| | Event type

400 metres, Women

Date	25 – 28 July 1980
Status	Olympic
Location	Bolshaya arena, Tsentralny stadion imeni V.I. Lenina, Moskva
Participants	38 from 22 countries

The American boycott had little effect on this event as the top one lappers were Soviets and East Germans, led by Marita Koch, the prohibitive favorite. Between 1978 and 1979 she had bettered the world record five times, and had won the 1978 European Championship. In that meet she became the first woman to better 49 seconds. The final in Moskva was an easy victory for her, winning by 5-6 metres. The first three women in this race ran under 50 seconds, the first time that had been accomplished.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	120	Marita Koch	GDR	51.06 (2 h5)	50.57 (1 h1)	48.88 (1)	Gold	OR
2	254	Jarmila Kratochvílová	TCH	51.04 (1 h5)	50.79 (3 h2)	49.46 (2)	Silver
3	123	Christina Lathan	GDR	51.33 (1 h1)	50.16 (1 h2)	49.66 (3)	Bronze
4	280	Irina Nazarova	URS	51.66 (1 h3)	50.18 (2 h2)	50.07 (4)
5	291	Nina Zyuskova	URS	51.42 (1 h2)	51.12 (4 h1)	50.17 (5)
6	126	Gabriele Löwe	GDR	52.43 (2 h4)	50.85 (2 h1)	51.33 (6)
7	63	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	52.56 (2 h3)	51.02 (3 h1)	51.35 (7)
8	94	Linsey MacDonald	GBR	52.57 (2 h2)	51.60 (4 h2)	52.40 (8)
5 h1 r2/3	264	Lyudmila Chernova	URS	51.51 (3 h5)	51.30 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	98	Michelle Probert	GBR	52.16 (3 h1)	51.89 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	87	Joslyn Hoyte-Smith	GBR	52.24 (1 h4)	51.47 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	157	Ilona Pál	HUN	51.99 (2 h1)	51.99 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r2/3	199	Małgorzata Dunecka	POL	51.81 (4 h5)	51.93 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r2/3	206	Grażyna Oliszewska	POL	52.62 (3 h4)	52.36 (7 h2)	–
8 h1 r2/3	42	Rositsa Stamenova	BUL	52.71 (3 h2)	52.96 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r2/3	209	Irena Szewińska	POL	52.57 (3 h3)	53.13 (8 h2)	–
4 h1 r1/3	27	Svobodka Damyanova	BUL	52.23 (4 h1)	–	–
4 h2 r1/3	222	Maria Samungi	ROU	52.89 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h3 r1/3	9	Karoline Käfer	AUT	52.82 (4 h3)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	298	Mary Akinyemi	NGR	52.64 (4 h4)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	214	Niculina Lazarciuc	ROU	52.52 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	74	Sophie Malbranque	FRA	53.46 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	174	Erica Rossi	ITA	52.98 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	225	Elena Tărîță	ROU	52.96 (5 h4)	–	–
5 h5 r1/3	17	Rosine Wallez	BEL	52.00 (5 h5)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	243	Ann-Louise Skoglund	SWE	52.78 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	244	Hala El-Moughrabi	SYR	59.33 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	151	Judit Forgács	HUN	53.06 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r1/3	20	Malena Andonova	BUL	53.30 (6 h4)	–	–
6 h5 r1/3	303	Gloria Ayanlaja	NGR	53.55 (6 h5)	–	–
7 h1 r1/3	299	Kehinde Vaughan	NGR	53.54 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h2 r1/3	192	Xiomara Larios	NCA	1:01.50 (7 h2)	–	–
7 h3 r1/3	227	Marième Boye	SEN	55.16 (7 h3)	–	–
7 h4 r1/3	13	Anne Michel	BEL	54.22 (7 h4)	–	–
7 h5 r1/3	184	Ruth Simpson	JAM	55.59 (7 h5)	–	–
8 h1 r1/3	232	Eugenia Osho-Williams	SLE	1:00.44 (8 h1)	–	–
8 h4 r1/3	191	Acacia Mate	MOZ	1:00.90 (8 h4)	–	–
8 h5 r1/3	294	Trần Thị Ngọc Anh	VIE	1:00.62 (8 h5)	–	–
DNS	166	Rita Bottiglieri	ITA	– (DNS h2)	–	–

