Diving at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Dates 20 – 28 July 1980
Medal Events 4

The United States-led boycott decimated the men’s side of this sport as the best diver in the world in 1980, at least on platform, was American Greg Louganis, who could not compete. Louganis, considered the greatest male diver ever, had won a silver on platform in 1976 and would return in 1984 and 1988 to win both men’s events.

As at all recent Olympics, the swimming, diving, water polo, and modern pentathlon swimming were held at the same site, the indoor Olympic Pool at the Olympiysky Sports Complex, or the Plavatelny Basseyn, Sportivny Kompleks Olimpiysky in transliterated Russian. There were four diving events – 3-metre springboard and 10-metre platform for men and women, which remained the standard Olympic diving program through 1996. The four gold medals were divided equally between East Germany and the Soviet Union.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Springboard, Men Olympic 22 – 23 July 1980 24 16
Platform, Men Olympic 27 – 28 July 1980 23 14
Springboard, Women Olympic 20 – 21 July 1980 24 13
Platform, Women Olympic 25 – 26 July 1980 17 10
67 (34/33) 21 (18/14)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Springboard, Men Aleksandr PortnovURS Carlos GirónMEX Franco CagnottoITA
Platform, Men Falk HoffmannGDR Vladimir AleynikURS Davit HambardzumyanURS
Springboard, Women Irina KalininaURS Martina ProeberGDR Karin GuthkeGDR
Platform, Women Martina JäschkeGDR Silva EmirzyanURS Liana Tsot'adzeURS

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union URS 2 2 2 6
East Germany GDR 2 1 1 4
Mexico MEX 0 1 0 1
Italy ITA 0 0 1 1