# Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Women's javelin throw

The Women's Javelin Throw event at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union had an entry list of 22 competitors, with two qualifying groups (22 throwers) before the final (12) took place on Friday July 25, 1980. The top 12 and ties, and all those reaching 60.00 metres advanced to the final. All results were made with a rough surfaced javelin (old design).

## Medalists

| Gold | María Caridad Colón Cuba |
| Silver | Saida Gunba Soviet Union |
| Bronze | Ute Hommola East Germany |

## Schedule

* All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)
Qualification Round :
* 24.07.1980 – 12:25h
* Final Round |
* 25.07.1980 – 17:15h |

## Abbreviations

* All results shown are in metres
| Q | automatic qualification |
| q | qualification by rank |
| DNS | did not start |
| NM | no mark |
| WR | world record |
| AR | area record |
| NR | national record |
| PB | personal best |
| SB | season best |

## Records

Standing records prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics :
| World record | Tatyana Biryulina (URS) | 70.08 m | July 12, 1980 | Podolsk, Soviet Union |
| Olympic record | Ruth Fuchs (GDR) | 65.94 m | July 24, 1976 | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Broken records during the 1980 Summer Olympics |||||
| Olympic record | María Caridad Colón (CUB) | '68.40 m | July 25, 1980 | Moscow, Soviet Union |

## Qualification
### Group A

| Rank | Overall | Athlete | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Distance |
| Rank | Overall | Athlete | 1 | 2 | 3 | Distance |
| 1 | 1 | Ute Richter (GDR) | 57.40 | 66.66 | — | 66.66 m |
| 2 | 4 | Éva Ráduly-Zörgő (ROU) | 63.84 | — | — | 63.84 m |
| 3 | 7 | María Caridad Colón (CUB) | 62.42 | — | — | 62.42 m |
| 4 | 8 | Ivanka Vancheva (BUL) | 61.16 | — | — | 61.16 m |
| 5 | 9 | Antoaneta Todorova (BUL) | 60.56 | — | — | 60.56 m |
| 6 | 10 | Bernadetta Blechacz (POL) | 55.92 | 50.26 | 59.90 | 59.90 m |
| 7 | 11 | Tatyana Biryulina (URS) | 57.72 | 52.44 | 59.86 | 59.86 m |
| 8 | 13 | Mária Janák (HUN) | 54.22 | X | 57.80 | 57.80 m |
| 9 | 15 | Petra Rivers (AUS) | 51.08 | 53.14 | 55.80 | 55.80 m |
| 10 | 18 | Fatima Whitbread (GBR) | 47.44 | 47.22 | 49.74 | 49.74 m |
| — | — | Sofia Sakorafa (GRE) | X | X | X | NM |

### Group B

| Rank | Overall | Athlete | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Distance |
| Rank | Overall | Athlete | 1 | 2 | 3 | Distance |
| 1 | 2 | Ruth Fuchs (GDR) | 54.12 | 64.26 | — | 64.26 m |
| 2 | 3 | Saida Gunba (URS) | 63.98 | — | — | 63.98 m |
| 3 | 5 | Ute Hommola (GDR) | 63.52 | — | — | 63.52 m |
| 4 | 6 | Yadviga Putiniene (URS) | 62.96 | — | — | 62.96 m |
| 5 | 12 | Fausta Quintavalla (ITA) | 58.76 | X | — | 58.76 m |
| 6 | 14 | Tiina Lillak (FIN) | 53.44 | 56.26 | X | 56.26 m |
| 7 | 16 | Pam Matthews (AUS) | 55.72 | 53.72 | 51.70 | 55.72 m |
| 8 | 17 | Agnès Tchuinté (CMR) | 55.36 | 52.16 | 49.22 | 55.36 m |
| 9 | 19 | Tessa Sanderson (GBR) | 48.76 | X | X | 48.76 m |
| 10 | 20 | Patricia Guerrero (PER) | 38.36 | 45.40 | 45.42 | 45.42 m |
| — | 2 | Tsvetana Ralinska (BUL) | — | — | — | DNS |

## Final

| Rank | Athlete | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Attempts | Distance |
| Rank | Athlete | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Distance |
| | María Caridad Colón (CUB) | 68.40 | X | 64.58 | 62.70 | 66.02 | 63.06 | 68.40 m |
| | Saida Gunba (URS) | 66.08 | 67.76 | X | 63.78 | X | 65.06 | 67.76 m |
| | Ute Hommola (GDR) | 60.62 | 58.84 | 66.04 | 66.56 | 61.96 | 64.92 | 66.56 m |
| 4 | Ute Richter (GDR) | 54.86 | 53.12 | 62.80 | 65.68 | 66.04 | 66.54 | 66.54 m |
| 5 | Ivanka Vancheva (BUL) | 65.38 | 60.88 | X | 60.12 | 61.90 | 62.90 | 65.38 m |
| 6 | Tatyana Biryulina (URS) | 56.28 | 65.08 | 58.42 | 60.36 | X | 62.48 | 65.08 m |
| 7 | Éva Ráduly-Zörgő (ROU) | X | 64.08 | 54.80 | 59.44 | 57.02 | 54.30 | 64.08 m |
| 8 | Ruth Fuchs (GDR) | 59.90 | X | 61.48 | X | 63.94 | 59.20 | 63.94 m |
| 9 | Bernadetta Blechacz (POL) | 57.94 | 52.84 | 61.46 | | | | 61.46 m |
| 10 | Antoaneta Todorova (BUL) | 54.76 | 60.66 | 52.98 | | | | 60.66 m |
| 11 | Yadviga Putiniene (URS) | 59.94 | X | 52.72 | | | | 59.94 m |
| 12 | Fausta Quintavalla (ITA) | 49.60 | 57.50 | 57.52 | | | | 57.52 m |