The Olympic Games are always an event of enormous proportions. Each Olympiad is a story. Each of them is remembered by something of its own. The 1980 Olympics was no exception, the medal standings that deserve special attention, since the USSR team then pulled ahead by 12 awards.
Event Features
The 1980 Summer Olympics were held in the capital of the USSR, in the city of Moscow. It is worth noting that the 1980 Olympics, the medal score of which deserves special attention, is a very urgent topic. But it should also be remembered that these were the first games in history to take place on the territory of Eastern Europe. And it was also the first Olympics held in a socialist country.
It is also worth noting that part of these competitions was held in other cities of the USSR. Sailing regattas, for example, took off in Tallinn, and the preliminary games of the football tournament, like the quarter finals, were held in Minsk, Leningrad and Kiev. Bullet shooting competitions took place in Mytishchi at a shooting range called Dynamo.
These games are also known for the fact that more than fifty countries boycotted the Olympics, since the Soviet troops were sent to Afghanistan a year before. But some athletes from these states came to the capital of the USSR to compete under the Olympic flag. This boycott is one of the reasons for the retaliatory protest of the Soviet Union , which took place at the next summer Olympiad in 1984, held in Los Angeles. These features are one of the aspects that I remember the 1980 Olympics. The medal standings top the list of memorable events, since it was truly unique.
The capital of the Olympics
The decision about where this important event will take place was made in Vienna in 1974. The first idea to host games in Moscow came from Sergei Pavlov, chairman of the USSR Sports Committee, in 1969. But at that time, the results of the vote indicated that the Olympics will be held in Montreal. A few years later, Pavlov managed to convince the country's leadership to run for the capital of the USSR again. And that time the victory remained with Moscow. The choice was between her and Los Angeles. But with a margin of 19 votes, the capital of the USSR won. For the first time, the Summer Olympics were held in a socialist country.
Olympic flame path
On June 21, the fire advanced from Greece (Athens) and five days later was in Bulgaria, in Sofia. After that, he went to Bucharest, where he arrived on July 1st. Then, on the 5th, he ended up in the Moldavian SSR, where he crossed the USSR border, ending up in Chisinau on July 6th. On July 11, the Olympic flame passed through Kiev, from where it went to Kharkov. Then his path lay through Tula and Podolsk directly to Moscow - the capital of the 1980 Olympic Games.
Results of the 1980 Olympics: medals, table
As already mentioned earlier, the games of that year were distinguished by many. Shook all the 1980 Olympics. The medal standings of that year were truly memorable. But there were some more interesting features. For example, the youngest participant was 13 years old (Jorge Lima), and the oldest was 70 years old! 80 countries participated, from which 5253 participants arrived in total. Among them - 1120 women and 4133 men. Gymnast Alexander Dityatin became the athlete-prize winner of that Olympics, who received eight awards then.
Now about the medals of the 1980 Olympics. The USSR received the most awards - 41 medals, of which 15 were gold, 14 silver and 12 bronze. Next comes the GDR, which has won less - 29 pieces. Of these, 11 are gold, 8 silver and 10 bronze. Next, with a huge margin of 19 medals, comes the United Kingdom, which received 4 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze. It is worth noting that these Summer Olympic Games were remembered for this medal standings, since such a large margin observed in the number of awards won is a rare occurrence. Thanks to this, these Games entered the history of world sports.