| Date | 24 July 1980 — 18:35 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Bolshaya arena, Tsentralny stadion imeni V.I. Lenina, Moskva | |
| Participants | 14 from 8 countries | |
| Format | Final only. | |
The Americans boycotted but nobody noticed in this event. But there were only 14 putters entered so the officials dispensed with a qualifying round and went straight to the final round. The three dominant nations were the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic, and Bulgaria, and they would provide the first eight finishers. The best putter early in 1980 had been Ilona Slupianek (GDR) who broke the world record twice in May with 22.36 (73-4½) and 22.45 (73-8). Slupianek won the gold medal in round one with 22.41 (73-6¼) and dominated the competition. Her worst mark of six fair throws was 21.42 (70-3½), which would have tied for the silver medal. The silver medalist was Esfir Krachevskaya, who had competed in 1972 as Esfir Dolzhenko. Slupianek had not competed in 1979, having tested positive for steroids, and she has the infamy of being the first East German to fail a doping test.
| Pos | Start Order | Competitor | NOC | Distance | Round #1 Distance | Round #2 Distance | Round #3 Distance | Round #4 Distance | Round #5 Distance | Round #6 Distance | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | Ilona Slupianek |  GDR | 22.41 | 22.41 | 21.81 | 21.42 | 21.60 | 22.00 | 21.85 | Gold | ||
| 2 | 9 | Esfir Krachevskaya |  URS | 21.42 | 20.00 | 20.67 | 21.42 | x | 21.03 | x | Silver | ||
| 3 | 4 | Margitta Pufe | GDR | 21.20 | 21.20 | 21.07 | 20.42 | 20.72 | 20.05 | 20.36 | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 7 | Nunu Abashidze | URS | 21.15 | 20.74 | x | x | x | 20.02 | 21.15 | |||
| 5 | 6 | Virzhiniya Veselinova |  BUL | 20.72 | 20.72 | 19.75 | 20.55 | 20.37 | x | x | |||
| 6 | 2 | Elena Stoyanova | BUL | 20.22 | 20.22 | 19.80 | 19.56 | 19.83 | 20.00 | 20.18 | |||
| 7 | 1 | Nataliya Akhrimenko | URS | 19.74 | 19.64 | 19.63 | 19.74 | x | x | 19.28 | |||
| 8 | 10 | Ines Reichenbach | GDR | 19.66 | 19.19 | 19.66 | 19.49 | 19.03 | 19.65 | 19.63 | |||
| 9 | 13 | María Elena Sarría |  CUB | 19.37 | 19.20 | 19.37 | 18.91 | – | – | – | |||
| 10 | 12 | Zdeňka Bartoňová |  TCH | 18.40 | 17.43 | 18.40 | x | – | – | – | |||
| 11 | 11 | Ivanka Petrova | BUL | 18.34 | 18.34 | x | 18.28 | – | – | – | |||
| 12 | 3 | Gael Mulhall |  AUS | 18.00 | 17.45 | x | 18.00 | – | – | – | |||
| 13 | 8 | Angela Littlewood |  GBR | 17.53 | 16.14 | 16.35 | 17.53 | – | – | – | |||
| 14 | 5 | Cinzia Petrucci |  ITA | 17.27 | 17.17 | 17.00 | 17.27 | – | – | – |
