| | Event type

800 metres Freestyle, Women

Date	26 July 1980
Status	Olympic
Location	Plavatelny basseyn, Sportivny kompleks Olimpiysky, Moskva
Participants	14 from 9 countries

Michelle Ford had set two world records in the 800 free early in 1978, only to be surpassed by her teammate Tracey Wickham, who twice bettered those marks, the last one to win the 1978 World Championships. Wickham qualified for the 1980 Australian Olympic team, but elected not to compete, citing financial problems that made her quit the training grind and go to work, although she would return in 1981 and win the 400/800 double at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. In her absence Ford won one of only two gold medals in Moscow that did not go to an East German woman, finishing in 8:28.90, although well off Wickham’s world record of 8:24.62. East Germany won silver-bronze, led by Ines Diers, who won medals in all four of the freestyle events in Moscow, adding a fifth medal in the free relay. Another missing swimmer was Kim Linehan, who won the 1980 US Nationals (two days after this final) in 8:27.86, well off her best time of 8:24.70, the second fastest performance ever.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Michelle Ford	AUS	8:42.36 (2 h2)	8:28.90 (1)	Gold
2	Ines Diers	GDR	8:40.29 (1 h2)	8:32.55 (2)	Silver
3	Heike Dähne	GDR	8:36.09 (1 h1)	8:33.48 (3)	Bronze
4	Irina Aksyonova	URS	8:44.42 (2 h1)	8:38.05 (4)
5	Oksana Komissarova	URS	8:45.80 (4 h1)	8:42.04 (5)
6	Pascale Verbauwen	BEL	8:45.12 (3 h1)	8:44.84 (6)
7	Ines Geißler	GDR	8:46.96 (3 h2)	8:45.28 (7)
8	Yelena Ivanova	URS	8:47.33 (5 h1)	8:46.45 (8)
9	Rosemary Brown	AUS	8:49.47 (4 h2)	–
10	Jackie Willmott	GBR	8:50.51 (5 h2)	–
11	Reggie de Jong	NED	8:54.49 (6 h2)	–
12	Roberta Felotti	ITA	8:58.54 (6 h1)	–
13	Sofia Dara	GRE	9:02.37 (7 h2)	–
14	Nikole Schrepfer	SUI	9:15.11 (8 h2)	–
DNS	Klára Gulyás	HUN	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	María Pia Ayora	PER	– (DNS h1)	–

