| | Event type

4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

Date	23 July 1980
Status	Olympic
Location	Plavatelny basseyn, Sportivny kompleks Olimpiysky, Moskva
Participants	62 from 13 countries

The United States had won the last five gold medals in this event and had won it at the 1978 World Championships in Berlin in world record time of 7:20.82. In their absence the race came down to the Soviet Union winning quite easily over the German Democratic Republic, with Brazil coming in for the bronze medal. Although swim times come down almost every Olympiad, the Soviet time of 7:23.50 did not even better the Olympic record, set by the USA in 1976, which was then a world record.

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	–	Soviet Union	URS	7:29.39 (1 h2)	7:23.50 (1)	Gold
	–	Sergey Koplyakov		–	–
	–	Vladimir Salnikov		–	–
	–	Ivar Stukolkin		–	–
	–	Andrey Krylov		–	–
	–	Sergey Rusin		–	–
	–	Sergey Krasyuk		–	–
	–	Yury Prisekin		–	–
	335	Sergey Smiryagin DNS		–	–
2	–	East Germany	GDR	7:32.67 (1 h1)	7:28.60 (2)	Silver
	–	Frank Pfütze		–	–
	–	Jörg Woithe		–	–
	–	Detlev Grabs		–	–
	–	Rainer Strohbach		–	–
	–	Frank Kühne		–	–
3	–	Brazil	BRA	7:32.81 (2 h2)	7:29.30 (3)	Bronze
	–	Jorge Fernandes		–	–
	–	Marcus Mattioli		–	–
	–	Cyro Delgado		–	–
	–	Djan Madruga		–	–
4	–	Sweden	SWE	7:34.34 (4 h2)	7:30.10 (4)
	–	Michael Söderlund		–	–
	–	Per Wikström		–	–
	–	Per-Alvar Magnusson		–	–
	–	Thomas Lejdström		–	–
	–	Anders Rutqvist		–	–
	–	Per-Ola Quist		–	–
	280	Per Holmertz DNS		–	–
	282	Per Johansson DNS		–	–
5	–	Italy	ITA	7:36.97 (3 h1)	7:30.37 (5)
	–	Paolo Revelli		–	–
	–	Raffaele Franceschi		–	–
	–	Andrea Ceccarini		–	–
	–	Fabrizio Rampazzo		–	–
	–	Federico Silvestri		–	–
6	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:37.36 (4 h1)	7:30.81 (6)
	–	Doug Campbell		–	–
	–	Phil Hubble		–	–
	–	Martin Smith		–	–
	–	Andy Astbury		–	–
	–	Mark Taylor		–	–
	–	Kevin Lee		–	–
	125	Simon Gray DNS		–	–
	131	Steve Poulter DNS		–	–
7	–	Australia	AUS	7:34.06 (3 h2)	7:30.82 (7)
	–	Graeme Brewer		–	–
	–	Mark Tonelli		–	–
	–	Mark Kerry		–	–
	–	Ron McKeon		–	–
	–	Max Metzker		–	–
8	–	France	FRA	7:34.81 (2 h1)	7:36.08 (8)
	–	Fabien Noël		–	–
	–	Marc Lazzaro		–	–
	–	Dominique Petit		–	–
	–	Pascal Laget		–	–
9	–	Czechoslovakia	TCH	7:42.18 (5 h2)	–
	296	Daniel Machek		–	–
	297	Miloslav Roľko		–	–
	294	Petr Adamec		–	–
	295	Radek Havel		–	–
10	–	Spain	ESP	7:42.69 (6 h2)	–
	103	David López-Zubero		–	–
	102	Ramón Lavín		–	–
	–	Juan Carlos Vallejo		–	–
	–	Juan Barro		–	–
	96	Rafael Escalas DNS		–	–
11	–	Netherlands	NED	7:42.85 (5 h1)	–
	176	Cees Vervoorn		–	–
	163	Peter Drost		–	–
	177	Cees Jan Winkel		–	–
	164	Fred Eefting		–	–
	160	Albert Boonstra DNS		–	–
12	–	Algeria	ALG	8:23.22 (6 h1)	–
	–	Abdelhakim Bitat		–	–
	–	Reda Yadi		–	–
	–	Mohamed Bendahmane		–	–
	–	Mohamed Halimi		–	–
DQ	–	Bulgaria	BUL	– (DQ h2)	–
	58	Petar Kochanov		–	–
	–	Krasimir Tumanov		–	–
	–	Petar Stoyanov		–	–
	54	Tsvetan Golomeev		–	–
	49	Georgi Dangalakov DNS		–	–
DNS	–	Hungary	HUN	–	–
	189	Ferenc Kovácshegyi DNS		–	–
	194	József Nagy DNS		–	–
	200	Ferenc Szekeres DNS		–	–
	201	Sándor Szeles DNS		–	–

