The Moscow XXII Olympiad in 1980 is one of the brightest in Russian history. The country has been preparing for it for six years. And despite the boycott announced by the United States and some other countries, these games have become an important milestone in the history of the international Olympic movement.
In 1980, from July 19 to August 3, the Summer Olympic Games (Games of the XXII Olympiad) were held in Moscow. For the first time then the Olympics took place in a socialist country - the USSR, and also for the first time - in Eastern Europe.
More than 50 countries declared boycotts to the games because of the Soviet troops entering Afghanistan in 1979. But some athletes from these countries came and performed under the Olympic flag.
1975-1980 preparations were made for the Olympics, within the framework of which about twenty sports and other facilities were built and reconstructed. These are the Central Lenin Stadium, the Olympic Sports Complex, Sheremetyevo-2 Airport, the Leningrad Stadium named after S. M. Kirov, etc. A total of 75 facilities were specially built.
On the eve of the games, with the aim of propaganda on the territory of the USSR, they organized Olympic lotteries, the publication of sports literature, the issuance of souvenirs, posters, stamps. The Olympic Bear, created by children's illustrator Viktor Chizhikov, became the mascot and symbol of the 1980 Olympics.
Competitions were held in 21 sports, 203 sets of awards were played. The largest number of awards - 114, was played in athletics, as well as 78 - in swimming. Athletes from 80 countries took part in the games. Some countries participated in the Olympics for the first time in their history, among them Mozambique, Jordan, Laos, Botswana, Angola, Seychelles.
46 world, 39 European and 74 Olympic records were set. For example, the Soviet shooter Melentyev set a record in shooting, swimmer Vladimir Salnikov in swimming, Alexander Dityatin in gymnastics. The oldest participant was the Bulgarian yachtsman Krastev (70 years old), and the youngest was the swimmer from Angola Jorge Lima (13 years old).
In total, the athletes of the USSR and the GDR won more than half of all gold medals - 80 and 47, respectively.
