# Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by 38 events: 24 for men and 14 for women. They were held in the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium at Luzhniki (south-western part of Moscow) between July 24 and August 1. There were a total number of 959 participating athletes from 70 countries. A number of countries had boycotted the games due to the Soviet-Afghan War.

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union (URS) | 15 | 14 | 12 | 41 |
| 2 | East Germany (GDR) | 11 | 8 | 10 | 29 |
| 3 | Great Britain (GBR) | 4 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| 4 | Italy (ITA) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 | Poland (POL) | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 6 | Ethiopia (ETH) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 7 | Cuba (CUB) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Tanzania (TAN) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Finland (FIN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | Australia (AUS) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Spain (ESP) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Jamaica (JAM) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 16 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 16 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (17 entries) | Totals (17 entries) | 38 | 39 | 37 | 114 |

## Medal summary
### Men

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Allan Wells Great Britain | 10.25 | Silvio Leonard Cuba | 10.25 | Petar Petrov Bulgaria | 10.39 |
| 200 metres details | Pietro Mennea Italy | 20.19 | Allan Wells Great Britain | 20.21 | Don Quarrie Jamaica | 20.29 |
| 400 metres details | Viktor Markin Soviet Union | 44.60 | Rick Mitchell Australia | 44.84 | Frank Schaffer East Germany | 44.87 |
| 800 metres details | Steve Ovett Great Britain | 1:45.40 | Sebastian Coe Great Britain | 1:45.85 | Nikolay Kirov Soviet Union | 1:45.94 |
| 1500 metres details | Sebastian Coe Great Britain | 3:38.40 | Jürgen Straub East Germany | 3:38.80 | Steve Ovett Great Britain | 3:38.99 |
| 5000 metres details | Miruts Yifter Ethiopia | 13:20.91 | Suleiman Nyambui Tanzania | 13:21.60 | Kaarlo Maaninka Finland | 13:22.00 |
| 10,000 metres details | Miruts Yifter Ethiopia | 27:42.69 | Kaarlo Maaninka Finland | 27:44.28 | Mohamed Kedir Ethiopia | 27:44.64 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Thomas Munkelt East Germany | 13.39 | Alejandro Casañas Cuba | 13.40 | Aleksandr Puchkov Soviet Union | 13.44 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Volker Beck East Germany | 48.70 | Vasyl Arkhypenko Soviet Union | 48.86 | Gary Oakes Great Britain | 49.11 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase details | Bronisław Malinowski Poland | 8:09.70 | Filbert Bayi Tanzania | 8:12.48 | Eshetu Tura Ethiopia | 8:13.57 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Soviet Union (URS) Vladimir Muravyov Nikolay Sidorov Andrey Prokofyev Aleksandr Aksinin | 38.26 | Poland (POL) Zenon Licznerski Leszek Dunecki Marian Woronin Krzysztof Zwoliński | 38.33 | France (FRA) Patrick Barré Pascal Barré Hermann Panzo Antoine Richard | 38.53 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | Soviet Union (URS) Viktor Markin Remigijus Valiulis Mikhail Linge Nikolay Chernetskiy | 3:01.08 | East Germany (GDR) Klaus Thiele Andreas Knebel Frank Schaffer Volker Beck | 3:01.26 | Italy (ITA) Roberto Tozzi Mauro Zuliani Stefano Malinverni Pietro Mennea | 3:04.54 |
| Marathon details | Waldemar Cierpinski East Germany | 2:11:03 | Gerard Nijboer Netherlands | 2:11:20 | Satymkul Dzhumanazarov Soviet Union | 2:11:35 |
| 20 kilometres walk details | Maurizio Damilano Italy | 1:23:35.5 OR | Pyotr Pochynchuk Soviet Union | 1:24:45.4 | Roland Wieser East Germany | 1:25:58.2 |
| 50 kilometres walk details | Hartwig Gauder East Germany | 3:49.24 OR | Jorge Llopart Spain | 3:51.25 | Yevgeniy Ivchenko Soviet Union | 3:56.32 |
| High jump details | Gerd Wessig East Germany | 2.36 m WR | Jacek Wszoła Poland | 2.31 m | Jörg Freimuth East Germany | 2.31 m |
| Pole vault details | Władysław Kozakiewicz Poland | 5.78 m WR | Konstantin Volkov Soviet Union Tadeusz Ślusarski Poland | 5.65 m | none | -- |
| Long jump details | Lutz Dombrowski East Germany | 8.54 m | Frank Paschek East Germany | 8.21 m | Valeriy Pidluzhny Soviet Union | 8.18 m |
| Triple jump details | Jaak Uudmäe Soviet Union | 17.35 m | Viktor Saneyev Soviet Union | 17.24 m | João Carlos de Oliveira Brazil | 17.22 m |
| Shot put details | Vladimir Kiselyov Soviet Union | 21.35 m OR | Aleksandr Baryshnikov Soviet Union | 21.08 m | Udo Beyer East Germany | 21.06 m |
| Discus throw details | Viktor Rashchupkin Soviet Union | 66.64 m | Imrich Bugár Czechoslovakia | 66.38 m | Luis Delís Cuba | 66.32 m |
| Hammer throw details | Yuriy Sedykh Soviet Union | 81.80 m WR | Sergey Litvinov Soviet Union | 80.64 m | Jüri Tamm Soviet Union | 78.96 m |
| Javelin throw details | Dainis Kūla Soviet Union | 91.20 m | Aleksandr Makarov Soviet Union | 89.64 m | Wolfgang Hanisch East Germany | 86.72 m |
| Decathlon details | Daley Thompson Great Britain | 8495 | Yuriy Kutsenko Soviet Union | 8331 | Sergey Zhelanov Soviet Union | 8135 |