Round One

Date	23 July 1980 — 10:00
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Team	NOC	Time
1	–	Soviet Union	URS	7:29.39	Q
2	–	East Germany	GDR	7:32.67	Q
3	–	Brazil	BRA	7:32.81	Q
4	–	Australia	AUS	7:34.06	Q
5	–	Sweden	SWE	7:34.34	Q
6	–	France	FRA	7:34.81	Q
7	–	Italy	ITA	7:36.97	Q
8	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:37.36	Q
9	–	Czechoslovakia	TCH	7:42.18
10	–	Spain	ESP	7:42.69
11	–	Netherlands	NED	7:42.85
12	–	Algeria	ALG	8:23.22
DQ	–	Bulgaria	BUL	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	East Germany	GDR	7:32.67	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Frank Kühne		–	1:45.18 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Detlev Grabs		–	2:02.68 (5)	3:47.86 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Frank Pfütze		–	1:52.46 (1)	5:40.32 (1)
Anchor	–	Rainer Strohbach		–	1:52.35 (2)	– (–)
2	–	France	FRA	7:34.81	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Marc Lazzaro		–	1:54.19 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Dominique Petit		–	1:55.25 (2)	3:49.44 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Pascal Laget		–	1:53.44 (2)	5:42.88 (2)
Anchor	–	Fabien Noël		–	1:51.93 (1)	– (–)
3	–	Italy	ITA	7:36.97	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Federico Silvestri		–	1:56.74 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Raffaele Franceschi		–	1:53.38 (1)	3:50.12 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Andrea Ceccarini		–	1:54.15 (3)	5:44.27 (3)
Anchor	–	Paolo Revelli		–	1:52.70 (3)	– (–)
4	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:37.36	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Doug Campbell		–	1:53.99 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Mark Taylor		–	1:55.75 (3)	3:49.74 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Kevin Lee		–	1:54.27 (4)	5:44.01 (4)
Anchor	–	Andy Astbury		–	1:53.35 (4)	– (–)
5	–	Netherlands	NED	7:42.85	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Cees Vervoorn		–	1:55.16 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Peter Drost		–	1:56.79 (4)	3:51.95 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Cees Jan Winkel		–	1:56.94 (5)	5:48.89 (5)
Anchor	–	Fred Eefting		–	1:53.96 (5)	– (–)
6	–	Algeria	ALG	8:23.22	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Abdelhakim Bitat		–	2:03.87 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Reda Yadi		–	2:05.35 (6)	4:09.22 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Mohamed Bendahmane		–	2:07.81 (6)	6:17.03 (6)
Anchor	–	Mohamed Halimi		–	2:06.19 (6)	– (–)

