1980 in Sports - Athletics

Athletics

• March 31 – death of Jesse Owens, American sprinter who won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics in 1936
• June 12 – Soviet Union's Nadezhda Olizarenko sets the world record in the women's 800 metres, clocking 1:54.85 at Moscow
• July 27 – Nadezhda Olizarenko betters her own world record in the women's 800 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, clocking 1:53.43.