Equestrian at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Individual show jumping gold medalist Jan Kowalczyk from Poland

Equestrian at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by six events. All of them, with the exception of the Individual Jumping Grand Prix, were held in the Trade Unions Equestrian Centre, which is situated in the Bitsa Forest Park (southern part of Moscow). Individual Jumping Grand Prix was held in the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium at Luzhniki (south-western part of Moscow). As usual for the equestrian in the Olympics, all events were mixed, i.e. not divided into men’s only events and women’s only events.

Due to the boycott, only eleven nations competed in the equestrian events: Austria, Bulgaria, Guatemala, Finland, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Romania, and the USSR. Therefore, only a few of the top riders in the world competed, including the Italian eventing team and the current European champion in dressage, Austrian Sissy Theurer. India also sent an eventing team, but all four of its riders were eliminated. There were only 68 entries total in the equestrian competition at the 1980 Olympics.

The Disciplines

Individual gold medalist in dressage, Elisabeth Theurer and Mon Cherie

Show Jumping

26 riders from seven nations competed over Viatcheslav Kartavski's course, including six teams, none of whom were dominating powers in international show jumping. The course was kept easy, with ideal distances between fences. Only sixteen riders competed in the individual show jumping competition, including one each from Finland and Guatemala. The Guatemalan, Oswaldo Mendaz, finished in fourth place after losing the jump-off for bronze to Mexico’s Joaquin Perez de la Heras. Silver went to Nikolaj Korolkov, finishing with 9.5 penalties, and gold went to Poland’s Jan Kowalczyk, who had a rail in each round.

Dressage

Of the 14 riders (seven nations) competing in dressage, there was only one top international competitor: 26-year-old Elisabeth Theurer on her Hanoverian Mon Cheri. She finished the Grand Prix an astonishing 35 points ahead of the second place finisher Yuri Kovshov, and 82 points ahead of the third place winner Viktor Ugriumov. She spread this margin even further in the Grand Prix Special, to 90 points ahead of silver and 136 points ahead of bronze. However, her win was not marred by controversy, and the Austrian National Equestrian Federation's President resigned after her decision to compete.

Without any significant competition at the 1980 Olympics, the Soviet dressage team won by a record 803 points ahead of the silver medal winning Bulgarian team. This was managed even without one of their top riders, Elena Petushkova, after her horse died from an illness.

Eventing

Only six nations competed, but with the addition of the 1964 Olympics gold medal winners (Italy) to the team fielded by the USSR (three-time European Champion), there was true competition. Endurance day was held in Bitsa forest park, over very deep footing, and included a 5500 meter Phase A, 3795 meter Steeplechase, 12100 meter Phase C, and a final 7685 meter cross-country course. Although the course was inviting, 11 of the 28 starters were eliminated.

Medals

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union (URS)	3	3	2	8
2	Italy (ITA)	1	1	0	2
	Poland (POL)	1	1	0	2
4	Austria (AUT)	1	0	0	1
5	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	1	0	1
6	Mexico (MEX)	0	0	3	3
7	Romania (ROU)	0	0	1	1

Events

Individual Dressage

Final Rank	Name	Horse	Country	Time	Score
1	Elisabeth Theurer	Mon Cherie	Austria	7:44	1370
2	Yuri Kovshov	Igrok	Soviet Union	7:35	1300
3	Viktor Ugryumov	Shkval	Soviet Union	8:03	1234
4	Vera Misevich	Plot	Soviet Union	7:53	1231
5	Kyra Kyrklund	Piccolo	Finland	8:02	1121
6	Anghelache Donescu	Dor	Romania	7:20	960
7	Georgi Gadzhev	Vnimatelen	Bulgaria		881
8	Svetoslav Ivanov	Aleko	Bulgaria		850
9	Petar Mandajiev	Schibor	Bulgaria		846
10	Józef Zagor	Helios	Poland		804
11	Petre Roşca	Derbist	Romania		741
12	Dumitru Velicu	Decebal	Romania		720
13	Elżbieta Morciniec	Sum	Poland
14	Wanda Wąsowska	Damask	Poland

Team Dressage

Final Rank	Name	Horse	Country	Score
1	Yuri Kovshov Viktor Ugryumov Vera Misevich	lgrok Shkval Plot	Soviet Union	4383
2	Petar Mandajiev Svetoslav lvanov Gheorghi Gadjev	Stchibor Aleko Vnimatelen	Bulgaria	3580
3	Anghelache Donescu Dumitru Veliku Petre Rosca	Dor Decebal Derbist	Romania	3346
4	Jozef Zagor Elżbieta Morciniec Wanda Wąsowska	Helios Sum Damask	Poland	2945

