Slupianek had thrown 21.75 or better 11 times before Moscow, a dis-
tance no-one else reached in 1980. After her teammate Pufe broke the
Olympic record with 21.20, Slupianek stepped up for her first throw,
and whipped the 4kg ball out to 22.41, the second-furthest of all-time.
Slupianek, who had missed most of the 1978 season on a drug suspen-
sion, proceeded to dominate the competition, with her worst throw,
matched just once by anyone else. That was by Svetlana Krachevskaya
– fourth in ’72 as Esfir Dolzhenko, ninth in ’76 as Esfir Krachevskaya
– the only finalist to set a personal best. Pufe kept her grip on the
bronze medal, although she was threatened by Abashidze who reached
21.15 in the final round.
The winner was later named as the world’s top woman of the year by
Track & Field News.
East Germany
Soviet Union
Bulgaria
Cuba
Czechoslovakia
Australia
Great Britain
Italy