Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump
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Men's high jump at the Games of the XXII Olympiad | ||||||||||
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Venue | Lenin Stadium | |||||||||
Dates | 31 July-1 August | |||||||||
Competitors | 30 from 19 nations | |||||||||
Winning height | 2.36 WR | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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The men's high jump event at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union, had an entry list of 30 competitors from 19 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was held on Friday 1 August 1980.[1] The event was won by Gerd Wessig of East Germany, the first gold medal by a German athlete in the men's high jump. It was also the first time a world record in the high jump had been set at the Olympics. Jörg Freimuth took bronze, making East Germany the third nation (after the United States and Soviet Union) to have two medalists in the event in the same Games. Defending champion Jacek Wszoła of Poland took silver, becoming the fourth man to win two high jump medals and matching Valeriy Brumel for best results at one gold and one silver. Through the 2016 Games, Wszoła, Brumel, and Javier Sotomayor (who joined them at one gold and one silver in 2000) remain the most successful Olympic men's high jumpers; no high jumper has won two gold medals, or one gold and two silvers. Due at least in part to the American-led boycott, the United States' streak of making the podium in every Olympic men's high jump event to date (18 times before 1980) ended, though a strong field may have kept them out of the medals even if they had competed.