Three-Day Event

Final Rank	Name	Horse	Country	Score
1	Federico Roman	Rossinan	Italy	-108.60
2	Aleksandr Blinov	Galzun	Soviet Union	-120.80
3	Yuri Salnikov	Pintset	Soviet Union	-151.60
4	Valery Volkov	Tskheti	Soviet Union	-184.60
5	Tzvetan Dontchev	Medisson	Bulgaria	-185.80
6	Mirosław Szłapka	Erywań	Poland	-241.80
7	Anna Casagrande	Daleye	Italy	-266.20
8	Mauro Roman	Dourakine 4	Italy	-281.40
9	Marina Sciocchetti	Rohan de Lechereo	Italy	-308.40
10	Manuel Mendívil	Remember	Mexico	-319.75
11	Sergey Rogozhin	Gelespont	Soviet Union	-338.80
12	David Bárcena	Bombona	Mexico	-362.50
13	Jacek Wierzchowiecki	Bastion	Poland	-411.80
14	László Cseresnyés	Fapipa	Hungary	-436.20
15	José Luis Pérez	Quelite	Mexico	-490.60
16	István Grózner	Biboros	Hungary	-498.60
17	Zoltán Horváth	Lamour	Hungary	-668.60
-	Dimo Khristov	Bogez	Bulgaria	DNF
-	Stanisław Jasiński	Hangar	Poland	DNF
-	Dzhenko Sabev	Normativ	Bulgaria	DNF
-	Fabián Vázquez	Cocaleco	Mexico	DNF
-	Mihály Oláh	Ados	Hungary	DNF
-	Trifon Datsinski	Mentor-2	Bulgaria	DNF
-	Jacek Daniluk	Len	Poland	DNF
-	Muhammad Khan	I-Am-It	India	DNF
-	Darya Singh	Bobby	India	DNF
-	Jitendarjit Singh Ahluwalia	Shiwalik	India	DNF
-	Hussain Singh	Rajdoot	India	DNF

Team Three-Day Event

Team silver medalist Anna Casagrande of Italy in the eventing competition

Final Rank	Name	Horse	Country	Score
1	Aleksandr Blinov Yuri Salnikov Valery Volkov Sergei Rogozhin	Galzun Pintset Tskheti Gelespont	Soviet Union	457.00
2	Federico Roman Anna Casagrande Mauro Roman Marina Sciocchetti	Rossinan Daleye Dourakin 4 Rohan de Lechereo	Italy	656.20
3	Manuel Mendivil David Bárcena José Luis Pérez Fabián Vázquez	Remember Bombona Quelite Cocaleco	Mexico	1172.85
4	László Cseresnyés lstván Grózner Zoltán Horváth Mihály Oláh	Fapipa Biboros Lamour Ados	Hungary	1603.40
-	Mirosław Szłapka Jacek Wierzchowiecki Stanisław Jasiński Jacek Daniluk	Erywan Bastion Hangar Len	Poland	DNF
-	Tsvetan Dontchev Dimo Khristov Dzhenko Sabev Trifon Datsinski	Medisson Bogez Normativ Mentor-2	Bulgaria	DNF
-	Muhammad Khan Darya Singh Jitendarjit Singh Ahluwalia Hussain Khan	I-Am-It Bobby Shewalik Rajdoot	India	DNF

Individual Jumping Grand Prix

Final Rank	Name	Horse	Country	Score
1	Jan Kowalczyk	Artemor	Poland	8.00
2	Nikolai Korolkov	Espadron	Soviet Union	9.50
3	Joaquín Pérez	Alymony	Mexico	12.00
4	Oswaldo Méndez	Pampa	Guatemala	12.00
5	Viktor Poganovsky	Topky	Soviet Union	15.50
6	Wiesław Hartman	Norton	Poland	16.00
7	Barnabás Hevesy	Bohem	Hungary	24.00
8	Marian Kozicki	Bremen	Poland	24.50
9	Vyacheslav Chukanov	Gepatit	Soviet Union	24.75
10	Boris Pavlov	Montblanc	Bulgaria	26.50
11	Alberto Valdés, Jr.	Lady Mirka	Mexico	28.00
12	Christopher Wegelius	Monday Morning	Finland	30.25
13	Nikola Dimitrov	Vals	Bulgaria	36.25
14	Ferenc Krucsó	Vadrozsa	Hungary	40.25
-	Dimitar Genov	Makbet	Bulgaria	DNF
-	Jesús Gómez	Massacre	Mexico	DSQ

Remark:for 3rd and 4th ranked contestants the standings are after jump-off.

Team Jumping Grand Prix

Polish and USSR Jumping riders congratulate each other after their medal-winning performances.

Final Rank	Name	Horse	Country	Score
1	Vyacheslav Chukanov Viktor Poganovsky Viktor Asmaev Nikolai Korolkov	Gepatit Topky Reis Espadron	Soviet Union	20.25
2	Marian Kozicki Jan Kowalczyk Wiesław Hartman Janusz Bobik	Bremen Artemor Norton Szampan	Poland	56.00
3	Joaquin Pérez Jesús Gómez Gerardo Tazzer Alberto Valdés, Jr.	Alymony Massacre Caribe Lady Mirka	Mexico	59.75
4	Barnabás Hevesi Ferenc Krucsó András Balogi József Varró	Bohem Vadrózsa Artemis Gambrinusz	Hungary	124.00
5	Alexandru Bozan Dania Popescu Ion Popa Dumitru Velea	Prejmer Sonor Licurici Fudul	Romania	150.50
6	Dimitar Ghenov Khristo Katchov Nikola Dimitrov Boris Pavlov	Makbet Povod Vals Monblan	Bulgaria	159.50

External links

• 1980 Summer Olympics on IOC Site