Officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games saw the participation by 5,179 athletes who represented 80 NOCs in 203 events from around 22 sports. It is interesting to know that these were the first Games to be held in a communist nation.
Unfortunate was the boycott of Games by 64 countries as a protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Surprising fact about the 1980 Moscow Games was that the United States of America didn't allow its players to compete simply because they had to suffer inconvenience in getting their passwords revoked. Hence, this was the only Olympics where the United States of America didn't win even a single medal.
USSR became the winner of maximum number of medals with 80 gold, 69 silver and 46 bronze in its kitty. German Democratic Republic, Bulgaria and Cuba took the second, third and fourth positions respectively. Zimbabwe was the nation which was invited by the Olympics organizing committee at the eleventh hour. In report to this late invitation, the nation got on with the selection of members less than a week prior to the Games and all the participants rushed to Moscow. The thing that took everyone by a shock was that the nation was successful in winning a gold medal.
| Moscow 1980 Medals Table |
| Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
| USSR |
80 |
69 |
46 |
| German Democratic Republic (1955-1990) |
47 |
37 |
42 |
| Bulgaria |
8 |
16 |
17 |
| Cuba |
8 |
7 |
5 |
| Italy |
8 |
3 |
4 |
| Hungary |
7 |
10 |
15 |
| Romania |
6 |
6 |
13 |
| France |
6 |
5 |
3 |
| Great Britain |
5 |
7 |
9 |
| Poland |
3 |
14 |
15 |
| Sweden |
3 |
3 |
6 |
| Finland |
3 |
1 |
4 |
| Czechoslovakia |
2 |
3 |
9 |
| Yugoslavia |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| Australia |
2 |
2 |
5 |
| Denmark |
2 |
1 |
2 |
| Brazil |
2 |
0 |
2 |
| Ethiopia |
2 |
0 |
2 |
| Switzerland |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Spain |
1 |
3 |
2 |
| Austria |
1 |
2 |
1 |
| Greece |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| India |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Belgium |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Zimbabwe |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Democratic People's Republic of Korea |
0 |
3 |
2 |
| Mongolia |
0 |
2 |
2 |
| United Republic of Tanzania |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| Mexico |
0 |
1 |
3 |
| Netherlands |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Ireland |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Uganda |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Venezuela |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Jamaica |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| Lebanon |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Guyana |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Last Updated : July 16, 2016
