1980 Summer Olympics
The Games of the XXII Olympiad were held in 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, the first Olympic Games to be held in a socialist country. Moscow won the bid to organise the Games by defeating Los Angeles, which would host the next Olympics. Those two cities had been the only official candidates for hosting the Games.
| Games of the XXII Olympiad | |
| Nations participating | 81 |
| Athletes participating | 5,217 (4,093 men, 1,124 women) |
| Events | 203 in 21 sports |
| Opening ceremonies | July 19, 1980 |
| Closing ceremonies | August 3, 1980 |
| Officially opened by | Leonid Brezhnev |
| Athlete's Oath | Nikolay Andrianov |
| Judge's Oath: | Aleksandr Medved |
| Olympic Torch | Sergey Belov |
Highlights
- On March 21, 1980, following the 1979 Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, American president Jimmy Carter announced a boycott of the Moscow Olympics. The United States were joined in the boycott by some 50 other countries - including Japan, the People's Republic of China, West Germany and Canada - and many individual athletes from participating nations. Absence of a further 15 nations leads to only 80 nations competing, the lowest number since 1956. Notably, Great Britain, France and Greece did not boycott the games, but the Great Britain, and the France sent a much smaller delegation of athletes than they normally did. Because of this Italy was the principal nation representing western Europe. The boycott severely affected a great number of events, and even in events where the top athletes were present, the fields are small. The movement to boycott the Olympics had been building since January.
- Soviet gymnast Aleksandr Dityatin won a medal in each of the eight gymnastics events, including three titles.
- Vladimir Salnikov (USSR) won three gold medals in the swimming pool. His time in the 1500 m freestyle was the first below 15 minutes.
- Ethiopian Muruse Yefter won the 5000 m and 10000 m double, emulating Lasse Virén's 1976 performance.
- Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany won his second consecutive marathon gold.
- Women's field hockey was an Olympic sport for the first time. However, due to the boycott, only the Soviet team was planning to compete. The team from Zimbabwe was invited just a week before the start of the Games, but nevertheless managed to win the nation's first gold medal.
- East Germany dominated rowing: they won eleven of the fourteen available titles.
- Teófilo Stevenson of Cuba became the first boxer to win three consecutive Olympic titles.
Medals awarded
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
Medal count
Top medal-collecting nations:
(for the full table, see 1980 Summer Olympics medal count)
| 1980 Summer Olympics medal count | File:Olympic-rings.png | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | File:Sovetunion small.png USSR | 80 | 69 | 46 | 195 |
| 2 | File:Germany flag 1949 east.png East Germany (GDR) | 47 | 37 | 42 | 126 |
| 3 | File:Bulgaria flag large.png Bulgaria | 8 | 16 | 17 | 41 |
| 4 | File:Cuba flag large.png Cuba | 8 | 7 | 5 | 20 |
| 5 | File:Italy flag large.png Italy | 8 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| 6 | File:Hungary flag large.png Hungary | 7 | 10 | 15 | 32 |
| 7 | File:Romania flag large.png Romania | 6 | 6 | 13 | 25 |
| 8 |  France
|
6 | 5 | 3 | 14 |
| 9 | File:Uk flag large.png Great Britain | 5 | 7 | 9 | 21 |
| 10 | File:Poland flag large.png Poland | 3 | 14 | 15 | 32 |
See also
- Olympic Games
- Summer Olympic Games
- International Olympic Committee
- WikiProject Sports Olympics
- IOC country codes
- 1980 Summer Paralympics
- 1980 Winter Olympics
