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1980 United States Olympic trials (track and field)


1980 United States Olympic track and field trials
June 21–29
Eugene, Oregon, United States
Hayward Field
Senior
Outdoor
← 1979 USA Championships1976 trials 1981 USA Championships1984 trials →

OU library Video on YouTube Women's Heptathlon Video on YouTube Men's 10,000

The 1980 United States Olympic trials for track and field were held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. These were the first such trials organized by the new national governing body for the sport of track and field, The Athletics Congress formed one year earlier as required by the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. Previous trials had been organized by the AAU. The eight-day competition lasted from June 21 until June 29.

Unlike any of the previous or subsequent years, the Olympic trials in 1980 did not select representatives to the 1980 Summer Olympics. By this point in the year, President Jimmy Carter had already announced the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and its flagrant human rights violations. This affected the competition. Some athletes did not compete or did not persevere through illness or injury as they might have if Olympic bids were on the line. Subsequently, some athletes, notably Tom Hintnaus and Gary Fanelli, chose to compete for other countries. Others like Franklin Jacobs retired.

The only qualifiers to another meet from this meet came from two women's exhibition events, the 400 m hurdles and 5000 meters, who were invited to the 1980 World Championships in Athletics. Many of the top 3 from this meet ran in the alternative to the Olympics, the Liberty Bell Classic, a few weeks later.

The trials for the men's and women's marathon were held May 24 in Buffalo, New York, and the trials for the men's 50 km race walk were held May 10 in Niagara Falls, New York.

Key:

EventGoldSilverBronze
100 meters Wind 0.0Stanley Floyd10.26Harvey Glance10.27Mel Lattany10.30
200 meters Wind -1.5James Butler20.49Cliff Wiley20.54Fred Taylor20.70
400 metersBill Green45.85Willie Smith45.97Walter McCoy46.06
800 metersDon Paige1:44.53James Robinson1:45.58Randy Wilson1:45.82
1500 metersSteve Scott3.35.15Steve Lacy3.36.23Mike Durkin3.38.04
5000 metersMatt Centrowitz13.30.62Dick Buerkle13.31.90Bill McChesney13.34.42
10,000 metersCraig Virgin27:45.61Greg Fredericks28.03.14Alberto Salazar28.10.42
110 m hurdles Wind +0.6Renaldo Nehemiah13.26Dedy Cooper13.39Tonie Campbell13.44
400 m hurdlesEdwin Moses47.90James Walker49.04David Lee Bart Williams49.34
3000 m s'chaseHenry Marsh8.15.68 NRDoug Brown8.20.60John Gregorek8.21.32
20K racewalkMarco EvoniukJim Heiring1:27:12Dan O'Connor1:29:05
50K racewalkCarl Schueler3:59:34Marco Evoniuk4:00:30Dan O'Connor4:11:03
MarathonTony Sandoval2:10:19Benji Durden2:10:41Kyle Heffner2:10:55
EventGoldSilverBronze
High jumpBenn Fields2.26 m (.mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}7 ft 4+3⁄4 in)Nat Page2.23 m (7 ft 3+3⁄4 in)Jim Howard2.23 m (7 ft 3+3⁄4 in)
Pole vaultTom Hintnaus5.60 m (18 ft 4+1⁄4 in)Dan Ripley5.55 m (18 ft 2+1⁄2 in)Mike Tully5.55 m (18 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Long jumpLarry Myricks8.28 m (27 ft 1+3⁄4 in) +1.7Carl Lewis8.01 m (26 ft 3+1⁄4 in)w +2.6Randy Williams7.92 m (25 ft 11+3⁄4 in) +1.2
Triple jumpWillie Banks16.80 m (55 ft 1+1⁄4 in)Paul Jordan16.26 m (53 ft 4 in)Greg Caldwell16.22 m (53 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Shot putPete Shmock20.83 m (68 ft 4 in)Al Feuerbach20.82 m (68 ft 3+1⁄2 in)Colin Anderson20.73 m (68 ft 0 in)
Discus throwMac Wilkins68.68 m (225 ft 3 in)John Powell68.00 m (223 ft 1 in)Ben Plucknett66.50 m (218 ft 2 in)
Hammer throwAndy Bessette70.98 m (232 ft 10 in)John McArdle70.38 m (230 ft 10 in)Boris Djerassi70.30 m (230 ft 7 in)
Javelin throwRod Ewaliko88.70 m (291 ft 0 in)Bruce Kennedy83.64 m (274 ft 4 in)Duncan Atwood82.68 m (271 ft 3 in)
DecathlonBob Coffman8184Lee Palles8159Fred Dixon8154
EventGoldSilverBronze
100 meters Wind -0.5Alice Brown11.32Brenda Morehead11.43Chandra Cheeseborough11.45
200 meters Wind +2.4Chandra Cheeseborough22.70wKaren Hawkins23.04wPam Greene23.21w
400 metersSherri Howard51.48Gwen Gardner51.68Denean Howard51.70
800 metersMadeline Manning1:58.30Julie Brown2:00.96Robin Campbell2:01.23
1500 metersMary Decker4:04.91Julie Brown4:07.13Leann Warren4:15.16
5000 metersJulie Shea15:44.12Mary Shea16:07.50Brenda Webb
10,000 metersKris Bankes33:45.6
100 m hurdles Wind -0.1Stephanie Hightower12.90Benita Fitzgerald13.11Candy Young13.30
400 m hurdlesEsther Mahr57.46Kim Whitehead58.56Debra Melrose
EventGoldSilverBronze
High jumpLouise Ritter1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)Paula Girven1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)Pam Spencer1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Long jumpJodi Anderson7.00 m (22 ft 11+1⁄2 in)Kathy McMillan6.76 m (22 ft 2 in)Carol Lewis6.56 m (21 ft 6+1⁄4 in)w
Shot putMaren Seidler17.92 m (58 ft 9+1⁄2 in)Ann Turbyne17.27 m (56 ft 7+3⁄4 in)Lorna Griffin15.89 m (52 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Discus throwLorna Griffin60.20 m (197 ft 6 in)Lynne Winbigler56.36 m (184 ft 10 in)Lisa Vogelsang53.84 m (176 ft 7 in)
Javelin throwKarin Smith58.52 m (191 ft 11 in)Kate Schmidt57.22 m (187 ft 8 in)Mary Osborne56.46 m (185 ft 2 in)
HeptathlonJodi Anderson4697m/4651aMarilyn King4199mLinda Waltman4191m/4187a
  • Men's 5000m Highlights Video on YouTube
  • Heptathlon and women's shot put Highlights Video on YouTube
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