The individual dressage at the 1980 Summer Olympics took place on 31 July and 1 August at the Trade Unions' Equestrian Complex.
The competition was split into two phases:
Grand Prix (31 July) Riders performed the Grand Prix test. The twelve riders with the highest scores advanced to the final. Grand Prix Special (1 August) Riders performed the Grand Prix Special test.
Competition Of the 14 starters in the individual competition, only two of them came from Western nations – Elisabeth Theurer of Austria and Kyra Kyrklund of Finland.
Team competition served as the individual qualifier. In the Grand Prix Special, in which only two riders of the Grand Prix class were not allowed to take part, the difference of quality became even more pronounced. Theurer, Kyrklund and the three Soviet riders were the only ones who managed to score more than 1000 points. Theurer's gold medal however was never in danger and with a classy performance she received 1370 points, almost double as much as the last placed rider from Romania in this individual competition.
Theurer received criticism for deciding to go to Moscow instead of Goodwood, which hosted the Olympic Festival for west-block nations. Without much support from the Austrian Federation, her horse Mon Cherie was flown to Moscow by Niki Lauda.
Results Rank Rider Horse Grand Prix Grand Prix Special Points Rank Points Mon Cherie 1623 1 1370 Igrok 1588 2 1300 Shkval 1541 3 1234 4 Plot 1254 6 1231 5 Piccolo 1458 4 1121 6 Dor 1255 5 960 7 Vnimatelen 1146 9 881 8 Aleko 1190 8 850 9 Schibor 1244 7 846 10 Helios 1061 11 804 11 Derbist 1015 12 741 12 Decebal 1076 10 720 13 Sum 954 13 Did not advance 14 Damask 930 14 Did not advance
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