# 1980 United States Olympic trials (track and field)

The 1980 United States Olympic trials for track and field were held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. These were the first such trials organized by the new national governing body for the sport of track and field, The Athletics Congress formed one year earlier as required by the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. Previous trials had been organized by the AAU. The eight-day competition lasted from June 21 until June 29.
Unlike any of the previous or subsequent years, the Olympic trials in 1980 did not select representatives to the 1980 Summer Olympics. By this point in the year, President Jimmy Carter had already announced the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and its flagrant human rights violations. This affected the competition. Some athletes did not compete or did not persevere through illness or injury as they might have if Olympic bids were on the line. Subsequently, some athletes, notably Tom Hintnaus and Gary Fanelli, chose to compete for other countries. Others like Franklin Jacobs retired.
The only qualifiers to another meet from this meet came from two women's exhibition events, the 400 m hurdles and 5000 meters, who were invited to the 1980 World Championships in Athletics. Many of the top 3 from this meet ran in the alternative to the Olympics, the Liberty Bell Classic, a few weeks later.
The trials for the men's and women's marathon were held May 24 in Buffalo, New York, and the trials for the men's 50 km race walk were held May 10 in Niagara Falls, New York.

## Men's results

Key: ≠ Athlete without "A" standard, not selected.

### Men track events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 meters Wind 0.0 | Stanley Floyd | 10.26 | Harvey Glance | 10.27 | Mel Lattany | 10.30 |
| 200 meters Wind -1.5 | James Butler | 20.49 | Cliff Wiley | 20.54 | Fred Taylor | 20.70 |
| 400 meters | Bill Green | 45.85 | Willie Smith | 45.97 | Walter McCoy | 46.06 |
| 800 meters | Don Paige | 1:44.53 | James Robinson | 1:45.58 | Randy Wilson | 1:45.82 |
| 1500 meters | Steve Scott | 3.35.15 | Steve Lacy | 3.36.23 | Mike Durkin | 3.38.04 |
| 5000 meters | Matt Centrowitz | 13.30.62 | Dick Buerkle | 13.31.90 | Bill McChesney | 13.34.42 |
| 10,000 meters | Craig Virgin | 27:45.61 | Greg Fredericks | 28.03.14 | Alberto Salazar | 28.10.42 |
| 110 m hurdles Wind +0.6 | Renaldo Nehemiah | 13.26 | Dedy Cooper | 13.39 | Tonie Campbell | 13.44 |
| 400 m hurdles | Edwin Moses | 47.90 | James Walker | 49.04 | David Lee Bart Williams | 49.34 |
| 3000 m s'chase | Henry Marsh | 8.15.68 NR | Doug Brown | 8.20.60 | John Gregorek | 8.21.32 |
| 20K racewalk | Marco Evoniuk Jim Heiring | 1:27:12 | | | Dan O'Connor | 1:29:05 |
| 50K racewalk | Carl Schueler | 3:59:34 | Marco Evoniuk | 4:00:30 | Dan O'Connor | 4:11:03 |
| Marathon | Tony Sandoval | 2:10:19 | Benji Durden | 2:10:41 | Kyle Heffner | 2:10:55 |

### Men field events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump | Benn Fields | 2.26 m (7 ft 4+3⁄4 in) | Nat Page | 2.23 m (7 ft 3+3⁄4 in) | Jim Howard | 2.23 m (7 ft 3+3⁄4 in) |
| Pole vault | Tom Hintnaus | 5.60 m (18 ft 4+1⁄4 in) | Dan Ripley | 5.55 m (18 ft 2+1⁄2 in) | Mike Tully | 5.55 m (18 ft 2+1⁄2 in) |
| Long jump | Larry Myricks | 8.28 m (27 ft 1+3⁄4 in) +1.7 | Carl Lewis | 8.01 m (26 ft 3+1⁄4 in)w +2.6 | Randy Williams | 7.92 m (25 ft 11+3⁄4 in) +1.2 |
| Triple jump | Willie Banks | 16.80 m (55 ft 1+1⁄4 in) | Paul Jordan | 16.26 m (53 ft 4 in) | Greg Caldwell | 16.22 m (53 ft 2+1⁄2 in) |
| Shot put | Pete Shmock | 20.83 m (68 ft 4 in) | Al Feuerbach | 20.82 m (68 ft 3+1⁄2 in) | Colin Anderson | 20.73 m (68 ft 0 in) |
| Discus throw | Mac Wilkins | 68.68 m (225 ft 3 in) | John Powell | 68.00 m (223 ft 1 in) | Ben Plucknett | 66.50 m (218 ft 2 in) |
| Hammer throw | Andy Bessette | 70.98 m (232 ft 10 in) | John McArdle | 70.38 m (230 ft 10 in) | Boris Djerassi | 70.30 m (230 ft 7 in) |
| Javelin throw | Rod Ewaliko | 88.70 m (291 ft 0 in) | Bruce Kennedy | 83.64 m (274 ft 4 in) | Duncan Atwood | 82.68 m (271 ft 3 in) |
| Decathlon | Bob Coffman | 8184 | Lee Palles | 8159 | Fred Dixon | 8154 |

#### Notes

    $^a$

## Women's results
### Women track events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 meters Wind -0.5 | Alice Brown | 11.32 | Brenda Morehead | 11.43 | Chandra Cheeseborough | 11.45 |
| 200 meters Wind +2.4 | Chandra Cheeseborough | 22.70w | Karen Hawkins | 23.04w | Pam Greene | 23.21w |
| 400 meters | Sherri Howard | 51.48 | Gwen Gardner | 51.68 | Denean Howard | 51.70 |
| 800 meters | Madeline Manning | 1:58.30 | Julie Brown | 2:00.96 | Robin Campbell | 2:01.23 |
| 1500 meters | Mary Decker | 4:04.91 | Julie Brown | 4:07.13 | Leann Warren | 4:15.16 |
| 5000 meters | Julie Shea | 15:44.12 | Mary Shea | 16:07.50 | Brenda Webb | |
| 10,000 meters | Kris Bankes | 33:45.6 |
| 100 m hurdles Wind -0.1 | Stephanie Hightower | 12.90 | Benita Fitzgerald | 13.11 | Candy Young | 13.30 |
| 400 m hurdles | Esther Mahr | 57.46 | Kim Whitehead | 58.56 | Debra Melrose | |

### Women field events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump | Louise Ritter | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | Paula Girven | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | Pam Spencer | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Long jump | Jodi Anderson | 7.00 m (22 ft 11+1⁄2 in) | Kathy McMillan | 6.76 m (22 ft 2 in) | Carol Lewis | 6.56 m (21 ft 6+1⁄4 in)w |
| Shot put | Maren Seidler | 17.92 m (58 ft 9+1⁄2 in) | Ann Turbyne | 17.27 m (56 ft 7+3⁄4 in) | Lorna Griffin | 15.89 m (52 ft 1+1⁄2 in) |
| Discus throw | Lorna Griffin | 60.20 m (197 ft 6 in) | Lynne Winbigler | 56.36 m (184 ft 10 in) | Lisa Vogelsang | 53.84 m (176 ft 7 in) |
| Javelin throw | Karin Smith | 58.52 m (191 ft 11 in) | Kate Schmidt | 57.22 m (187 ft 8 in) | Mary Osborne | 56.46 m (185 ft 2 in) |
| Heptathlon | Jodi Anderson | 4697m/4651a | Marilyn King | 4199m | Linda Waltman | 4191m/4187a |