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	Soviet Union	URS	7:29.39	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Sergey Rusin		–	1:52.55 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Sergey Krasyuk		–	1:53.09 (3)	3:45.64 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Yury Prisekin		–	1:52.21 (1)	5:37.85 (1)
Anchor	–	Ivar Stukolkin		–	1:51.54 (1)	– (–)
2	–	Brazil	BRA	7:32.81	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Jorge Fernandes		–	1:53.49 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Marcus Mattioli		–	1:52.76 (1)	3:46.25 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Cyro Delgado		–	1:53.20 (2)	5:39.45 (2)
Anchor	–	Djan Madruga		–	1:53.36 (3)	– (–)
3	–	Australia	AUS	7:34.06	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Mark Tonelli		–	1:53.99 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Max Metzker		–	1:54.85 (4)	3:48.84 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Mark Kerry		–	1:53.47 (3)	5:42.31 (3)
Anchor	–	Graeme Brewer		–	1:51.75 (2)	– (–)
4	–	Sweden	SWE	7:34.34	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Michael Söderlund		–	1:53.16 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Per-Alvar Magnusson		–	1:52.77 (2)	3:45.93 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Anders Rutqvist		–	1:54.43 (4)	5:40.36 (4)
Anchor	–	Per-Ola Quist		–	1:53.98 (4)	– (–)
5	–	Czechoslovakia	TCH	7:42.18	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Daniel Machek		–	1:55.10 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Miloslav Roľko		–	1:56.42 (6)	3:51.52 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Petr Adamec		–	1:55.59 (5)	5:47.11 (5)
Anchor	–	Radek Havel		–	1:55.07 (5)	– (–)
6	–	Spain	ESP	7:42.69	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	David López-Zubero		–	1:53.50 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Ramón Lavín		–	1:55.10 (5)	3:48.60 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Juan Carlos Vallejo		–	1:57.99 (6)	5:46.59 (6)
Anchor	–	Juan Barro		–	1:56.10 (6)	– (–)
DQ	–	Bulgaria	BUL	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Petar Kochanov		–	– (–)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Krasimir Tumanov		–	– (–)	– (–)
3rd Leg	–	Petar Stoyanov		–	– (–)	– (–)
Anchor	–	Tsvetan Golomeev		–	– (–)	– (–)

Final Round

Date	23 July 1980 — 20:00

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	Soviet Union	URS	7:23.50	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Sergey Koplyakov		–	1:50.00 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Vladimir Salnikov		–	1:51.09 (1)	3:41.09 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Ivar Stukolkin		–	1:52.04 (1)	5:33.13 (1)
Anchor	–	Andrey Krylov		–	1:50.37 (1)	– (–)
2	–	East Germany	GDR	7:28.60	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Frank Pfütze		–	1:52.96 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Jörg Woithe		–	1:51.78 (3)	3:44.74 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Detlev Grabs		–	1:52.24 (2)	5:36.98 (2)
Anchor	–	Rainer Strohbach		–	1:51.62 (5)	– (–)
3	–	Brazil	BRA	7:29.30	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Jorge Fernandes		–	1:52.61 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Marcus Mattioli		–	1:52.94 (5)	3:45.55 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Cyro Delgado		–	1:52.35 (3)	5:37.90 (3)
Anchor	–	Djan Madruga		–	1:51.40 (3)	– (–)
4	–	Sweden	SWE	7:30.10	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Michael Söderlund		–	1:52.54 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Per Wikström		–	1:52.70 (4)	3:45.24 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Per-Alvar Magnusson		–	1:53.01 (6)	5:38.25 (4)
Anchor	–	Thomas Lejdström		–	1:51.85 (6)	– (–)
5	–	Italy	ITA	7:30.37	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Paolo Revelli		–	1:53.14 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Raffaele Franceschi		–	1:51.56 (2)	3:44.70 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Andrea Ceccarini		–	1:54.91 (8)	5:39.61 (5)
Anchor	–	Fabrizio Rampazzo		–	1:50.76 (2)	– (–)
6	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:30.81	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Doug Campbell		–	1:53.56 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Phil Hubble		–	1:52.96 (6)	3:46.52 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Martin Smith		–	1:52.69 (5)	5:39.21 (6)
Anchor	–	Andy Astbury		–	1:51.60 (4)	– (–)
7	–	Australia	AUS	7:30.82	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Graeme Brewer		–	1:52.57 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Mark Tonelli		–	1:53.47 (7)	3:46.04 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Mark Kerry		–	1:52.64 (4)	5:38.68 (7)
Anchor	–	Ron McKeon		–	1:52.14 (7)	– (–)
8	–	France	FRA	7:36.08	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Fabien Noël		–	1:52.73 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Marc Lazzaro		–	1:53.79 (8)	3:46.52 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Dominique Petit		–	1:54.88 (7)	5:41.40 (8)
Anchor	–	Pascal Laget		–	1:54.68 (8)	– (–)