The highlight for me of the 1980 Moscow Olympics was the show-down between Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett in the middle distance events. Coe and Ovett were the best middle distance runners of the time. Going into the 1980 Olympics, Coe held the World record at 800m, with a time of 1m42.33s, and Ovett and Coe jointly held the 1500m World record with equal times of 3m32.03s.
Prior to the Moscow Olympics, Coe and Ovett had avoided racing each other for over 2 years. Each had been setting World records, but always in separate races. Their show-down at Moscow was the most eagerly anticipated athletics event for many years.
The 800m race was first. Coe was the World record holder so, naturally, was expected to win. But in a dramatic turn of events, Ovett beat him into second place, running a far superior race tactically. Coe was devastated to lose the event for which he held the World record.
Here is a video of the 800m final.
A few days after the 800m was the final of the 1500m. Steve Ovett was undefeated at this distance for over 3 years. Having beaten Coe in the 800m, Ovett was the hot favourite to add the 1500m title. Remarkably, Coe managed to pick himself up from the devastation of losing the 800m and beat Ovett.
Here is a video of that remarkable race.
The American boycott and Alan Wells
The American Government decided that the USA would not compete at the Moscow Olympics, in protest at the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. The United States led an international boycott, in which 65 countries took part, including West Germany, Japan, China and Canada. As a consequence, many of the events had the best competitors absent.
Nowhere was this more true than the men’s 100 metres. Apart from 1960, 1972 and 1976, the USA had won the men’s 100m in every Olympics since 1932. The 1980 Olympics men’s 100m was won by Scotsman Alan Wells, in a time of 10.25s (this compared to the World record of the time of 9.95s). It was the slowest time to win the men’s 100m since the Melbourne Olympics of 1956. The 2nd placed runner, Silvio Leonard of Cuba, was awarded the same time, it was the closest 100m finish in Olympic history.
Here is a video of Alan Wells winning that 100m.
What is your highlight of the 1980 Olympics?
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