | 90.86 CR | Dainis Kûla Soviet Union | 88.40 | Michał Wacławik Poland | 88.26 |
| WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season) |||||| |

#### Women's events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 m (Wind: -1.0 m/s) | Marlies Göhr East Germany | 11.17 | Kathy Smallwood Great Britain | 11.27 | Olga Zolotaryova Soviet Union | 11.36 |
| 200 m (Wind: -1.6 m/s) | Bärbel Wöckel East Germany | 22.19 | Kathy Smallwood Great Britain | 22.65 | Natalya Bochina Soviet Union | 23.08 |
| 400 m | Marita Koch East Germany | 49.43 | Gaby Bussmann West Germany | 50.83 | Irina Nazarova Soviet Union | 51.31 |
| 800 m | Martina Steuk East Germany | 1:57.16 | Lyudmila Veselkova Soviet Union | 1:57.25 | Jolanta Januchta Poland | 1:58.50 |
| 1500 m | Tamara Sorokina Soviet Union | 4:01.37 CR | Ulrike Bruns East Germany | 4:02.21 | Anna Bukis Poland | 4:04.38 |
| 3000 m | Angelika Zauber East Germany | 8:49.61 CR | Yelena Sipatova Soviet Union | 8:49.99 | Paula Fudge Great Britain | 8:54.59 |
| 100 m hurdles (Wind: -2.4 m/s) | Tatyana Anisimova Soviet Union | 12.91 | Kerstin Knabe East Germany | 13.08 | Lucyna Langer Poland | 13.20 |
| 400 m hurdles | Ellen Neumann East Germany | 54.90 | Ana Kasteckaja Soviet Union | 56.34 | Genowefa Błaszak Poland | 57.21 |
| 4 × 100 m | East Germany Annelies Walter Bärbel Wöckel Gesine Walther Marlies Göhr | 42.53 | Great Britain Wendy Hoyte Kathy Smallwood Beverley Goddard Shirley Thomas | 43.03 | Soviet Union Olga Zolotaryova Olga Nasonova Lyudmila Kondratyeva Natalya Bochina | 43.26 |
| 4 × 400 m | East Germany Dagmar Rübsam Martina Steuk Bärbel Wöckel Marita Koch | 3:19.83 | Soviet Union Nadezhda Lyalina Tatyana Litvinova Irina Baskakova Irina Nazarova | 3:24.85 | Great Britain Linda Forsyth Michelle Scutt Verona Elder Joslyn Hoyte-Smith | 3:27.27 |
| High jump | Ulrike Meyfarth East Germany | 1.94 | Lyudmila Zhecheva Bulgaria | 1.92 | Yelena Popkova Soviet Union | 1.86 |
| Long jump | Sigrid Ulbricht East Germany | 6.86 | Anna Włodarczyk Poland | 6.66 | Tatyana Kolpakova Soviet Union | 6.59 |
| Shot put | Ilona Slupianek East Germany | 21.12 | Verzhinia Veselinova Bulgaria | 20.77 | Galina Isayeva Soviet Union | 18.15 |
| Discus throw | Mariya Petkova Bulgaria | 69.08 | Galina Savinkova Soviet Union | 68.46 | Evelin Jahl East Germany | 67.32 |
| Javelin throw | Antoaneta Todorova Bulgaria | 71.88 WR, CR | Tessa Sanderson Great Britain | 65.94 | Ingrid Thyssen West Germany | 63.86 |
| WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season) |||||| |

## "B" Final

The winners qualified for the "A" final.
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | France | 85 |
| 2 | Hungary | 78.5 |
| 3 | Czechoslovakia | 73.5 |
| 4 | Finland | 70 |
| 5 | Spain | 62 |
| 6 | Greece | 48 |
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | Poland | 64.5 |
| 2 | Czechoslovakia | 60 |
| 3 | Italy | 57 |
| 4 | Romania | 55 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 46 |
| 6 | Finland | 32.5 |

## Semifinals
### Men

All semifinals were held on 4 and 5 July. First two teams qualified for the "A" final (plus Yugoslavia as the host). Places 3–4 (plus Greece as the host) qualified for the "B" final.
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | East Germany | 143 |
| 2 | Italy | 125 |
| 3 | France | 109 |
| 4 | Czechoslovakia | 95.5 |
| 5 | Belgium | 80.5 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 63 |
| 7 | Greece | 57 |
| 8 | Denmark | 44 |
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | Great Britain | 134 |
| 2 | Soviet Union | 128 |
| 3 | Finland | 115 |
| 4 | Yugoslavia | 88 |
| 5 | Bulgaria | 83 |
| 6 | Sweden | 75 |
| 7 | Norway | 64 |
| 8 | Turkey | 20 |
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | Poland | 128 |
| 2 | West Germany | 127 |
| 3 | Hungary | 126 |
| 4 | Spain | 102 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 84 |
| 6 | Austria | 64 |
| 7 | Portugal | 51 |
| 8 | Ireland | 40 |

### Women

All semifinals were held on 5 July. First two teams qualified for the "A" final (plus Yugoslavia as the host). Places 3–4 qualified for the "B" final.
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | Soviet Union | 107 |
| 2 | Hungary | 86 |
| 3 | Italy | 80 |
| 4 | Romania | 77 |
| 5 | Norway | 60 |
| 6 | Belgium | 55.5 |
| 7 | Switzerland | 49.5 |
| 8 | Greece | 27 |
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | Great Britain | 111 |
| 2 | Bulgaria | 83 |
| 3 | Netherlands | 82.5 |
| 4 | Finland | 66.5 |
| 5 | France | 66.5 |
| 6 | Yugoslavia | 51 |
| 7 | Spain | 41 |
| 8 | Denmark | 38.5 |
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | East Germany | 112 |
| 2 | West Germany | 97 |
| 3 | Czechoslovakia | 81 |
| 4 | Poland | 79 |
| 5 | Sweden | 66 |
| 6 | Austria | 43 |
| 7 | Ireland | 38 |
| 8 | Portugal | 24 |

## Preliminaries

First three teams advanced to the semifinals.
Men :
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | Denmark | 71 |
| 2 | Turkey | 69 |
| 3 | Ireland | 64 |
| 4 | Iceland | 58 |
| 5 | Luxembourg | 37 |
Women :
| Pos. | Nation | Points |
| 1 | Spain | 44 |
| 2 | Greece | 44 |
| 3 | Portugal | 34 |
| 4 | Iceland | 28 |