Round One (26 July 1980 — 11:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	400 m	500 m	600 m	700 m	Time
1	3	Heike Dähne	GDR	1:02.26 (1) 1:04.55 (1)	2:06.81 (1) 1:05.12 (1)	3:11.93 (1) 1:04.97 (1)	4:16.90 (1) 1:05.09 (1)	5:21.99 (1) 1:05.39 (1)	6:27.38 (1) 1:05.16 (1)	7:32.54 (1) 1:03.55 (3)	8:36.09	QOR
2	4	Irina Aksyonova	URS	1:03.75 (4) 1:06.04 (2)	2:09.79 (2) 1:06.39 (4)	3:16.18 (2) 1:06.46 (4)	4:22.64 (3) 1:06.27 (3)	5:28.91 (3) 1:06.34 (2)	6:35.25 (2) 1:05.89 (2)	7:41.14 (2) 1:03.28 (1)	8:44.42	Q
3	7	Pascale Verbauwen	BEL	1:03.83 (5) 1:06.32 (4)	2:10.15 (5) 1:06.34 (3)	3:16.49 (5) 1:06.70 (5)	4:23.19 (5) 1:06.11 (2)	5:29.30 (5) 1:06.38 (3)	6:35.68 (5) 1:05.99 (3)	7:41.67 (4) 1:03.45 (2)	8:45.12	Q
4	5	Oksana Komissarova	URS	1:03.73 (3) 1:06.33 (5)	2:10.06 (4) 1:06.24 (2)	3:16.30 (3) 1:06.28 (2)	4:22.58 (2) 1:06.28 (4)	5:28.86 (2) 1:06.46 (5)	6:35.32 (3) 1:06.03 (4)	7:41.35 (3) 1:04.45 (4)	8:45.80	Q
5	6	Yelena Ivanova	URS	1:03.70 (2) 1:06.27 (3)	2:09.97 (3) 1:06.48 (5)	3:16.45 (4) 1:06.38 (3)	4:22.83 (4) 1:06.29 (5)	5:29.12 (4) 1:06.41 (4)	6:35.53 (4) 1:06.18 (5)	7:41.71 (5) 1:05.62 (5)	8:47.33	Q
6	2	Roberta Felotti	ITA	1:04.67 (6) 1:06.48 (6)	2:11.15 (6) 1:07.00 (6)	3:18.15 (6) 1:07.58 (6)	4:25.73 (6) 1:08.56 (6)	5:34.29 (6) 1:08.29 (6)	6:42.58 (6) 1:08.60 (6)	7:51.18 (6) 1:07.36 (6)	8:58.54
DNS	1	Klára Gulyás	HUN	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–
DNS	8	María Pia Ayora	PER	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	400 m	500 m	600 m	700 m	Time
1	4	Ines Diers	GDR	1:02.56 (1) 1:06.45 (3)	2:09.01 (2) 1:04.76 (1)	3:13.77 (1) 1:05.67 (1)	4:19.44 (1) 1:06.88 (5)	5:26.32 (1) 1:04.80 (2)	6:31.12 (1) 1:05.19 (2)	7:36.31 (1) 1:03.98 (1)	8:40.29	Q
2	3	Michelle Ford	AUS	1:03.79 (6) 1:06.55 (4)	2:10.34 (4) 1:06.60 (5)	3:16.94 (4) 1:06.26 (2)	4:23.20 (4) 1:04.69 (1)	5:27.89 (2) 1:04.77 (1)	6:32.66 (2) 1:04.59 (1)	7:37.25 (2) 1:05.11 (3)	8:42.36	Q
3	6	Ines Geißler	GDR	1:02.87 (2) 1:06.35 (2)	2:09.22 (3) 1:06.57 (3)	3:15.79 (3) 1:06.53 (3)	4:22.32 (3) 1:06.18 (2)	5:28.50 (4) 1:06.30 (3)	6:34.80 (3) 1:06.38 (3)	7:41.18 (3) 1:05.78 (4)	8:46.96	Q
4	2	Rosemary Brown	AUS	1:03.42 (3) 1:04.87 (1)	2:08.29 (1) 1:06.04 (2)	3:14.33 (2) 1:06.82 (5)	4:21.15 (2) 1:07.09 (6)	5:28.24 (3) 1:07.49 (5)	6:35.73 (4) 1:07.63 (5)	7:43.36 (4) 1:06.11 (5)	8:49.47
5	5	Jackie Willmott	GBR	1:04.11 (8) 1:06.61 (5)	2:10.72 (7) 1:06.59 (4)	3:17.31 (5) 1:06.97 (6)	4:24.28 (6) 1:06.81 (4)	5:31.09 (6) 1:07.21 (4)	6:38.30 (5) 1:07.22 (4)	7:45.52 (5) 1:04.99 (2)	8:50.51
6	7	Reggie de Jong	NED	1:03.71 (=4) 1:06.92 (7)	2:10.63 (6) 1:06.80 (6)	3:17.43 (6) 1:06.64 (4)	4:24.07 (5) 1:06.63 (3)	5:30.70 (5) 1:08.44 (6)	6:39.14 (6) 1:08.71 (6)	7:47.85 (6) 1:06.64 (6)	8:54.49
7	1	Sofia Dara	GRE	1:03.71 (=4) 1:06.67 (6)	2:10.38 (5) 1:07.40 (7)	3:17.78 (7) 1:08.39 (7)	4:26.17 (7) 1:08.83 (7)	5:35.00 (7) 1:09.57 (7)	6:44.57 (7) 1:09.61 (7)	7:54.18 (7) 1:08.19 (7)	9:02.37
8	8	Nikole Schrepfer	SUI	1:03.80 (7) 1:08.41 (8)	2:12.21 (8) 1:09.32 (8)	3:21.53 (8) 1:10.24 (8)	4:31.77 (8) 1:11.01 (8)	5:42.78 (8) 1:11.37 (8)	6:54.15 (8) 1:11.31 (8)	8:05.46 (8) 1:09.65 (8)	9:15.11

