The 1980 Moscow Olympics

Olympic Editions
The 1980 Moscow Olympics
IN SHORT
The 1980 Moscow Olympics
Olympics
Participating countries: 80
Number of participants: 5,179
Number of sports: 21
Opening: July 19, 1980
Closing: August 3, 1980
Central Lenin Stadium
Opening: July 1956
Refurbishment: 1976/1980
Capacity: 100,000
RUSSIA
Despite the boycott, the Moscow Games did not disappoint expectations highlighting great athletes and impressive
sports facilities. For Mondo, this being its second Olympics, it was an opportunity to show the potential of its products in
sports facilities not dedicated to athletics.
Politics and Sport
The Moscow Olympics, apart from sports scores, are remembered for the role played by international politics. The decision by the United States
and 60 other countries, not to participate in the Games, in response to the Soviet army’s invasion of Afghanistan that began on Christmas Eve of
1979, brought the number of participating countries to 80, the lowest number since the 1956 edition. It should be noted that not all the allies of the
United States joined the boycott, Italy, for example, although part of NATO, participated parading under the Olympic flag instead of the national
one, a choice shared by the other fifteen countries of the so-called "Western bloc". Some athletes from nations adhering to the boycott, however,
participated individually.
State funding
The role of politics was also evident in the Olympics organization, where state intervention was massive. The Games were an opportunity for the
USSR to show off their organizational skills and commitment that the country had always shown in encouraging the practice of physical education
and sport, as written in the constitution of the Soviet Union. The presence of the state was crucial, starting with the financing of the Games. The
costs to prepare for the Olympics, in fact, were included in the budget for the five-year state plan for economic development for the 1976-1980
periods. The plan included not only the construction and renovation of sports facilities, but also the infrastructure to be built in Moscow such as
housing, offices, hotels, transportation, new communication equipment, and others.
The Selection of Sports Facilities
The objective of the Soviet government was to improve existing facilities and to create new ones, with the provision that these would benefit the
population upon the conclusion of the Olympics. In addition to physical activity, new facilities would be used to host public events and
entertainment. At the end of 1975 a competition was organized which was attended by 500 architects and engineers, the purpose of which was to
obtain suggestions from the point of view of architecture and engineering, which would serve as the basis for Olympic projects. The suggested
facilities would be both modern and inexpensive to build. The experience of past editions’ organizers proved to be important. Observers of the 1980
Olympic Committee in Moscow, in fact, had participated in the preparation of the 1972 Games in Monaco and Montreal 1976. Overall, twenty-five
structures were used for competitions, twelve of which were completely new and thirteen having been renovated. Forty-nine were selected to host
the training of national teams.
Lenin Central Stadium
The Lenin Central Stadium (now known as the Luzniki Olympic Complex) was the center of the Moscow Games. Built in 1956 at the end of the
first summer of Spartachiadi Games organized by the USSR, it has hosted over the years many national and international competitions of various
sports. During the Olympics, the facility was renovated and modified in accordance to the recommendations and instructions of the International
Olympic Committee. The complex included the Grand Arena, the Small Arena, a swimming pool and a sports hall. The Grand Arena, in particular,
served as the stadium during the Games, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, the athletics competitions, the finals of the soccer
tournament and the equestrian individual obstacle jumping event. The facility, now called Luzniki Stadium, during the Olympics had a capacity of
100,000 people. Its renewal included, among other things, the construction of the Olympic brazier at the top of the eastern staircase, the installation
of two scoreboards in the stands North and South and the elevation of four 86 meter tall towers to illuminate the arena.
Mondo Enters the Pool
The Moscow Olympics were an opportunity for Mondo to make its official debut in the Olympic Swimming Pool. The Gallo d'Alba based
Company, in fact, took care of the construction and the installation of flooring for the platforms used by divers in the Olympic pool.
For the occasion, the adopted solution was Sportflex Super X, which is considered ideal for its characteristics, in particular for its high resistance
and its ability to ensure good grip even when wet.
The successful Moscovite experience finally opened the doors of Olympic swimming pools to Mondo: Sportflex Super X, in fact, was used in Seoul
1988, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. More recently, the World Championships in Rome in 2009, after an
analysis carried out by Giampaolo Gorge (Mondo’s Sports Division) and Klaus Dibiasi (winner of five Olympic medals) to assess its feasibility, it
was decided to install Sportflex Super X on the diving platform: about 60 square meters of red color, so as to increase the contrast with the water. It
should be noted the special attention to detail that this installation requires, considering that it is set on platforms that are 10 meters in height, in
most cases when the pool is empty. Another "interesting" use of Mondo Sportflex Super X during Moscow 1980 took place took place inside the
velodrome, where the special surface was set on the inside lane (the one where cyclists go up waiting to start the race) of the track made with the
Siberian larches wood.
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Focus
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Focus
PEOPLE - ATHLETES Daley Thompson
Winner of a gold medal at the Games in Moscow and Los Angeles.
>>read profile
PEOPLE - ATHLETES Pietro Mennea
World record holder in the 200 m from 1979 to 1996.
>>read profile
PEOPLE - ATHLETES Sara Simeoni
The first woman to exceed 2 meters in the high jump.
