A total of 81 sports delegations and 5,179 competitors took part in the Moscow Summer Olympic Games of 1980.
A total of 81 sports delegations and 5,179 competitors took part in the Moscow Summer Olympic Games of 1980.
Photo: The Games of the XXII Olympiad. Volleyball. The podium of male volleyball teams. The Soviet men’s volleyball team is the champion. On the left: the silver medalist, the Bulgarian team. On the right: the bronze medalist, the Romanian team.
Photo: The Games of the XXII Olympiad. Volleyball. The podium of male volleyball teams. The Soviet men’s volleyball team is the champion. On the left: the silver medalist, the Bulgarian team. On the right: the bronze medalist, the Romanian team.
The total number of medals won was 203. The team of the U. S. S. R. won the largest number of medals; the Soviet athletes collected 80 gold medals, 69 silver medals and 46 bronze medals. The athletes from the GDR won 47 gold medals, 37 silver medals and 17 bronze medals and took second place. The team which took third place was the Bulgarian one; the Bulgarian athletes won 8 gold medals, 16 silver medals and 17 bronze medals. The fourth and the fifth places were distributed between the Cuban team (8 gold medals, 7 silver medals and 5 bronze medals) and the Italian team (8 gold medals, 3 silver medals, 4 bronze medals), respectively.
Despite the absence of American and many other athletes, 36 world records, 9 from which belonged to the Soviet team, and 74 Olympic records were broken at the 1980 Olympics. Not a single team in the history of the Olympic Games had had such a result. 24 athletes collected two or three medals.
Photo: Alexander Dityatin, the Olympic champion, Nikolai Andrianov (on the right), the silver medalist, and Stoyan Delchev, the bronze medalist. The 1980 Summer Olympics.
Photo: Alexander Dityatin, the Olympic champion, Nikolai Andrianov (on the right), the silver medalist, and Stoyan Delchev, the bronze medalist. The 1980 Summer Olympics.
The Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin became the absolute record breaker at the Olympics for the number of medals won. He participated in eight kinds of competition and won eight medals, including 3 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 1 bronze medal.
Five more athletes became triple Olympic champions, including the Soviet swimmer Vladimir Salnikov…
The gymnasts Yelena Davydova and Alexander Tkachyov and the swimmer Sergey Kopliakov (photo) won two gold medals and one silver medal each at the Olympics.
Soviet gymnast Natalia Shaposhnikova was awarded two gold medals and two bronze medals.
Anatoli Starostin won two gold medals and also became the youngest winning pentathlete.
Viktor Markin was the first Soviet runner to become an Olympic champion in the 400m and he shared his victory with his teammates.
18 world records were broken at the weightlifting competition which was held at the Izmailovo Sports Palace. The Soviet weightlifters won five gold medals and three silver medals in nine weight classes. Yurik Vardanian from Armenia became the triple world record breaker (weight class under 82.5 kg). He became the first middleweight champion who gained a victory over more than 400 kg all in all. Vardanian’s result hit the world record by 10 kg and the Olympic record by 35 kg.
Eight Cuban boxers reached the final and six of them reached the highest step of the podium; Theophilo Stephenson became a triple Olympic champion. Photo: the Cuban boxer Theophilo Stephenson and the Nigerian boxer Solomon Ataga. The box competitions in the weight class over 81 kg.
The Ethiopian runner Miruts Yifter (photo) won the 5,000 m and 1,000 m . Sebastian Coe and Stephen Ovett, the famous English athletes, triumphed in shorter distances.
Liudmila Kondratieva won thee first gold Olympic medal in the history of Soviet athletics at the women’s competitions in the 100m.
Ketevan Losaberidze won the women’s archery gold. It was the first time a Soviet archer had done so well.
