Brazil competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. 106 competitors, 91 men and 15 women, took part in 72 events in 14 sports. Brazilian athletes won two gold medals after a drought of 24 years, since the 1956 Summer Olympics, as well as two bronze medals.
Both the two gold medals were obtained in sailing and they were the first gold medals in the history of the sport. Lars Sigurd Bjorkström and Alexandre Welter were Olympic champions in Tornado class. Marcos Soares and Eduardo Penido won the gold medal in the 470 class.
Brazil won a medal in a relay event in swimming for the first time - the bronze in men's 4 ÃÂ 200 metre freestyle relay.
The current world record holder and bronze medalist triple jumper João Carlos de Oliveira repeated the result in men's triple jump in a very controversial event. The Soviet Union's Jaak Uudmäe and Viktor Saneyev placed first and second, ahead of Oliveira. Both him and fourth place Australia's Ian Campbell produced long jumps, but they were declared fouls by the officials and not measured.
In its first Olympic archery competition, Brazil sent one woman and one man.
The top two teams from each group advance to the final round group, while the remaining teams compete for 8th through 12th places in the classification group. Hosts Soviet Union and the world champions Yugoslavia advanced undefeated to the final round. Meanwhile, qualification in Group C was closely contested between Italy, Cuba and Australia, which ended up being decided by a third tiebreaker in favor of the first two teams.
The first two places in the preliminary group compete for the gold medal, while the third and fourth places compete for the bronze. The remaining teams' group ranking determines their positions in the final standings. The host nation failed to compete for the gold in spite of finishing the preliminary round undefeated, due to losses against the other two group leaders Yugoslavia and especially Italy, since the result from that match served as tiebreaker, giving the latter a passport to the gold medal match. The Soviet Union then won the bronze against Spain. Yugoslavia earned their first and only gold medal in men's basketball at this Olympic Games. Results from Yugoslavia vs. Spain, Italy vs. Cuba and Soviet Union vs. Brazil were carried over from the preliminary round.
Six cyclists represented Brazil in 1980.
Team Roster
Team Roster