| | Event type

4 x 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

Date	23 July 1980
Status	Olympic
Location	Plavatelny basseyn, Sportivny kompleks Olimpiysky, Moskva
Participants	62 from 13 countries

The United States had won the last five gold medals in this event and had won it at the 1978 World Championships in Berlin in world record time of 7:20.82. In their absence the race came down to the Soviet Union winning quite easily over the German Democratic Republic, with Brazil coming in for the bronze medal. Although swim times come down almost every Olympiad, the Soviet time of 7:23.50 did not even better the Olympic record, set by the USA in 1976, which was then a world record.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Soviet Union	URS	7:29.39 (1 h2)	7:23.50 (1)	Gold
	Sergey Koplyakov • Vladimir Salnikov • Ivar Stukolkin • Andrey Krylov • Sergey Rusin • Sergey Krasyuk • Yury Prisekin • Sergey Smiryagin (DNS)
2	East Germany	GDR	7:32.67 (1 h1)	7:28.60 (2)	Silver
	Frank Pfütze • Jörg Woithe • Detlev Grabs • Rainer Strohbach • Frank Kühne
3	Brazil	BRA	7:32.81 (2 h2)	7:29.30 (3)	Bronze
	Jorge Fernandes • Marcus Mattioli • Cyro Delgado • Djan Madruga
4	Sweden	SWE	7:34.34 (4 h2)	7:30.10 (4)
	Michael Söderlund • Per Wikström • Per-Alvar Magnusson • Thomas Lejdström • Anders Rutqvist • Per-Ola Quist • Per Holmertz (DNS) • Per Johansson (DNS)
5	Italy	ITA	7:36.97 (3 h1)	7:30.37 (5)
	Paolo Revelli • Raffaele Franceschi • Andrea Ceccarini • Fabrizio Rampazzo • Federico Silvestri
6	Great Britain	GBR	7:37.36 (4 h1)	7:30.81 (6)
	Doug Campbell • Philip Hubble • Martin Smith • Andy Astbury • Mark Taylor • Kevin Lee • Simon Gray (DNS) • Steve Poulter (DNS)
7	Australia	AUS	7:34.06 (3 h2)	7:30.82 (7)
	Graeme Brewer • Mark Tonelli • Mark Kerry • Ron McKeon • Max Metzker
8	France	FRA	7:34.81 (2 h1)	7:36.08 (8)
	Fabien Noël • Marc Lazzaro • Dominique Petit • Pascal Laget
9	Czechoslovakia	TCH	7:42.18 (5 h2)	–
	Daniel Machek • Miloslav Roľko • Petr Adamec • Radek Havel
10	Spain	ESP	7:42.69 (6 h2)	–
	David López-Zubero • Ramón Lavín • Juan Carlos Vallejo • Juan Barro • Rafael Escalas (DNS)
11	Netherlands	NED	7:42.85 (5 h1)	–
	Cees Vervoorn • Peter Drost • Cees Jan Winkel • Fred Eefting • Albert Boonstra (DNS)
12	Algeria	ALG	8:23.22 (6 h1)	–
	Abdelhakim Bitat • Reda Yadi • Mohamed Bendahmane • Mohamed Halimi
DQ	Bulgaria	BUL	– (DQ h2)	–
	Petar Kochanov • Krasimir Tumanov • Petar Stoyanov • Tsvetan Golomeev • Georgi Dangalakov (DNS)
DNS	Hungary	HUN	–	–
	Ferenc Kovácshegyi • József Nagy • Ferenc Szekeres • Sándor Szeles

Round One (23 July 1980 — 10:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time	Exchange (Pos)
1	4	East Germany	GDR				7:32.67		Q
		Frank Kühne		–	–	–	1:45.18	1:45.18 (1)
		Detlev Grabs		–	–	–	2:02.68	3:47.86 (1)
		Frank Pfütze		–	–	–	1:52.46	5:40.32 (1)
		Rainer Strohbach		–	–	–	1:52.35	7:32.67 (1)
2	3	France	FRA				7:34.81		Q
		Marc Lazzaro		–	–	–	1:54.19	1:54.19 (2)
		Dominique Petit		–	–	–	1:55.25	3:49.44 (2)
		Pascal Laget		–	–	–	1:53.44	5:42.88 (2)
		Fabien Noël		–	–	–	1:51.93	7:34.81 (2)
3	5	Italy	ITA				7:36.97		Q
		Federico Silvestri		–	–	–	1:56.74	1:56.74 (3)
		Raffaele Franceschi		–	–	–	1:53.38	3:50.12 (3)
		Andrea Ceccarini		–	–	–	1:54.15	5:44.27 (3)
		Paolo Revelli		–	–	–	1:52.70	7:36.97 (3)
4	6	Great Britain	GBR				7:37.36		Q
		Doug Campbell		–	–	–	1:53.99	1:53.99 (4)
		Mark Taylor		–	–	–	1:55.75	3:49.74 (4)
		Kevin Lee		–	–	–	1:54.27	5:44.01 (4)
		Andy Astbury		–	–	–	1:53.35	7:37.36 (4)
5	1	Netherlands	NED				7:42.85
		Cees Vervoorn		–	–	–	1:55.16	1:55.16 (5)
		Peter Drost		–	–	–	1:56.79	3:51.95 (5)
		Cees Jan Winkel		–	–	–	1:56.94	5:48.89 (5)
		Fred Eefting		–	–	–	1:53.96	7:42.85 (5)
6	7	Algeria	ALG				8:23.22
		Abdelhakim Bitat		–	–	–	2:03.87	2:03.87 (6)
		Reda Yadi		–	–	–	2:05.35	4:09.22 (6)
		Mohamed Bendahmane		–	–	–	2:07.81	6:17.03 (6)
		Mohamed Halimi		–	–	–	2:06.19	8:23.22 (6)

