The , officially known as the '''Games of the XXII Olympiad''', were held in
Moscow in the
Soviet Union . Another candidate in the bid to organize the Olympics was
Los Angeles . The choice between them was made on
October 23 ,
1974 in the 75th
IOC Session in
Vienna ,
Austria . Moscow defeated
Los Angeles by 39 votes to 20.
The
Yachting events were held in
Tallinn ; preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the
Football (soccer) tournament were held, besides
Moscow , at the stadiums of
Leningrad ,
Kiev , and
Minsk . It was the first Games ever held in Eastern Europe.
- Although approximately half of the 24 countries which boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics participated in these, the Games were disrupted by another, even larger, Boycott Led By The United States followed by 64 other countries in protest of the 1979 Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan . Only 10 of these nations had won medals in Montreal. Because a number of countries were unlikely to have gone to Moscow anyway for financial reasons, they found it politically expedient to say they were boycotting the Games. It is difficult to compile an exact list of boycotting nations. Olympic historians put the number at 45–50.
- Eighty-one nations participated — the lowest number since 1956 . The nations that did compete won 71% of the medals, including 71% of the gold medals, at Montreal. In contrast the nations that competed in LA 1984 had won 49% of the medals, including 42% of the gold medals, at Montreal.
- The Italians won 4 times as many gold medals as they had in Montreal and the French multiplied their gold medal results by 3.Romania won more gold medals than it had at any previous Olympics.In total medals it was Ireland's most successful Olympics since Melbourne 1956 . The same is true for Great Britain."Third World" athletes qualified for more events and took more medals than at any previous Olympics.
- 21% of the competitors were female — a higher percentage than at any previous Olympics.
- There were 203 events — more than at any previous Olympics.
- 36 World records, 39 European records and 74 Olympic records were set.
- In total this is more records than were set at Montreal.
- Olympic records were improved on 241 times in the course of the competitions and world records were beaten 97 times.
- As Of 2007 4 Olympic records set in 1980 still stand — East German women 4×100 metre relay 41.6 seconds; Shot Put Ilona Slupianek of East Germany 22.41 metres; Soviet Nadezhda Olizarenko 800 metres, 1.53.43; Modern Pentathlon Soviet Anatoli Starostin 5568 points.
- The impact of the boycott was mixed. Some events like field hockey and equestrian sports were hard hit. Others like boxing, judo, rowing, swimming, track and field and weightlifting actually had more participants than in 1976.
- 8 nations appeared for the first time at an Olympics — Angola , Vietnam , Botswana , Laos , Nicaragua , Seychelles , Mozambique and Cyprus . Zimbabwe also made its first appearance. It had previously competed as Rhodesia.
- Athletes from 25 countries won Olympic gold (same as LA and 1 less than Montreal) and competitors from 36 countries became Olympic medallists.
- The USSR won 16 gold medal titles in Montreal that they failed to retain in Moscow (Women's platform diving; Kayak fours, men 1000 metres; kayak doubles, women 500 metres; canoeing doubles, men 500 metres; canoeing doubles, men 1000 metres; fencing foil women's team; gymnastics men's floor exercise; men's handball team final; Rowing coxed fours men; weightlifting lightweight, middle heavyweight; judo, heavyweight; Graeco-Roman wrestling (lightweight, welterweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight).
- Associated Press, on the basis of a comparative analysis of the best results of 1980 including national championships of the leading sports powers of the world, noted that even if American, Japanese, Canadian and West German competitors had taken part in the Games the USSR and East Germany would have headed the medal table as they had in Montreal.
- Major broadcasters of the Games were ''USSR State TV and Radio'' (1,370 accreditation cards), with 68 cards provided coverage for Japan , while OTI representing the Spanish-speaking world received 59 cards and the Channel Seven provided coverage for Australia (48 cards). NBC , which had intended to be another major broadcaster, cancelled its coverage in response to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, and became a minor broadcaster with 56 accreditation cards, the network did air highlights and recaps of the games on a regular basis. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation almost canceled their plans for coverage after Canada took part in the boycott and was represented by 9 cards.
- The television centre used 20 TV channels. Montreal had used 16, Munich 12, Mexico 7.
- During the opening ceremony, Salyut 6 crew Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin sent their greetings to the Olympians and wished them happy starts in the Live Communication between the station and the Central Lenin Stadium. They appeared on the stadium's Scoreboard and their voices were translated via Loud Speaker s. History — Moscow-1980
- According to the Official Report, submitted to the IOC by the NOC of the USSR , total expenditures for the preparations for and staging of the Games were 862.7 million Rubles , total revenues being 744.8 million rubles.
- A Series Of Commemorative Coins was released in the USSR in 1977–1980 to commemorate the event. It consisted of five Platinum Coin s, six Gold Coin s, 28 Silver Coin s and six Copper-nickel coins.
- Athletes reported that some Soviet fans at the track and field events were excessively jingoistic, even booing athletes of close USSR allies such as East Germany and Poland. In contrast the crowds at the women's gymnastic events were reported "to be better behaved than many we have seen in recent years".
- There were 5 million spectators in the arenas — 1.5 million more than at Montreal.
- There were 1,245 referees from 78 countries.
- Prince Alexandre De Merode of Belgium, Chairman of the IOC Medical Commission stated that "There were 9,292 drug tests. None positive".
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