1980 Summer Olympics
The Games of the XXII Olympiad were held in 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union. It was the first the Olympics were held in a socialist country. Moscow won out over Los Angeles for the right to host the games, though L.A. was to host the next Olympics.
American-led boycott
On March 21, 1980, following the 1979 Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. 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 the 1956 games. Notably, Great Britain, France and Greece did not boycott the games, but Great Britain and 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 many events, and even in events where the top athletes were present, the fields were small.
Another victim of the boycott was NBC, which had paid $87 million for the U.S. broadcast rights to the games, almost four times the amount paid four years earlier. It had to cut back on the planned 150 hours of coverage.
Highlights
- 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.
- The rest of the medals in this category were all won by one person - Uladzimir Parfianovich from Belarus.
- Teófilo Stevenson of Cuba became the first boxer to win three consecutive Olympic titles.
Medals awarded
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
- Archery
- Athletics
- Basketball
- Boxing
- Canoeing
- Cycling
- Diving
- Equestrianism
- Fencing
- Football
- Gymnastics
- Handball
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- Hockey
- Judo
- Modern Pentathlon
- Rowing
- Shooting
- Swimming
- Volleyball
- Water Polo
- Weightlifting
- Wrestling
- Yachting
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Medal count
Top medal-collecting nations:
(for the full table, see 1980 Summer Olympics medal count)
See also
