| | Event type

Half-Lightweight (≤65 kilograms), Men

Date	31 July 1980 — 10:00
Status	Olympic
Location	Dvorets sporta, Tsentralny stadion imeni V. I. Lenina, Moskva
Participants	29 from 29 countries
Format	Two single-elimination pools, with winner of each pool advanced to the final. All judoka losing to the winner of each pool advanced to repêchage pools, with the winners of the repêchage pools earning bronze medals.

This was one class in which the world’s leading judoka was present. Nikolay Solodukhin (URS) had won the 1979 World Championships, but he was not present at the 1980 Europeans. In his opening round, he faced the 1976 gold medalist, Cuba’s Héctor Rodríguez and defeated him easily. In the other pool, the 1979 World runner-up, Yves Delvingt of France, was upset by Mongolia’s Damdin Tsendiin. The final matched Tsendiin and Solodukhin but it was not much of a match. Tsendiin spent the whole match running away from Solodukhin, avoiding ippon, and the decision was an easy one for the Soviet player.

Pos	Competitor	NOC
1	Nikolay Solodukhin	URS	Gold
2	Tsendiin Damdin	MGL	Silver
=3	Iliyan Nedkov	BUL	Bronze
=3	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Bronze
=5	Yves Delvingt	FRA
=5	Torsten Reißmann	GDR
=7	Wolfgang Biedron	SWE
=7	Jaroslav Kříž	TCH
=9	Fransie Fyfer	ZIM
=9	Héctor Rodríguez	CUB
=11	Djibril Sambou	SEN
=11	Ray Neenan	GBR
=13	José António Branco	POR
=13	Gerardo Padilla	MEX
=13	Sylvain Rabary	MAD
=13	Michael Young	AUS
=13	Luiz Onmura	BRA
=13	Mamadou Diallo	GUI
=19	Abdoulaye Thera	MLI
=19	Jimmy Arévalo	ECU
=19	Álvaro Sanabria	CRC
=19	Gerard Tom-Tam	CMR
=19	Franc Očko	YUG
=19	Konstantinos Konstantinou	CYP
=19	Francis Mwahza	ZAM
=19	Redwan El-Zaouiki	SYR
=19	Constantin Niculae	ROU
=19	Abdul Latif Rozaihan	KUW
=19	Imre Gelencsér	HUN

Pool A

Date	31 July 1980

Round One

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	José António Branco	POR	Waza-ari awasete ippon	Abdoulaye Thera	MLI
Match #2	31 Jul	Iliyan Nedkov	BUL	Ippon	Jimmy Arévalo	ECU
Match #3	31 Jul	Jaroslav Kříž	TCH	Ippon	Álvaro Sanabria	CRC
Match #4	31 Jul	Nikolay Solodukhin	URS	Ippon	Héctor Rodríguez	CUB
Match #5	31 Jul	Ray Neenan	GBR	Ippon	Franc Očko	YUG
Match #6	31 Jul	Sylvain Rabary	MAD	Yuko	Konstantinos Konstantinou	CYP
Match #7	31 Jul	Michael Young	AUS	Ippon	Francis Mwahza	ZAM
Match #8	31 Jul	Torsten Reißmann	GDR				bye

Quarter-Finals

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Iliyan Nedkov	BUL	Waza-ari awasete ippon	José António Branco	POR
Match #2	31 Jul	Nikolay Solodukhin	URS	Yuko	Jaroslav Kříž	TCH
Match #3	31 Jul	Ray Neenan	GBR	Ippon	Sylvain Rabary	MAD
Match #4	31 Jul	Torsten Reißmann	GDR	Yuko	Michael Young	AUS

Semi-Finals

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Nikolay Solodukhin	URS	Yuko	Iliyan Nedkov	BUL
Match #2	31 Jul	Torsten Reißmann	GDR	Koka	Ray Neenan	GBR

Final Round

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Nikolay Solodukhin	URS	Ippon	Torsten Reißmann	GDR

Repêchage

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Jaroslav Kříž	TCH	Koka	Héctor Rodríguez	CUB
Match #2	31 Jul	Iliyan Nedkov	BUL	Waza-ari	Jaroslav Kříž	TCH
Match 3/5	31 Jul	Iliyan Nedkov	BUL	Yuko	Torsten Reißmann	GDR

Pool B

Date	31 July 1980

Round One

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Wolfgang Biedron	SWE	Ippon	Redwan El-Zaouiki	SYR
Match #2	31 Jul	Luiz Onmura	BRA	Koka	Constantin Niculae	ROU
Match #3	31 Jul	Tsendiin Damdin	MGL	Ippon	Fransie Fyfer	ZIM
Match #4	31 Jul	Yves Delvingt	FRA				bye
Match #5	31 Jul	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Waza-ari	Imre Gelencsér	HUN
Match #6	31 Jul	Gerardo Padilla	MEX	Yuko	Abdul Latif Rozaihan	KUW
Match #7	31 Jul	Djibril Sambou	SEN	Yuko	Gerard Tom-Tam	CMR
Match #8	31 Jul	Mamadou Diallo	GUI				bye

Quarter-Finals

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Wolfgang Biedron	SWE	Ippon	Luiz Onmura	BRA
Match #2	31 Jul	Tsendiin Damdin	MGL	Yuko	Yves Delvingt	FRA
Match #3	31 Jul	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Koka	Gerardo Padilla	MEX
Match #4	31 Jul	Djibril Sambou	SEN	Ippon	Mamadou Diallo	GUI

Semi-Finals

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Tsendiin Damdin	MGL	Koka	Wolfgang Biedron	SWE
Match #2	31 Jul	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Waza-ari awasete ippon	Djibril Sambou	SEN

Final Round

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Tsendiin Damdin	MGL	Koka	Janusz Pawłowski	POL

Repêchage

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Yves Delvingt	FRA	Ippon	Fransie Fyfer	ZIM
Match #2	31 Jul	Yves Delvingt	FRA	Yuko	Wolfgang Biedron	SWE
Match 3/5	31 Jul	Janusz Pawłowski	POL	Waza-ari awasete ippon	Yves Delvingt	FRA

Final Round

Date	31 July 1980

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match 1/2	31 Jul	Nikolay Solodukhin	URS	Koka	Tsendiin Damdin	MGL