| 1980 Summer Olympics medals | |
|---|---|
 Vladimir Parfenovich won three gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics, tied for the most of any competing athlete. | |
| Location | Moscow,  Soviet Union |
| Highlights | |
| Most gold medals | Soviet Union (80) |
| Most total medals | Soviet Union (195) |
| Medalling NOCs | 36 |
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| 1980 Summer Olympics |
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The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Moscow, Soviet Union, from 19 July to 3 August. [1] [2] They were the first Olympic Games to be staged in a communist nation. [3] A total of 5,179 athletes representing 80 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated, [2] which included seven teams making their Olympic debut at the Summer Games; Angola, [4] Botswana, [5] Cyprus, [6] Jordan, [7] Laos, [8] Mozambique, [9] and Seychelles. [10] This was the smallest number of participating NOCs since 1956. [2] The games featured 203 events in 21 sports across 27 disciplines. [2] [11] [12]
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67 eligible countries participated in a boycott against these games, some of which did so explicitly citing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. [13] [14] Sixteen NOCs participated under the Olympic Flag, as opposed to their nation's flag, as a partial boycott. [15] [16] This included the Olympic Anthem and flag being used at medal ceremonies when athletes from these NOCs won medals. [17]
Athletes representing 36 NOCs received at least one medal, with 25 NOCs winning at least one gold medal. [18] The Soviet Union won the most overall medals, with 195, and the most gold medals, with 80, setting a new record for most golds won in a single games (which was later broken at the 1984 Games). [18] [19] Sports commentators noted that the absence of the United States and various other Western nations stemming from a large-scale boycott contributed to the highly skewed medal results benefitting the Soviet Union. [3] Guyana, [20] Tanzania, [21] and Zimbabwe won their first Olympic medals of any kind, with Zimbabwe also winning their nation's first gold medal. [22]
Among individual participants, Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin won the most medals overall with eight medals (three gold, four silver, one bronze), becoming the first athlete to win eight medals at a single games. [23] [24] Dityatin, Soviet canoer Vladimir Parfenovich, Soviet swimmer Vladimir Salnikov, and East German swimmers Barbara Krause, Caren Metschuck, and Rica Reinisch tied for the most gold medals, with three each. [23]
