Zimbabwe at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Sporting event delegation
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Zimbabwe competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union capital, Moscow. The nation, previously known as Rhodesia, had competed at three Games under that name. 42 competitors, 23 men and 19 women, took part in 30 events in 10 sports.[2]
| Zimbabwe at the 1980 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
| |
| IOC code | ZIM |
| NOC | Zimbabwe Olympic Committee |
| in Moscow | |
| Competitors | 42 (23 men and 19 women) in 10 sports |
| Flag bearer | Abel Nkhoma[1] |
| Medals Ranked 23rd |
|
| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |
Medalists
Archery
Zimbabwe was represented by one archer in the Archery at the 1980 Olympics, with him making his only appearance in the Olympics. In the competition David Campbell Milne finished in 34th place outscored four archers.[4]
Men's Individual Competition:
- David Campbell Milne — 2.146 points (→ 34th place)[5]
Athletics
Zimbabwe was represented by five male athletes in the athletics at the 1980 Olympics, Zephaniah Ncube who at the time was 23 competed in his first Olympics.[6]
Kenias Tembo competed in the 10,000 meters in what would be his only Olympics.[7] In his heat, he would finish in 10th place which didn't get him through to the final as the top 4 got through to the final automatically with the next best three getting in.[8]
Zimbabwe entered three in the marathon, with two of them finishing. The youngest of the three, Tapfumaneyi Jonga who would compete at the shorter events in the next Olympics finished the highest as he finished in 51st place with the gap to first place being over thirty-five minutes.[9] Six minutes behind was Abel Nkhoma who was the last runner to finish in the marathon.[10]
- Men
- Track & road events
| Athlete | Event | Heat | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Final | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | ||
| Zephaniah Ncube | 5000 m | 14:06.7 | 10 | did not advance | |||||
| Kenias Tembo | 10000 m | 30:53.8 | 10 | did not advance | |||||
| Tapfumaneyi Jonga | Marathon | N/a | 2:47.17 | 51 | |||||
| Abel Nkhoma | N/a | 2:53:35 | 53 | ||||||
| Laswell Ngoma | N/a | DNS | |||||||
Cycling
Three cyclists represented Zimbabwe in 1980.
- David Gillow
- Michael McBeath
Diving
Men's Springboard
- Preliminary Round — 416.67 points (→ 24th place, did not advance)
Men's Platform
- Preliminary Round — 356.76 points (→ 22nd place, did not advance)
Hockey
After the boycott the committee sent out invitations for other nations to join the women's competition. Zimbabwe agreed to the invitation and in their only appearance in the Olympic hockey to date, they would take out the gold medal as they shocked the whole world in taking it out.[11] Sport historian Cathy Harris called this result a "fairytale"[12] as the nation wouldn't get another medal until the 2004 Summer Olympics.[13]
Women's Team Competition
- Team roster
| Rk | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  Zimbabwe |
5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 8 |
 |  Czechoslovakia |
5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 7 |
 |  Soviet Union |
5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 6 |
| 4 |  India |
5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 5 |
| 5 |  Austria |
5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 4 |
| 6 |  Poland |
5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
|
|
Judo
Sailing
Shooting
Swimming
Men's 100m Freestyle
- Heats — 52.87 (→ did not advance)
Men's 200m Freestyle
- Heats — 1:56.88 (→ did not advance)
Men's 100m Butterfly
- Heats — 56.15 (→ advance to semi)
- Semi Final — 56.35 (→ 5th place did not advance)
Women's 100m Freestyle
- Heats — 1:03.36 (→ did not advance)
Women's 100m Breaststroke
- Heats — 1:18.81 (→ did not advance)
Women's 200m Breaststroke
- Heats — 2:48.86 (→ did not advance)