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time	Exchange (Pos)
1	4	Soviet Union	URS				7:29.39		Q
		Sergey Rusin		–	–	–	1:52.55	1:52.55 (1)
		Sergey Krasyuk		–	–	–	1:53.09	3:45.64 (1)
		Yury Prisekin		–	–	–	1:52.21	5:37.85 (1)
		Ivar Stukolkin		–	–	–	1:51.54	7:29.39 (1)
2	6	Brazil	BRA				7:32.81		Q
		Jorge Fernandes		–	–	–	1:53.49	1:53.49 (2)
		Marcus Mattioli		–	–	–	1:52.76	3:46.25 (2)
		Cyro Delgado		–	–	–	1:53.20	5:39.45 (2)
		Djan Madruga		–	–	–	1:53.36	7:32.81 (2)
3	3	Australia	AUS				7:34.06		Q
		Mark Tonelli		–	–	–	1:53.99	1:53.99 (3)
		Max Metzker		–	–	–	1:54.85	3:48.84 (3)
		Mark Kerry		–	–	–	1:53.47	5:42.31 (3)
		Graeme Brewer		–	–	–	1:51.75	7:34.06 (3)
4	5	Sweden	SWE				7:34.34		Q
		Michael Söderlund		–	–	–	1:53.16	1:53.16 (4)
		Per-Alvar Magnusson		–	–	–	1:52.77	3:45.93 (4)
		Anders Rutqvist		–	–	–	1:54.43	5:40.36 (4)
		Per-Ola Quist		–	–	–	1:53.98	7:34.34 (4)
5	7	Czechoslovakia	TCH				7:42.18
		Daniel Machek		–	–	–	1:55.10	1:55.10 (5)
		Miloslav Roľko		–	–	–	1:56.42	3:51.52 (5)
		Petr Adamec		–	–	–	1:55.59	5:47.11 (5)
		Radek Havel		–	–	–	1:55.07	7:42.18 (5)
6	2	Spain	ESP				7:42.69
		David López-Zubero		–	–	–	1:53.50	1:53.50 (6)
		Ramón Lavín		–	–	–	1:55.10	3:48.60 (6)
		Juan Carlos Vallejo		–	–	–	1:57.99	5:46.59 (6)
		Juan Barro		–	–	–	1:56.10	7:42.69 (6)
DQ	1	Bulgaria	BUL				–
		Petar Kochanov		–	–	–	–	– (AC)
		Krasimir Tumanov		–	–	–	–	– (AC)
		Petar Stoyanov		–	–	–	–	– (AC)
		Tsvetan Golomeev		–	–	–	–	– (AC)

Final (23 July 1980 — 20:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time	Exchange (Pos)
1	4	Soviet Union	URS				7:23.50
		Sergey Koplyakov		–	–	–	1:50.00	1:50.00 (1)
		Vladimir Salnikov		–	–	–	1:51.09	3:41.09 (1)
		Ivar Stukolkin		–	–	–	1:52.04	5:33.13 (1)
		Andrey Krylov		–	–	–	1:50.37	7:23.50 (1)
2	5	East Germany	GDR				7:28.60
		Frank Pfütze		–	–	–	1:52.96	1:52.96 (2)
		Jörg Woithe		–	–	–	1:51.78	3:44.74 (2)
		Detlev Grabs		–	–	–	1:52.24	5:36.98 (2)
		Rainer Strohbach		–	–	–	1:51.62	7:28.60 (2)
3	3	Brazil	BRA				7:29.30
		Jorge Fernandes		–	–	–	1:52.61	1:52.61 (3)
		Marcus Mattioli		–	–	–	1:52.94	3:45.55 (3)
		Cyro Delgado		–	–	–	1:52.35	5:37.90 (3)
		Djan Madruga		–	–	–	1:51.40	7:29.30 (3)
4	2	Sweden	SWE				7:30.10
		Michael Söderlund		–	–	–	1:52.54	1:52.54 (4)
		Per Wikström		–	–	–	1:52.70	3:45.24 (4)
		Per-Alvar Magnusson		–	–	–	1:53.01	5:38.25 (4)
		Thomas Lejdström		–	–	–	1:51.85	7:30.10 (4)
5	1	Italy	ITA				7:30.37
		Paolo Revelli		–	–	–	1:53.14	1:53.14 (5)
		Raffaele Franceschi		–	–	–	1:51.56	3:44.70 (5)
		Andrea Ceccarini		–	–	–	1:54.91	5:39.61 (5)
		Fabrizio Rampazzo		–	–	–	1:50.76	7:30.37 (5)
6	8	Great Britain	GBR				7:30.81
		Doug Campbell		–	–	–	1:53.56	1:53.56 (6)
		Philip Hubble		–	–	–	1:52.96	3:46.52 (6)
		Martin Smith		–	–	–	1:52.69	5:39.21 (6)
		Andy Astbury		–	–	–	1:51.60	7:30.81 (6)
7	6	Australia	AUS				7:30.82
		Graeme Brewer		–	–	–	1:52.57	1:52.57 (7)
		Mark Tonelli		–	–	–	1:53.47	3:46.04 (7)
		Mark Kerry		–	–	–	1:52.64	5:38.68 (7)
		Ron McKeon		–	–	–	1:52.14	7:30.82 (7)
8	7	France	FRA				7:36.08
		Fabien Noël		–	–	–	1:52.73	1:52.73 (8)
		Marc Lazzaro		–	–	–	1:53.79	3:46.52 (6)
		Dominique Petit		–	–	–	1:54.88	5:41.40 (8)
		Pascal Laget		–	–	–	1:54.68	7:36.08 (8)