### Women

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Lyudmila Kondratyeva Soviet Union | 11.06 | Marlies Göhr East Germany | 11.07 | Ingrid Auerswald East Germany | 11.14 |
| 200 metres details | Bärbel Wöckel East Germany | 22.03 OR | Natalya Bochina Soviet Union | 22.19 | Merlene Ottey Jamaica | 22.20 |
| 400 metres details | Marita Koch East Germany | 48.88 OR | Jarmila Kratochvílová Czechoslovakia | 49.46 | Christina Lathan East Germany | 49.66 |
| 800 metres details | Nadezhda Olizarenko Soviet Union | 1:53.43 WR | Olga Mineyeva Soviet Union | 1:54.81 | Tatyana Providokhina Soviet Union | 1:55.46 |
| 1500 metres details | Tatyana Kazankina Soviet Union | 3:56.56 OR | Christiane Wartenberg East Germany | 3:57.71 | Nadezhda Olizarenko Soviet Union | 3:59.52 |
| 100 metres hurdles details | Vera Komisova Soviet Union | 12.56 OR | Johanna Klier East Germany | 12.63 | Lucyna Langer Poland | 12.65 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | East Germany (GDR) Romy Müller Bärbel Wöckel Ingrid Auerswald Marlies Göhr | 41.60 WR | Soviet Union (URS) Vera Komisova Lyudmila Maslakova Vera Anisimova Natalya Bochina | 42.10 | Great Britain (GBR) Heather Hunte Kathy Smallwood Beverley Goddard Sonia Lannaman | 42.43 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | Soviet Union (URS) Tatyana Prorochenko Tatyana Goyshchik Nina Zyuskova Irina Nazarova | 3:20.12 | East Germany (GDR) Barbara Krug Gabriele Löwe Christina Lathan Marita Koch | 3:20.35 | Great Britain (GBR) Linsey MacDonald Michelle Probert Joslyn Hoyte-Smith Donna Hartley | 3:27.74 |
| High jump details | Sara Simeoni Italy | 1.97 m OR | Urszula Kielan Poland | 1.94 m | Jutta Kirst East Germany | 1.94 m |
| Long jump details | Tatyana Kolpakova Soviet Union | 7.06 m | Brigitte Wujak East Germany | 7.04 m | Tetyana Skachko Soviet Union | 7.01 m |
| Shot put details | Ilona Slupianek East Germany | 22.41 m OR | Svetlana Krachevskaya Soviet Union | 21.42 m | Margitta Pufe East Germany | 21.20 m |
| Discus throw details | Evelin Jahl East Germany | 69.96 m OR | Mariya Petkova Bulgaria | 67.90 m | Tatyana Lesovaya Soviet Union | 67.40 m |
| Javelin throw details | María Caridad Colón Cuba | 68.40 m OR | Saida Gunba Soviet Union | 67.76 m | Ute Hommola East Germany | 66.56 m |
| Pentathlon details | Nadiya Tkachenko Soviet Union | 5083 WR | Olga Rukavishnikova Soviet Union | 4937 | Olga Kuragina Soviet Union | 4875 |

## Controversy

Polish gold medallist pole vaulter Władysław Kozakiewicz 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 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 and Viktor Saneyev won the first two places in the triple jump, 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 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 in the women's long jump.