| | Event type

400 metres Hurdles, Men

Date	24 – 26 July 1980
Status	Olympic
Location	Bolshaya arena, Tsentralny stadion imeni V.I. Lenina, Moskva
Participants	22 from 19 countries

Volker Beck of the GDR won the gold medal – possibly the most devalued gold medal in Olympic history as the American boycott kept Edwin Moses from defending his title. Moses was by 1980 already considered the greatest ever intermediate hurdler and he would have been an overwhelming favorite in Moskva. The second best 400 hurdler in 1980 was also not in Moskva, that being the FRG’s Harald Schmid, the 1978 European Champion. In their absence Beck won in the slowest Olympic winning time since 1964.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	293	Volker Beck	GDR	50.35 (3 h1)	50.36 (1 h1)	48.70 (1)	Gold
2	689	Vasily Arkhipenko	URS	50.22 (1 h3)	49.80 (1 h2)	48.86 (2)	Silver
3	277	Gary Oakes	GBR	50.39 (3 h2)	50.07 (3 h2)	49.11 (3)	Bronze
4	742	Nikolay Vasilyev	URS	50.09 (1 h1)	49.87 (2 h2)	49.34 (4)
5	758	Rok Kopitar	YUG	50.34 (3 h3)	50.55 (2 h1)	49.67 (5)
6	571	Horia Toboc	ROU	50.89 (6 h1)	50.58 (3 h1)	49.84 (6)
7	615	Franz Meier	SUI	50.32 (2 h3)	50.12 (4 h2)	50.00 (7)
8	85	Yanko Bratanov	BUL	50.56 (5 h3)	50.17 (5 h2)	56.35 (8)
4 h1 r2/3	361	Harry Schulting	NED	50.01 (1 h2)	50.61 (4 h1)	–
5 h1 r2/3	706	Aleksandr Kharlov	URS	50.79 (4 h2)	50.64 (5 h1)	–
6 h1 r2/3	386	József Szalai	HUN	50.23 (2 h2)	51.06 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	552	Ryszard Szparak	POL	50.45 (4 h1)	50.41 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r2/3	76	Antônio Ferreira	BRA	50.14 (2 h1)	52.31 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r2/3	678	John Akii-Bua	UGA	50.87 (5 h1)	51.10 (7 h2)	–
8 h2 r2/3	155	Juan Lloveras	ESP	50.48 (4 h3)	51.86 (8 h2)	–
5 h2 r1/3	147	José Casabona	ESP	51.26 (5 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	623	Christer Gullstrand	SWE	50.95 (6 h3)	– (DNS h1)	–
7 h1 r1/3	771	Davison Lishebo	ZAM	51.73 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h3 r1/3	637	Amer Maaraoui	SYR	53.26 (7 h3)	–	–
8 h3 r1/3	459	Abdul Latif Abbas	KUW	53.31 (8 h3)	–	–
AC h2 r1/3	504	Wilfred Kareng	BOT	– (DNF h2)	–	–
AC h2 r1/3	68	Leonel Teller	NCA	– (DNF h2)	–	–
DNS	411	Ali Hassan Kadhum	IRQ	– (DNS h2)	–	–

Round One (24 July 1980 — 10:15)

Top four in each heat and next four fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	742	Nikolay Vasilyev	URS	50.09	Q
2	76	Antônio Ferreira	BRA	50.14	Q
3	293	Volker Beck	GDR	50.35	Q
4	552	Ryszard Szparak	POL	50.45	Q
5	678	John Akii-Bua	UGA	50.87	q
6	571	Horia Toboc	ROU	50.89	q
7	771	Davison Lishebo	ZAM	51.73

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	361	Harry Schulting	NED	50.01	Q
2	386	József Szalai	HUN	50.23	Q
3	277	Gary Oakes	GBR	50.39	Q
4	706	Aleksandr Kharlov	URS	50.79	Q
5	147	José Casabona	ESP	51.26
DNF	68	Leonel Teller	NCA	–
DNF	504	Wilfred Kareng	BOT	–
DNS	411	Ali Hassan Kadhum	IRQ	–

Heat Three

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	689	Vasily Arkhipenko	URS	50.22	Q
2	615	Franz Meier	SUI	50.32	Q
3	758	Rok Kopitar	YUG	50.34	Q
4	155	Juan Lloveras	ESP	50.48	Q
5	85	Yanko Bratanov	BUL	50.56	q
6	623	Christer Gullstrand	SWE	50.95	q
7	637	Amer Maaraoui	SYR	53.26
8	459	Abdul Latif Abbas	KUW	53.31

Semi-Finals (25 July 1980 — 17:10)

Top three in each heat and next two fastest advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	293	Volker Beck	GDR	50.36	Q
2	758	Rok Kopitar	YUG	50.55	Q
3	571	Horia Toboc	ROU	50.58	Q
4	361	Harry Schulting	NED	50.61
5	706	Aleksandr Kharlov	URS	50.64
6	386	József Szalai	HUN	51.06
7	76	Antônio Ferreira	BRA	52.31
DNS	623	Christer Gullstrand	SWE	–

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	689	Vasily Arkhipenko	URS	49.80	Q
2	742	Nikolay Vasilyev	URS	49.87	Q
3	277	Gary Oakes	GBR	50.07	Q
4	615	Franz Meier	SUI	50.12	q
5	85	Yanko Bratanov	BUL	50.17	q
6	552	Ryszard Szparak	POL	50.41
7	678	John Akii-Bua	UGA	51.10
8	155	Juan Lloveras	ESP	51.86

Final (26 July 1980 — 19:55)

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	293	Volker Beck	GDR	48.70
2	689	Vasily Arkhipenko	URS	48.86
3	277	Gary Oakes	GBR	49.11
4	742	Nikolay Vasilyev	URS	49.34
5	758	Rok Kopitar	YUG	49.67
6	571	Horia Toboc	ROU	49.84
7	615	Franz Meier	SUI	50.00
8	85	Yanko Bratanov	BUL	56.35