Final (26 July 1980 — 18:30)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	400 m	500 m	600 m	700 m	Time
1	3	Michelle Ford	AUS	1:03.33 (7) 1:04.10 (1)	2:07.43 (2) 1:03.55 (1)	3:10.98 (1) 1:03.68 (1)	4:14.66 (1) 1:03.47 (1)	5:18.13 (1) 1:03.64 (1)	6:21.77 (1) 1:03.82 (1)	7:25.59 (1) 1:03.31 (3)	8:28.90	OR
2	5	Ines Diers	GDR	1:02.39 (1) 1:05.08 (3)	2:07.47 (3) 1:04.71 (3)	3:12.18 (3) 1:04.77 (3)	4:16.95 (3) 1:03.69 (2)	5:20.64 (3) 1:04.26 (2)	6:24.90 (3) 1:04.48 (2)	7:29.38 (2) 1:03.17 (2)	8:32.55
3	4	Heike Dähne	GDR	1:02.54 (2) 1:04.84 (2)	2:07.38 (1) 1:04.49 (2)	3:11.87 (2) 1:04.01 (2)	4:15.88 (2) 1:04.15 (3)	5:20.03 (2) 1:04.59 (3)	6:24.62 (2) 1:04.96 (3)	7:29.58 (3) 1:03.90 (6)	8:33.48
4	6	Irina Aksyonova	URS	1:02.64 (3) 1:05.17 (4)	2:07.81 (4) 1:05.22 (4)	3:13.03 (4) 1:05.12 (4)	4:18.15 (4) 1:05.26 (4)	5:23.41 (4) 1:05.43 (4)	6:28.84 (4) 1:05.58 (5)	7:34.42 (4) 1:03.63 (4)	8:38.05
5	7	Oksana Komissarova	URS	1:02.82 (4) 1:05.34 (5)	2:08.16 (5) 1:05.85 (5)	3:14.01 (5) 1:06.05 (5)	4:20.06 (5) 1:05.79 (5)	5:25.85 (5) 1:05.65 (5)	6:31.50 (5) 1:05.48 (4)	7:36.98 (5) 1:05.06 (8)	8:42.04
6	2	Pascale Verbauwen	BEL	1:03.73 (8) 1:05.68 (6)	2:09.41 (7) 1:06.47 (8)	3:15.88 (7) 1:06.51 (7)	4:22.39 (7) 1:06.22 (6)	5:28.61 (7) 1:06.87 (8)	6:35.48 (8) 1:06.26 (6)	7:41.74 (=7) 1:03.10 (1)	8:44.84
7	1	Ines Geißler	GDR	1:03.04 (5) 1:06.11 (7)	2:09.15 (6) 1:06.32 (7)	3:15.47 (6) 1:06.55 (8)	4:22.02 (6) 1:06.49 (8)	5:28.51 (6) 1:06.80 (7)	6:35.31 (7) 1:06.31 (7)	7:41.62 (6) 1:03.66 (5)	8:45.28
8	8	Yelena Ivanova	URS	1:03.29 (6) 1:06.39 (8)	2:09.68 (8) 1:06.28 (6)	3:15.96 (8) 1:06.49 (6)	4:22.45 (8) 1:06.32 (7)	5:28.77 (8) 1:06.38 (6)	6:35.15 (6) 1:06.59 (8)	7:41.74 (=7) 1:04.71 (7)	8:46.45