>>read profile
Sportflex Super X Performance
is a prefabricated sports flooring made ​with a special closed cell structure with a constant thickness at any point on the surface. This material
is made ​from a blend of synthetic rubber and mineral fillers and vulcanized has an embossed surface to provide maximum flexibility and
exceptional durability. The weather-resistant structure greatly facilitates maintenance and the ability to ensure good traction of the foot even when
wet allows the athlete to run in perfect safety. The top layer of Super X Performance Sportflex is vulcanized by heating with the substrate
composed of alveoli inclined in the direction of travel. This feature allows you to get a response varied according to the biomechanical stress on the
foot.
Winning a medal in every discipline of gymnastics, the Russian Aleksandr Dityatin became the first athlete to win eight medals in a single Olympics.
In the final two without (rowing), both gold and silver were won by pairs of twins: the first place they finished the brothers Bernd and Jorg
Landvoigt of East Germany, while second came the brothers Yuri and Nikolai Pimenov USSR.
Those in Moscow were the first, and only, Olympics organized by a socialist country.
During the closing ceremony, the mascot Misha greeted the audience with a tear.
In addition to Moscow, other cities of the Soviet Union hosted Olympic events: Tallinn, Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk.
The athletes in the race 21% were women, the highest percentage recorded during the Games so far.
They disputed 203 races, more than in any previous Olympics.
They were registered 36 world records, 39 European records and 74 Olympic records.
Eight nations made their first appearance at the Olympics: Angola, Botswana, Laos, Nicaragua, Seychelles, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Cyprus
(which had previously participated under the name of Rhodesia).
Athletes from 25 countries won the gold medal; 36 nations gained at least one medal.
During the closing ceremony the flag was raised in the city of Los Angeles, in place of that of the United States.
XXII Olympic Games
The 1980 Olympics were held in Moscow from July 19 to August 3. The absence of the United States had repercussions on the medal standings,
especially in the athletics disciplines. Some nations gained exceptional results, winning many more medals than previous editions. Britain, for
example, brought to light Alain Wells’ talent in the 100 meters, Daley Thompson’s in the decathlon and, above all, the great challenge in the middle
distance between Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett. Italy was a great protagonist, winning fifteen medals including eight gold, with outstanding
results by Pietro Mennea (gold in the 200 m), Sara Simeoni (gold in high jump) and by Maurizio Damilano (winner in the 20 km march). Among the
other nations that went beyond all expectations, were also France and Romania.
State Sports
That the Soviet Union considered sports to be an important aspect in the lives of every citizen is shown by some of the numbers: in 1980, more
than seventy different sports were practiced in the country, there were approximately 320,000 professional physical education instructors,
twenty-four institutes of physical education and for the training of instructors and coaches, as well as 220 specialization schools. Each year the
state funded the "physical and health culture" event at the cost of 14.4 billion rubles.
While preparing for the Olympics, the number of sports complexes built throughout the country reached unprecedented levels. In the years before
the Games, major sporting events were organized across the USSR following the motto " The Olympics are not just for Olympic athletes."
These events are attended by people of all ages, sometimes whole families. The result was that millions of people participated in sports.
Emblem and Mascot
In order to choose the emblem of the Moscow Games, the Organizing Committee held a competition in which more than 70,000 people
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participated. The design had to include two mandatory elements: a graphic symbol of the host nation and the five Olympic rings. The Organizing
Committee initially chose 26,000 of the projects submitted by professional and part-time artists residing in the territory of the Soviet Union; projects
also came from Great Britain, India, Canada, East and West Germany and other countries outside the USSR. The final choice came down to the
design presented by the young Soviet artist Vladimir Arsentiev. The mascot, however, was chosen with the help of a public poll organized by
newspapers, the Russian television program ‘Animal World’ and ‘Soviet Sport’ magazine. Most of the 45,000 letters received by the editors
suggested that the mascot should be a bear. A group of artists, chosen by the Artists of the USSR, worked on 60 graphic designs. Eventually the
bear named Misha, drawn by Victor Chizhikov of Moscow, was chosen as the official mascot of the Games.
Moscow after the Olympics
In addition to new or renovated sports facilities, the Games brought more benefits to the capital of the Soviet Union. Many facilities were built or
renovated for the occasion. New roads were built, as well as new lines of communication, new hotels, a new residential area, which served as
the Olympic Village, became a housing complex for about 14,500 Muscovites after the Games. The renovation took place in other cities affected by
the Games as well: Tallinn, which hosted rowing competitions, Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk, which hosted some matches of the Olympic football
tournament.
Cultural program
Along with the Olympics, a cultural program was organized in Moscow with the aim of familiarizing the athletes, judges, guests and tourists, with
the multinational Soviet cultural heritage. The result was obtained thanks to creative and professional groups from fifteen Soviet republics. The
best artists in the USSR were included in the cultural program and from 28 June until the end of the Games, it staged 144 opera and ballet
performances, 455 plays from the Russian and foreign repertoire as well as 1500 symphonic concerts, chamber music and solo concerts. There
were also 350 very popular performances organized by the Moscow Circus.
Slideshow
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