Men's javelin throw at the Games of the XXII Olympiad
Venue	Lenin Stadium
Dates	July 26–27
Competitors	18 from 11 nations
Winning distance	91.20
Medalists
Dainis Kūla  Soviet Union Aleksandr Makarov  Soviet Union Wolfgang Hanisch  East Germany
← 1976 1984 →

Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men
3000 m steeplechase	men
4 × 100 m relay	men	women
4 × 400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men
20 km walk	men
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Pentathlon		women
Decathlon	men
v t e

Themen'sjavelin throw event at the1980 Summer Olympics inMoscow,Soviet Union had 18 competitors in one qualifying group. The qualifying round was staged on July 26, with the automatic qualifying mark set at 80.00 metres (262.47 ft). Twelve advanced to the final, which took place the following day.^[1]

The Soviet Union'sDainis Kūla andAleksandr Makarov won gold and silver, amid allegations that Soviet officials had favored their own athletes.

The qualification was held in rainy conditions, and several favorites had difficulties getting through.^[2] All three Soviet throwers and Hungary's defending championMiklós Németh reached the automatic qualifying mark (80.00 m) in the first round, but the other Hungarian,Ferenc Paragi, who had broken the world record earlier in 1980, only got a good throw in the third and final qualification round,^[2] andEast Germany'sDetlef Michel, who was one of the favorites and would win the World Championship in1983, failed to qualify.^[2]

Only ten athletes reached the automatic qualification mark, soDetlef Fuhrmann andStefan Stoykov qualified despite not reaching the mark.^[2]

The favorites in the final were Paragi, the three Soviets andEast Germany'sWolfgang Hanisch, a three-time medalist atEuropean Championships.^[2] Hanisch was an early leader after throwing 86.72 m in the first round, closely followed by two Soviets,Heino Puuste and Makarov, and Finland'sAntero Puranen. Paragi had problems with his technique and failed to get a good throw, and the third Soviet thrower, Dainis Kūla, had no valid mark after two rounds.^[2]

In the third round Paragi got his best throw, 79.52 m, but it wasn't enough to move him to the top eight that would qualify for rounds four to six. Kūla, on the other hand, stayed in the competition as his third throw was measured as 88.88 m and he took the lead.^[2]

In round four Kūla improved further to 91.20 m, the eventual winning distance. Makarov got his best throws in rounds five and six and took silver ahead of Hanisch.^[2]

Dainis Kūla's third throw immediately became controversial as it landed almost completely flat (rather than point first), and a flat throw should have been ruled illegal; had that ruling been made, Kūla would have been out of the last three rounds. It was also claimed the throw's distance had been exaggerated, with the actual distance being around 87 m.^[2][3]

Flat or ambiguously flat throws were not uncommon with the old javelin designs then used, nor were "generous" judgments by officials.^[4] Kūla's case, however, gained much notoriety as it not only secured him Olympic gold, but fit into a wider pattern of Soviet officials favoring their own athletes at the 1980 Olympics.^[3]

Another controversy surrounded Soviet officials opening the stadium's gates when Soviet athletes were throwing, letting more wind in to aid the throws.^[2][3][5] In Finland (which had three athletes in the final), the gate issue spurred much discussion and lived on in public memory for a long time;^[5] Kūla was greeted with shouts of "open the gates!" when he competed in the1983 World Championships in the Finnish capital,Helsinki,^[6] and when the2013 World Championships were held inMoscow the gate controversy again became a talking point.^[5][7]

In the media of javelin-crazy Finland, the usuallyfriendly attitude towards the Soviet Union was seriously dented by the javelin final as mainstream newspapers criticized the officials.^[3] Jim Dunaway, writing for the American magazineTrack & Field News, was even more negative in opining that "the competition should be voided by theIAAF and either held again at some future date, or removed from the Olympic records."^[1] However, no official complaints or protests were filed, and the original results were allowed to stand.^[2][3]

