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| Event type

4 × 5 kilometres Relay, Women

Date21 February 1980 — 9:00
StatusOlympic
LocationMt. Van Hoevenberg Recreation Area, Lake Placid
Participants32 from 8 countries
DetailsCourse Length: ?
Height Differential: 100 m
Maximum Climb: 55 m
Total Climbing: 162 m

The defending Olympic champion Soviet Union was regarded as the favorite, but at the 1978 World Championships the Soviet team was beaten into third place behind Finland and Sweden after a very close battle. The 1980 Olympic relay became a rather non-exciting affair, with almost no changing of positions among the best teams after the first leg.

At the first leg, four teams left the others early: East Germany, the Soviet Union, Norway and Sweden, and at the last part of the leg, East Germany’s Marlies Rostock and Soviet Nina Baldycheva went away, Rostock reaching the exchange two seconds ahead of Baldycheva, with Norway in third 18 seconds behind the leader. On the second leg East Germany’s Carola Anding went away from the Soviet Union’s Nina Rocheva and built up almost a 30 second lead at the exchange. Norway was still in third, 35 seconds behind the leader. On the third leg Veronika Hesse decided the relay in East Germany’s favor by outclassing Galina Kulakova, and when Olympic 10 km champion Barbara Petzold took over on the anchor leg, the margin ahead of the Soviet team was nearly one minute, with Norway still in third place. Petzold cruised to the finish for an easy win, 1:05 ahead of Soviet’s Raisa Smetanina, and Norway’s Berit Aunli was another minute behind in third place. Finland was a distant and disappointing fifth behind Czechoslovakia, after lying sixth most of the race. Their anchor leg skier Hilkka Riihivouri overtook Sweden in the final part of the race.

PosNumberCompetitorsNOCTimeExchange
12East GermanyGDR1-02:11.10– (–)Gold
Lead-Off2-1Marlies Rostock 15:50.6415:50.64 (1)
2nd Leg2-2Carola Anding 15:39.5231:30.16 (1)
3rd Leg2-3Veronika Schmidt-Hesse 15:18.2346:48.39 (1)
Anchor2-4Barbara Petzold 15:22.711-02:11.10 (1)
23Soviet UnionURS1-03:18.30– (–)Silver
Lead-Off3-1Nina Fyodorova-Baldycheva 15:52.7815:52.78 (2)
2nd Leg3-2Nina Rocheva 16:03.8331:56.61 (2)
3rd Leg3-3Galina Kulakova 15:50.0647:46.67 (2)
Anchor3-4Raisa Smetanina 15:31.631-03:18.30 (2)
35NorwayNOR1-04:13.50– (–)Bronze
Lead-Off5-1Brit Pettersen 16:08.6516:08.65 (3)
2nd Leg5-2Anette Bøe 15:56.6132:05.26 (3)
3rd Leg5-3Marit Myrmæl 16:15.9148:21.17 (3)
Anchor5-4Berit Kvello-Aunli 15:52.331-04:13.50 (3)
46CzechoslovakiaTCH1-04:31.39– (–)
Lead-Off6-1Dagmar Palečková-Švubová 16:38.4316:38.43 (5)
2nd Leg6-2Gabriela Sekajová-Svobodová 15:54.2032:32.63 (4)
3rd Leg6-3Blanka Paulů 16:12.2348:44.86 (4)
Anchor6-4Květa Jeriová 15:46.531-04:31.39 (4)
51FinlandFIN1-04:41.28– (–)
Lead-Off1-1Marja Auroma 16:52.9516:52.95 (6)
2nd Leg1-2Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen-Kirvesniemi 16:17.1333:10.08 (6)
3rd Leg1-3Helena Kivioja-Takalo 15:53.2749:03.35 (6)
Anchor1-4Hilkka Kuntola-Riihivuori 15:37.931-04:41.28 (5)
64SwedenSWE1-05:16.32– (–)
Lead-Off4-1Marie Johansson-Risby 16:19.5316:19.53 (4)
2nd Leg4-2Karin Lamberg-Skog 16:14.4532:33.98 (5)
3rd Leg4-3Eva Olsson 16:13.7548:47.73 (5)
Anchor4-4Lena Carlzon-Lundbäck 16:28.591-05:16.32 (6)
77United StatesUSA1-06:55.41– (–)
Lead-Off7-1Alison Owen-Spencer 17:03.6317:03.63 (7)
2nd Leg7-2Beth Paxson 16:42.7833:46.41 (7)
3rd Leg7-3Leslie Bancroft-Krichko 16:24.5250:10.93 (7)
Anchor7-4Lynn von der Heide-Spencer-Galanes 16:44.481-06:55.41 (7)
88CanadaCAN1-07:45.75– (–)
Lead-Off8-1Angela Schmidt-Foster 17:10.7417:10.74 (8)
2nd Leg8-2Shirley Firth 16:51.3734:02.11 (8)
3rd Leg8-3Esther Miller 17:07.9651:10.07 (8)
Anchor8-4Joan Groothuysen 16:35.681-07:45.75 (8)