1980 United States Olympic track and field trials
DatesJune 21–29
Host cityEugene, Oregon, United States
VenueHayward Field
LevelSenior
TypeOutdoor
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The 1980 United States Olympic trials for track and field were held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. These were the first such trials organized by the new national governing body for the sport of track and field, The Athletics Congress formed one year earlier as required by the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. Previous trials had been organized by the AAU. The eight-day competition lasted from June 21 until June 29.

Unlike any of the previous or subsequent years, the Olympic trials in 1980 did not select representatives to the 1980 Summer Olympics. By this point in the year, President Jimmy Carter had already announced the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and its flagrant human rights violations. This affected the competition. Some athletes did not compete or did not persevere through illness or injury as they might have if Olympic bids were on the line. Subsequently, some athletes, notably Tom Hintnaus[1] and Gary Fanelli, chose to compete for other countries. Others like Franklin Jacobs retired.[2]

The only qualifiers to another meet from this meet came from two women's exhibition events, the 400 m hurdles and 5000 meters, who were invited to the 1980 World Championships in Athletics. Many of the top 3 from this meet ran in the alternative to the Olympics, the Liberty Bell Classic, a few weeks later.

The trials for the men's and women's marathon were held May 24 in Buffalo, New York, and the trials for the men's 50 km race walk were held May 10 in Niagara Falls, New York.

Men's results

Key: ≠ Athlete without "A" standard, not selected.

Men track events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 meters
Wind 0.0 		Stanley Floyd 10.26 Harvey Glance 10.27 Mel Lattany 10.30
200 meters
Wind -1.5 		James Butler 20.49 Cliff Wiley 20.54 Fred Taylor 20.70
400 meters Bill Green 45.85 Willie Smith 45.97 Walter McCoy 46.06
800 meters Don Paige 1:44.53 James Robinson 1:45.58 Randy Wilson 1:45.82
1500 meters Steve Scott 3.35.15 Steve Lacy 3.36.23 Mike Durkin 3.38.04
5000 meters Matt Centrowitz 13.30.62 Dick Buerkle 13.31.90 Bill McChesney 13.34.42
10,000 meters Craig Virgin 27:45.61 Greg Fredericks 28.03.14 Alberto Salazar 28.10.42
110 m hurdles
Wind +0.6 		Renaldo Nehemiah 13.26 Dedy Cooper 13.39 Tonie Campbell 13.44
400 m hurdles Edwin Moses 47.90 James Walker 49.04 David Lee
Bart Williams		 49.34[3]
3000 m s'chase Henry Marsh 8.15.68 NR Doug Brown 8.20.60 John Gregorek 8.21.32
20K racewalk Marco Evoniuk
Jim Heiring		 1:27:12 Dan O'Connor 1:29:05 [4]
50K racewalk Carl Schueler 3:59:34 Marco Evoniuk 4:00:30 Dan O'Connor 4:11:03
Marathon Tony Sandoval 2:10:19 Benji Durden 2:10:41 Kyle Heffner 2:10:55

Men field events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
High jump Benn Fields 2.26 m (7 ft 4+3⁄4 in) Nat Page 2.23 m (7 ft 3+3⁄4 in) Jim Howard 2.23 m (7 ft 3+3⁄4 in)
Pole vault Tom Hintnaus 5.60 m (18 ft 4+1⁄4 in) Dan Ripley 5.55 m (18 ft 2+1⁄2 in) Mike Tully 5.55 m (18 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Long jump Larry Myricks 8.28 m (27 ft 1+3⁄4 in) +1.7 Carl Lewis 8.01 m (26 ft 3+1⁄4 in)w +2.6 Randy Williams 7.92 m (25 ft 11+3⁄4 in) +1.2
Triple jump Willie Banks 16.80 m (55 ft 1+1⁄4 in) Paul Jordan 16.26 m (53 ft 4 in) Greg Caldwell 16.22 m (53 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Shot put Pete Shmock 20.83 m (68 ft 4 in) Al Feuerbach 20.82 m (68 ft 3+1⁄2 in) Colin Anderson 20.73 m (68 ft 0 in)
Discus throw Mac Wilkins 68.68 m (225 ft 3 in) John Powell 68.00 m (223 ft 1 in) Ben Plucknett 66.50 m (218 ft 2 in)
Hammer throw Andy Bessette 70.98 m (232 ft 10 in) John McArdle 70.38 m (230 ft 10 in) Boris Djerassi 70.30 m (230 ft 7 in)
Javelin throw Rod Ewaliko 88.70 m (291 ft 0 in) Bruce Kennedy 83.64 m (274 ft 4 in) Duncan Atwood 82.68 m (271 ft 3 in)
Decathlon Bob Coffman 8184 Lee Palles 8159 Fred Dixon 8154

Notes

a

Women's results

Women track events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 meters
Wind -0.5 		Alice Brown 11.32 Brenda Morehead 11.43 Chandra Cheeseborough 11.45
200 meters
Wind +2.4 		Chandra Cheeseborough 22.70w Karen Hawkins 23.04w Pam Greene 23.21w
400 meters Sherri Howard 51.48 Gwen Gardner 51.68 Denean Howard 51.70
800 meters Madeline Manning 1:58.30 Julie Brown 2:00.96 Robin Campbell 2:01.23
1500 meters Mary Decker 4:04.91 Julie Brown 4:07.13 Leann Warren 4:15.16
5000 meters Julie Shea 15:44.12 Mary Shea 16:07.50 Brenda Webb
10,000 meters Kris Bankes 33:45.6
100 m hurdles
Wind -0.1 		Stephanie Hightower 12.90 Benita Fitzgerald 13.11 Candy Young 13.30
400 m hurdles Esther Mahr 57.46 Kim Whitehead 58.56 Debra Melrose

Women field events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
High jump Louise Ritter 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Paula Girven 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Pam Spencer 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Long jump Jodi Anderson 7.00 m (22 ft 11+1⁄2 in) Kathy McMillan 6.76 m (22 ft 2 in) Carol Lewis 6.56 m (21 ft 6+1⁄4 in)w
Shot put Maren Seidler 17.92 m (58 ft 9+1⁄2 in) Ann Turbyne 17.27 m (56 ft 7+3⁄4 in) Lorna Griffin 15.89 m (52 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Discus throw Lorna Griffin 60.20 m (197 ft 6 in) Lynne Winbigler 56.36 m (184 ft 10 in) Lisa Vogelsang 53.84 m (176 ft 7 in)
Javelin throw Karin Smith 58.52 m (191 ft 11 in) Kate Schmidt 57.22 m (187 ft 8 in) Mary Osborne 56.46 m (185 ft 2 in)
Heptathlon Jodi Anderson 4697m/4651a [5] Marilyn King 4199m Linda Waltman 4191m/4187a

External links

References

  1. ^ "Gomes da Silva lands Brazil on the international Pole vault map | NEWS | World Athletics".
  2. ^ Litsky, Frank (13 February 1998). "Track and Field; High Jumper Resurfaces for Honor at Millrose". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Note: Third place was judged a tie. TAC officials did not seek a tiebreaker because no Olympic team position was on the line.
  4. ^ Note: Heiring and O’Connor earlier qualified in the 50K race walk, Todd Scully and Larry Walker were elevated to the named Olympic Team
  5. ^ Note: Manual timed score and auto timed score calculated. Some athletes were properly auto-timed in the hurdles, but Marilyn King's heat was not, so all athletes had to be scored based on hand times. The scoring difference cost high schooler Marlene Harmon 3rd place and possibly second, depending on what King's auto time might have actually been.
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