Gold	Dainis Kūla  Soviet Union
Silver	Aleksandr Makarov  Soviet Union
Bronze	Wolfgang Hanisch  East Germany

• All times areMoscow Time (UTC+3)

• All results shown are in metres

Standing records prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics
World Record	Ferenc Paragi (HUN)	96.72 m	April 23, 1980	Tata, Hungary
Olympic Record	Miklós Németh (HUN)	94.58 m	July 25, 1976	Montreal, Canada

Rank	Athlete	Attempts			Distance
		1	2	3
1	Ferenc Paragi (HUN)	X	72.60	88.76	88.76 m
2	Wolfgang Hanisch (GDR)	75.24	85.82	—	85.82 m
3	Dainis Kūla (URS)	85.76	—	—	85.76 m
4	Miklós Németh (HUN)	84.84	—	—	84.84 m
5	Antero Puranen (FIN)	74.78	84.02	—	84.02 m
6	Aleksandr Makarov (URS)	83.32	—	—	83.32 m
7	Heino Puuste (URS)	82.96	—	—	82.96 m
8	Justin Arop (UGA)	63.02	76.64	82.68	82.68 m
9	Aimo Aho (FIN)	70.84	78.50	82.12	82.12 m
10	Pentti Sinersaari (FIN)	X	80.30	—	80.30 m
11	Detlef Fuhrmann (GDR)	72.12	X	78.80	78.80 m
12	Stefan Stoykov (BUL)	70.62	78.74	71.00	78.74 m
13	Detlef Michel (GDR)	73.30	78.34	X	78.34 m
14	David Ottley (GBR)	X	77.20	71.94	77.20 m
15	Dariusz Adamus (POL)	69.68	75.72	76.82	76.82 m
16	Zakayo Malekwa (TAN)	71.58	X	61.66	71.58 m
17	Inoussa Dangou (BEN)	54.20	63.56	X	63.56 m
18	Milkessa Chalchisa (ETH)	X	51.04	47.68	51.04 m

Rank	Athlete	Attempts						Distance
		1	2	3	4	5	6
	Dainis Kūla (URS)	X	X	88.88	91.20	X	X	91.20 m
	Aleksandr Makarov (URS)	85.84	83.48	X	84.40	88.04	89.64	89.64 m
	Wolfgang Hanisch (GDR)	86.72	73.74	84.04	X	X	X	86.72 m
4	Heino Puuste (URS)	86.10	X	—	X	—	X	86.10 m
5	Antero Puranen (FIN)	85.12	X	X	78.14	X	82.94	85.12 m
6	Pentti Sinersaari (FIN)	75.08	84.34	82.86	X	X	X	84.34 m
7	Detlef Fuhrmann (GDR)	68.44	81.02	81.44	83.50	80.42	80.96	83.50 m
8	Miklós Németh (HUN)	76.60	74.06	81.46	81.38	82.40	76.22	82.40 m
9	Aimo Aho (FIN)	75.82	80.58	78.86				80.58 m
10	Ferenc Paragi (HUN)	X	75.46	79.52				79.52 m
11	Stefan Stoykov (BUL)	77.32	74.38	79.04				79.04 m
12	Justin Arop (UGA)	53.56	77.34	X				77.34 m

• 1976 Men's Olympic Javelin Throw (Montreal)
• 1978 Men's European Championships Javelin Throw (Prague)
• 1980 Javelin Throw Year Ranking
• 1982 Men's European Championships Javelin Throw (Athens)
• 1983 Men's World Championships Javelin Throw (Helsinki)
• 1984 Men's Olympic Javelin Throw (Los Angeles)
• 1984 Men's Friendship Games Javelin Throw (Moscow)
• 1986 Men's European Championships Javelin Throw (Stuttgart)

• (in English)Results
• (in English)koti.welho

• Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics
• 1980 in men's sport of athletics
• Men's events at the 1980 Summer Olympics
• 1980 controversies
• Javelin throw at the Olympics

• CS1 Finnish-language sources (fi)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata