Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Dates 20 – 27 July 1980
Medal Events 26

The American-led boycott decimated the 1980 swimming events, especially on the men’s side, as it deprived the 1980 Olympics of the strongest men’s swimming nation – the United States. However, Australia was also very strong in the men’s events and it elected to compete. On the women’s side the US women were now surpassed by the woman of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (East Germany), but the US would have been a contender in multiple events. One American woman was especially missed in 1980 – Mary T. Meagher – who was considered the greatest butterfly swimmer ever and was called “Madame Butterfly.”

The events were held at the Swimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex, which was specially built for the 1980 Olympics. It is still used as a swimming pool and hosted the 2002 Short Course World Championships. The program was the same as in 1976, with 13 events for both men and women.

The GDR led both medal lists, with 12 golds and 30 medals, followed by the Soviet Union, who won 8 golds and 22 medals. The Soviet Union led the men’s list with 7 golds and 17 medals, while the GDR women won 11 of 13 medals and 26 of 39 medals.

Four swimmers won three gold medals in 1980 – East German women Caren Metschuck, Barbara Krause, and Rica Reinisch; and Soviet Vladimir Salnikov among the men. East German Ines Diers won five medals while Metschuck won four.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
100 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 26 – 27 July 1980 39 26
200 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 21 July 1980 42 24
400 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 24 July 1980 28 16
1,500 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 21 – 22 July 1980 17 11
4 x 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men Olympic 23 July 1980 62 13
100 metres Backstroke, Men Olympic 20 – 21 July 1980 33 22
200 metres Backstroke, Men Olympic 26 July 1980 25 16
100 metres Breaststroke, Men Olympic 21 – 22 July 1980 26 20
200 metres Breaststroke, Men Olympic 26 July 1980 20 14
100 metres Butterfly, Men Olympic 22 – 23 July 1980 34 29
200 metres Butterfly, Men Olympic 20 July 1980 25 19
400 metres Individual Medley, Men Olympic 27 July 1980 24 15
4 x 100 metres Medley Relay, Men Olympic 24 July 1980 61 13
100 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 20 – 21 July 1980 30 21
200 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 24 July 1980 22 14
400 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 22 July 1980 19 12
800 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 26 July 1980 14 9
4 x 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women Olympic 27 July 1980 39 9
100 metres Backstroke, Women Olympic 22 – 23 July 1980 26 18
200 metres Backstroke, Women Olympic 27 July 1980 21 13
100 metres Breaststroke, Women Olympic 24 July 1980 25 19
200 metres Breaststroke, Women Olympic 23 July 1980 25 18
100 metres Butterfly, Women Olympic 23 – 24 July 1980 24 17
200 metres Butterfly, Women Olympic 21 July 1980 21 14
400 metres Individual Medley, Women Olympic 26 July 1980 16 11
4 x 100 metres Medley Relay, Women Olympic 20 July 1980 43 10
333 (190/143) 41 (39/30)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres Freestyle, Men Jörg WoitheGDR Per HolmertzSWE Per JohanssonSWE
200 metres Freestyle, Men Sergey KoplyakovURS Andrey KrylovURS Graeme BrewerAUS
400 metres Freestyle, Men Vladimir SalnikovURS Andrey KrylovURS Ivar StukolkinURS
1,500 metres Freestyle, Men Vladimir SalnikovURS Aleksandr ChayevURS Max MetzkerAUS
4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men Soviet UnionURS East GermanyGDR BrazilBRA
100 metres Backstroke, Men Bengt BaronSWE Viktor KuznetsovURS Vladimir DolgovURS
200 metres Backstroke, Men Sándor WladárHUN Zoltán VerrasztóHUN Mark KerryAUS
100 metres Breaststroke, Men Duncan GoodhewGBR Arsens MiskarovsURS Peter EvansAUS
200 metres Breaststroke, Men Robertas ŽulpaURS Albán VermesHUN Arsens MiskarovsURS
100 metres Butterfly, Men Pär ArvidssonSWE Roger PyttelGDR David López-ZuberoESP
200 metres Butterfly, Men Sergey FesenkoURS Philip HubbleGBR Roger PyttelGDR
400 metres Individual Medley, Men Aleksandr SidorenkoURS Sergey FesenkoURS Zoltán VerrasztóHUN
4 × 100 metres Medley Relay, Men AustraliaAUS Soviet UnionURS Great BritainGBR
100 metres Freestyle, Women Barbara KrauseGDR Caren MetschuckGDR Ines DiersGDR
200 metres Freestyle, Women Barbara KrauseGDR Ines DiersGDR Carmela SchmidtGDR
400 metres Freestyle, Women Ines DiersGDR Petra SchneiderGDR Carmela SchmidtGDR
800 metres Freestyle, Women Michelle FordAUS Ines DiersGDR Heike DähneGDR
4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women East GermanyGDR SwedenSWE NetherlandsNED
100 metres Backstroke, Women Rica ReinischGDR Ina KleberGDR Petra RiedelGDR
200 metres Backstroke, Women Rica ReinischGDR Cornelia PolitGDR Birgit TreiberGDR
100 metres Breaststroke, Women Ute GewenigerGDR Elvira VasilkovaURS Susanne NielssonDEN
200 metres Breaststroke, Women Lina KačiušytėURS Svetlana VarganovaURS Yuliya BogdanovaURS
100 metres Butterfly, Women Caren MetschuckGDR Andrea PollackGDR Christiane KnackeGDR
200 metres Butterfly, Women Ines GeißlerGDR Sybille SchönrockGDR Michelle FordAUS
400 metres Individual Medley, Women Petra SchneiderGDR Sharron DaviesGBR Agnieszka CzopekPOL
4 × 100 metres Medley Relay, Women East GermanyGDR Great BritainGBR Soviet UnionURS

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
East Germany GDR 12 10 8 30
Soviet Union URS 8 9 5 22
Sweden SWE 2 2 1 5
Australia AUS 2 0 5 7
Great Britain GBR 1 3 1 5
Hungary HUN 1 2 1 4
Brazil BRA 0 0 1 1
Denmark DEN 0 0 1 1
Netherlands NED 0 0 1 1
Poland POL 0 0 1 1
Spain ESP 0 0 1 1