Round One

Date	25 July 1980 — 12:50
Format	Top 3 in each heat and next fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Time (automatic)
1	254	Jarmila Kratochvílová	TCH	51.04	Q
2	120	Marita Koch	GDR	51.06	Q
3	123	Christina Lathan	GDR	51.33	Q
4	291	Nina Zyuskova	URS	51.42	Q
5	264	Lyudmila Chernova	URS	51.51	Q
6	280	Irina Nazarova	URS	51.66	Q
7	199	Małgorzata Dunecka	POL	51.81	q
8	157	Ilona Pál	HUN	51.99	Q
9	17	Rosine Wallez	BEL	52.00
10	98	Michelle Probert	GBR	52.16	Q
11	27	Svobodka Damyanova	BUL	52.23
12	87	Joslyn Hoyte-Smith	GBR	52.24	Q
13	126	Gabriele Löwe	GDR	52.43	Q
14	214	Niculina Lazarciuc	ROU	52.52
15	63	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	52.56	Q
=16	94	Linsey MacDonald	GBR	52.57	Q
=16	209	Irena Szewińska	POL	52.57	Q
18	206	Grażyna Oliszewska	POL	52.62	Q
19	298	Mary Akinyemi	NGR	52.64
20	42	Rositsa Stamenova	BUL	52.71	Q
21	243	Ann-Louise Skoglund	SWE	52.78
22	9	Karoline Käfer	AUT	52.82
23	222	Maria Samungi	ROU	52.89
24	225	Elena Tărîță	ROU	52.96
25	174	Erica Rossi	ITA	52.98
26	151	Judit Forgács	HUN	53.06
27	20	Malena Andonova	BUL	53.30
28	74	Sophie Malbranque	FRA	53.46
29	299	Kehinde Vaughan	NGR	53.54
30	303	Gloria Ayanlaja	NGR	53.55
31	13	Anne Michel	BEL	54.22
32	227	Marième Boye	SEN	55.16
33	184	Ruth Simpson	JAM	55.59
34	244	Hala El-Moughrabi	SYR	59.33
35	232	Eugenia Osho-Williams	SLE	1:00.44
36	294	Trần Thị Ngọc Anh	VIE	1:00.62
37	191	Acacia Mate	MOZ	1:00.90
38	192	Xiomara Larios	NCA	1:01.50
DNS	166	Rita Bottiglieri	ITA	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	3	Christina Lathan	GDR	51.33	Q
2	7	Ilona Pál	HUN	51.99	Q
3	5	Michelle Probert	GBR	52.16	Q
4	1	Svobodka Damyanova	BUL	52.23
5	6	Niculina Lazarciuc	ROU	52.52
6	2	Ann-Louise Skoglund	SWE	52.78
7	8	Kehinde Vaughan	NGR	53.54
8	4	Eugenia Osho-Williams	SLE	1:00.44

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	7	Nina Zyuskova	URS	51.42	Q
2	8	Linsey MacDonald	GBR	52.57	Q
3	1	Rositsa Stamenova	BUL	52.71	Q
4	2	Maria Samungi	ROU	52.89
5	4	Sophie Malbranque	FRA	53.46
6	3	Hala El-Moughrabi	SYR	59.33
7	6	Xiomara Larios	NCA	1:01.50
DNS	5	Rita Bottiglieri	ITA	–

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	1	Irina Nazarova	URS	51.66	Q
2	7	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	52.56	Q
3	3	Irena Szewińska	POL	52.57	Q
4	5	Karoline Käfer	AUT	52.82
5	2	Erica Rossi	ITA	52.98
6	4	Judit Forgács	HUN	53.06
7	6	Marième Boye	SEN	55.16

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	6	Joslyn Hoyte-Smith	GBR	52.24	Q
2	5	Gabriele Löwe	GDR	52.43	Q
3	1	Grażyna Oliszewska	POL	52.62	Q
4	8	Mary Akinyemi	NGR	52.64
5	3	Elena Tărîță	ROU	52.96
6	4	Malena Andonova	BUL	53.30
7	2	Anne Michel	BEL	54.22
8	7	Acacia Mate	MOZ	1:00.90

Heat #5

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	5	Jarmila Kratochvílová	TCH	51.04	Q
2	3	Marita Koch	GDR	51.06	Q
3	2	Lyudmila Chernova	URS	51.51	Q
4	6	Małgorzata Dunecka	POL	51.81	q
5	4	Rosine Wallez	BEL	52.00
6	7	Gloria Ayanlaja	NGR	53.55
7	1	Ruth Simpson	JAM	55.59
8	8	Trần Thị Ngọc Anh	VIE	1:00.62

Semi-Finals

Date	27 July 1980 — 19:15
Format	Top 4 in each heat advanced to the final.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Time (automatic)
1	123	Christina Lathan	GDR	50.16	Q
2	280	Irina Nazarova	URS	50.18	Q
3	120	Marita Koch	GDR	50.57	Q
4	254	Jarmila Kratochvílová	TCH	50.79	Q
5	126	Gabriele Löwe	GDR	50.85	Q
6	63	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	51.02	Q
7	291	Nina Zyuskova	URS	51.12	Q
8	264	Lyudmila Chernova	URS	51.30
9	87	Joslyn Hoyte-Smith	GBR	51.47
10	94	Linsey MacDonald	GBR	51.60	Q
11	98	Michelle Probert	GBR	51.89
12	199	Małgorzata Dunecka	POL	51.93
13	157	Ilona Pál	HUN	51.99
14	206	Grażyna Oliszewska	POL	52.36
15	42	Rositsa Stamenova	BUL	52.96
16	209	Irena Szewińska	POL	53.13

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	1	Marita Koch	GDR	50.57	Q
2	2	Gabriele Löwe	GDR	50.85	Q
3	3	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	51.02	Q
4	8	Nina Zyuskova	URS	51.12	Q
5	7	Lyudmila Chernova	URS	51.30
6	6	Joslyn Hoyte-Smith	GBR	51.47
7	5	Małgorzata Dunecka	POL	51.93
8	4	Rositsa Stamenova	BUL	52.96

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	6	Christina Lathan	GDR	50.16	Q
2	8	Irina Nazarova	URS	50.18	Q
3	5	Jarmila Kratochvílová	TCH	50.79	Q
4	7	Linsey MacDonald	GBR	51.60	Q
5	3	Michelle Probert	GBR	51.89
6	4	Ilona Pál	HUN	51.99
7	2	Grażyna Oliszewska	POL	52.36
8	1	Irena Szewińska	POL	53.13

Final Round

Date	28 July 1980 — 20:20

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	4	Marita Koch	GDR	48.88	OR
2	6	Jarmila Kratochvílová	TCH	49.46
3	5	Christina Lathan	GDR	49.66
4	8	Irina Nazarova	URS	50.07
5	3	Nina Zyuskova	URS	50.17
6	1	Gabriele Löwe	GDR	51.33
7	2	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	51.35
8	7	Linsey MacDonald	GBR	52.40