The men's marathon at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR had an entry list of 76 competitors, with 74 athletes from 40 nations starting and 53 runners finishing the race held on Friday 1 August 1980. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at three since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany, the second man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the marathon (after Abebe Bikila in 1960 and 1964). Both the Netherlands (Gerard Nijboer's silver) and the Soviet Union (Satymkul Dzhumanazarov's bronze) won their first men's Olympic marathon medals. The winning margin was 17 seconds.

Background

This was the 19th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1976 marathon included defending champion Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany, bronze medalist (and 1972 silver medalist) Karel Lismont of Belgium, fifth-place finisher (and two-time doubler in the 5000 metres and 10000 metres) Lasse Virén of Finland, seventh-place finisher Leonid Moseyev of the Soviet Union, and tenth-place finisher Henri Schoofs of Belgium. The two strongest challengers against a Cierpinski repeat were Bill Rodgers of the United States (1975 and 1978–80 Boston winner, 1976–79 New York winner, 1977 Fukuoka winner, and 1976 Olympian) and Toshihiko Seko of Japan (1979–1980 Fukuoka winner). Both men, however, were kept out of the games due to the American-led boycott.

Algeria, the Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and Zimbabwe each made their first appearance in Olympic men's marathons. Great Britain made its 17th appearance, most of any nation competing but one behind the boycotting United States.

Competition format and course

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 42,195 km was run over a "very flat" out-and-back route along the Moskva river.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics.

No new world or Olympic bests were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)

Date Time Round Friday, 1 August 1980 17:15 Final

Results

Rank Athlete Nation Time Waldemar Cierpinski 2:11:03 Gerard Nijboer 2:11:20 Satymkul Dzhumanazarov 2:11:354 Vladimir Kotov 2:12:055 Leonid Moseyev 2:12:146 Rodolfo Gómez 2:12:397 Dereje Nedi 2:12:448 Massimo Magnani 2:13:129 Karel Lismont 2:13:2710 Robert de Castella 2:14:3111 Hans-Joachim Truppel 2:14:5512 Ferenc Szekeres 2:15:1813 Marc Smet 2:16:0014 Emmanuel Ndiemandoi 2:16:4715 Gidamis Shahanga 2:16:4716 Anacleto Pinto 2:17:0417 Domingo Tibaduiza 2:17:0618 Rik Schoofs 2:17:2819 Kjell-Erik Ståhl 2:17:4420 Michael Koussis 2:18:0221 Jürgen Eberding 2:18:0422 Eleuterio Antón 2:18:1623 Leodigard Martin 2:18:2124 Moges Alemayehu 2:18:4025 Jules Randrianarivelo 2:19:2326 Zbigniew Pierzynka 2:20:0327 Koh Chun-Son 2:20:0828 Chris Wardlaw 2:20:4229 Li Jong-hyung 2:21:1030 Tommy Persson 2:21:1131 Hari Chand 2:22:0832 Håkan Spik 2:22:2433 Choe Chang-Sop 2:22:4234 Luis Barbosa 2:22:5835 Marco Marchei 2:23:2136 Vincent Rakabaele 2:23:2937 Baikuntha Manandhar 2:23:5138 Dick Hooper 2:23:5339 Josef Steiner 2:24:2440 Joseph Peter 2:24:5341 Cor Vriend 2:26:4142 Pat Hooper 2:30:2843 Buumba Halwand 2:36:5144 Issa Chetoui 2:38:0145 Mukunda Hari Shrestha 2:38:5246 Baba Ibrahim Suma-Keita 2:41:2047 Soe Khin 2:41:4148 Damiano Musonda 2:42:1149 Enemri Najem Al-Marghani 2:42:2750 Nguyễn Quyễn 2:44:3751 Tapfumaneyi Jonga 2:47:1752 Emmanuel M'Pioh 2:48:1753 Abel Nkhoma 2:53:35 — Shivnath Singh Ryszard Marczak Andrzej Sajkowski Vlastimil Zwiefelhofer Radamés González Dave Black Bernie Ford Lasse Virén Jean-Michel Charbonnel Albert Marie Abdelmadjid Mada Gerard Barrett Göran Högberg Josef Jánský Nabil Chouéry Ian Thompson Jouni Kortelainen Patrick Chiwala Kebede Balcha Jørn Lauenborg Kenneth Hlasa — Laswell Ngoma John Treacy

See also 1980 Marathon Year Ranking 1982 Men's European Championships Marathon (Athens) 1983 Men's World Championships Marathon (Helsinki) 1986 Men's European Championships Marathon (Stuttgart)

References