Australia at The 1980 Summer Olympics

Australia At The 1980 Summer Olympics

Australia competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. Although Australia did not officially participate in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, athletes were encouraged to boycott by the government, and Australia competed under the Olympic Flag. 120 competitors, 92 men and 28 women, took part in 92 events in 17 sports.

Ultimately, the Australian Olympic Committee decided in a split vote to attend the Games, but some sport federations and athletes were pressured into boycotting the Games of their own volition. Many chose to stay at home, including such likely medallists as champion swimmer Tracey Wickham, sprinter Raelene Boyle and the Men's Field Hockey Team. A team of 127 athletes attended the Games. Months earlier, a team of 204 athletes had been approved before boycott talks began.

In protest of the Afghanistan invasion, Australia did not march behind the national flag in the Opening Ceremony. Instead, flag bearers Denise Boyd (athletics) and Max Metzker (swimming), Australia’s first joint-flag carriers, carried the Olympic flag. Thanks to the Russian alphabet, it was first after Greece (which has traditionally, since 1928, led the Parade of Nations, as the birthplace of the Olympics) in the Parade of Nations.