Kenya at the 1980 Summer Paralympics

Kenya made their second Paralympic Games appearance in Arnhem, Netherlands.^[1][2] They were returning to the Games, having boycotted the 1976 Summer Paralympics as a result of a broader boycott by the Kenyan Olympic Committee for the 1976 Summer Olympics.^[3][4][5] The team was seventeen strong, and included thirteen men and four women.^[2] They competed in athletics, weightlifting, lawn bowls and table tennis.^[6]

17 competitors from Kenya won 3 medals, 1 gold and 2 silver, and finished 30th in the medal table.^[7][1][8] Lucy Wanjiru won the first gold medal by a Kenyan woman after winning the Women's Javelin 3 event.^[6]

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
Gold	Lucy Wanjiru	Athletics	Women's javelin throw 3
Silver	Japheth Musyoki	Athletics	Men's discus throw 3
Silver	Japheth Musyoki	Athletics	Men's shot put 3

Sixteen of the country's seventeen Paralympians competed in athletics in Germany. It was the only sport where Kenya medaled at these Games. Japheth Musyoki won a pair of silver medals for Kenya, one Men's Discus Throw 3 and another in the Men's Shot Put 3.^[6] Lucy Wanjiru won the first gold medal by a Kenyan woman after winning the Women's Javelin 3 event.^[6]

Two Kenyan athletes, Godfrey Ithongo and Maurice Kamia, competed in lawn bowls in Germany. Neither medaled.^[6] Maurice Kamia was the only member of the team that had participated at Kenya's Paralympic debut in 1972. He had only participated in athletics at those Games.^[6]

Kenya was represented by two table tennis players in Germany, Timothy Ngumba and B. Owabucheli.^[6]