Australia competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. In partial support of the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics Australia competed under the Olympic Flag. 120 competitors, 92 men and 28 women, took part in 92 events in 17 sports.
Flag bearers Denise Boyd (athletics) and Max Metzker (swimming), Australia’s first joint-flag carriers, carried the Olympic flag in the opening ceremony instead of the national flag. Countries marched in order of the Russian alphabet, and Australia was therefore second in the parade of nations, following Greece, which has traditionally led the march since 1928.
Archery
In the third Olympic archery competition that Australia contested, the nation sent two women and one man. Carole Toy, a veteran of the 1972 Games, repeated her 15th-place performance despite shooting 20 points lower.
Women's Individual Competition: Terene Donovan — 2343 points (→ 9th place) Carole Toy — 2285 points (→ 15th place)
Men's Individual Competition: Scott Dumbrell — 2271 points (→ 26th place)
Athletics
Men's 10,000 metres
Bill Scott
Heat — 28:58.8
Final — 28:15.1 (→ 9th place) Stephen Austin Heat — 29:45.2 (→ did not advance) Gerard Barrett Heat — did not finish (→ did not advance)
Men's Long Jump
Gary Honey
Qualification — 7.44 m (→ did not advance)
Men's Triple Jump
Ian Campbell
Qualification — 17.02 m
Final — 16.72 m (→ 5th place) Ken Lorraway Qualification — 16.80 m Final — 16.44 m (→ 8th place)
Men's Marathon
Robert de Castella
Final — 2:14:31 (→ 10th place) Chris Wardlaw Final — 2:20:42 (→ 28th place) Gerard Barrett Final — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Men's Hammer Throw
Peter Farmer
Qualifying Round — 69.16m (→ did not advance, 13th place)
Men's 20 km Walk
David Smith
Final — DSQ (→ no ranking)
Men's 50 km Walk
Willi Sawall
Final — 4:08:25 (→ 8th place) David Smith Final — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Men's Decathlon
Peter Hadfield
Final — 7709 points (→ 13th place)
Women's 100 metres
Denise Boyd
Heat — 11.56
Quarterfinals — 11.35
Semifinals — 11.44 (→ did not advance) Debbie Wells Heat — 11.72 Quarterfinals — 11.66 (→ did not advance)
Women's 100 m Hurdles
Penelope Gillies
Heat — 13.68 (→ did not advance)
Women's Discus Throw
Gael Mulhall
Qualification — 54.90 m (→ did not advance)
Women's Shot Put
Gael Mulhall
Final — 18.00 m (→ 12th place)
Women's Javelin Throw
Pam Matthews
Qualification — 55.72 m (→ did not advance) Petra Rivers Qualification — 51.08 m (→ did not advance)
Women's High Jump
Christine Stanton
Qualification — 1.88m
Final — 1.91m (→ 6th place)
Basketball
Men's Team Competition
Preliminary Round (Group C): Lost to Cuba (76-83) Defeated Italy (84-77) Defeated Sweden (64-55) Classification Round (Group B): Defeated Czechoslovakia (91-86) Lost to Poland (74-101) Defeated Senegal (95-64) Defeated India (93-75) → 8th place Team Roster: Peter Ali Stephen Breheny Perry Crosswhite Mel Dalgleish Ian Davies Gordon McLeod Danny Morseau Les Riddle Larry Sengstock Phil Smyth Michael Tucker Peter Walsh Head coach: Lindsay Gaze
Boxing
Men's Lightweight (– 60 kg) Norm Stevens First Round — Lost to Geza Tumbas (Yugoslavia) on points (1-4)
Canoeing
Cycling
Ten cyclists represented Australia in 1980.
Individual road race
Michael Wilson
Kevin Bradshaw
Remo Sansonetti
Graham Seers
Team time trial
Kevin Bradshaw
Remo Sansonetti
David Scarfe
Michael Wilson
Sprint
Kenrick Tucker
1000m time trial
Kenrick Tucker
Individual pursuit
Kelvin Poole
Team pursuit
Colin Fitzgerald
Kevin Nichols
Kelvin Poole
Gary Sutton
Diving
Men's Springboard
Steve Foley
Preliminary Round — 521.82 points (→ 11th place, did not advance)
Men's Platform
Steve Foley
Preliminary Round — 427.44 points (→ 16th place, did not advance)
Fencing
Three fencers, one man and two women, represented Australia in 1980.
Men's foil
Greg Benko
Men's épée
Greg Benko
Women's foil
Mitzi Ferguson
Helen Smith
Gymnastics
Judo
Modern pentathlon
One male pentathlete represented Australia in 1980.
Men's individual competition: Robert Barrie — 4696 pts, 37th place