Equestrian at the 1980 Summer Olympics

26 riders from seven nations competed over Viatcheslav Kartavski's course, including six teams, none of whom were dominating powers in international show jumping. The course was kept easy, with ideal distances between fences. Only sixteen riders competed in the individual show jumping competition, including one each from Finland and Guatemala. The Guatemalan, Oswaldo Mendaz, finished in fourth place after losing the jump-off for bronze to Mexico’s Joaquin Perez de la Heras. This remained the highest placing of a Guatemalan athlete at the Olympics until Erick Barrondo won an athletics silver medal in 2012. Silver went to Nikolaj Korolkov, finishing with 9.5 penalties, and gold went to Poland’s Jan Kowalczyk, who had a rail in each round.

Of the 14 riders (seven nations) competing in dressage, there was only one top international competitor: 26-year-old Elisabeth Theurer on her Hanoverian Mon Cheri. She finished the Grand Prix an astonishing 35 points ahead of the second place finisher Yuri Kovshov, and 82 points ahead of the third place winner Viktor Ugriumov. She spread this margin even further in the Grand Prix Special, to 90 points ahead of silver and 136 points ahead of bronze. However, her win was not marred by controversy, and the Austrian National Equestrian Federation's President resigned after her decision to compete.

Following the boycott from west-block nations, the Soviet Union had to stimulate east-block countries of Bulgaria, Poland and Romania to take part in a team competition on a short notice. As a consequence, most of the participants were very inexperienced and have scored some of the lowest marks in the Olympic history. Without any significant competition, the Soviet dressage team won by a record 803 points ahead of the silver medal winning Bulgarian team. This was managed even without one of their top riders, Elena Petushkova, after her horse died from an illness.

Only six nations competed, but with the addition of the 1964 Olympics gold medal winners (Italy) to the team fielded by the USSR (three-time European Champion), there was true competition. Endurance day was held in Bitsa forest park, over very deep footing, and included a 5500 meter Phase A, 3795 meter Steeplechase, 12100 meter Phase C, and a final 7685 meter cross-country course. Although the course was inviting, 11 of the 28 starters were eliminated.

Final Rank	Name	Horse	Country	Score
1	Jan Kowalczyk	Artemor	Poland	8.00
2	Nikolai Korolkov	Espadron	Soviet Union	9.50
3	Joaquín Pérez	Alymony	Mexico	12.00
4	Oswaldo Méndez	Pampa	Guatemala	12.00
5	Viktor Poganovsky	Topky	Soviet Union	15.50
6	Wiesław Hartman	Norton	Poland	16.00
7	Barnabás Hevesy	Bohem	Hungary	24.00
8	Marian Kozicki	Bremen	Poland	24.50
9	Vyacheslav Chukanov	Gepatit	Soviet Union	24.75
10	Boris Pavlov	Montblanc	Bulgaria	26.50
11	Alberto Valdés, Jr.	Lady Mirka	Mexico	28.00
12	Christopher Wegelius	Monday Morning	Finland	30.25
13	Nikola Dimitrov	Vals	Bulgaria	36.25
14	Ferenc Krucsó	Vadrozsa	Hungary	40.25
-	Dimitar Genov	Makbet	Bulgaria	DNF
-	Jesús Gómez	Massacre	Mexico	DSQ

Remark:for 3rd and 4th ranked contestants the standings are after jump-off.