Kozakevich gesture in pole vaulting
The pole vaulting tournament was won 40 years ago by the Pole Vladislav Kozakevich. His result of 5 m 78 cm was the best in history at that time. For Olympic gold, he fought with compatriot Tadeusz Slyusarsky and Konstantin Volkov from the USSR. This start was marked by one of the most resonant scandals not only of the Olympics, but of the entire 1980 in sports. Reacting to the disapproving whistle of the public, desperately rooting for Volkov, Kozakevich could not restrain himself and showed the tribunes an indecent gesture in the form of an arm bent at the elbow. After the Moscow Games, thanks to the press, this movement became widely known as the "Kozakevich gesture."
For this offense, they wanted to deprive the athlete of the gold medal. However, the Polish delegation managed to convince the organizers that the jumper did not want to offend the Soviet people, but involuntarily bent his arm due to muscle spasm.
“The USSR wanted Volkov to win. Therefore, when one of Konstantin's rivals took a running start, he was booed. This was unheard of for us. And here's the situation. I have already won gold. I have one more try. I'm going for a run. And these 60 thousand continue to whistle so that I don't jump higher. I already have the medal, I could tell everyone: "Kiss my ass." I would say, but no one would have heard. Therefore, he showed that gesture to the audience: "You are idiots who do not understand this sport at all." I'm the only person in the world to break a world record and get booed. Therefore, he showed that gesture - out of anger, ”said Kozakevich.
Campbell's uncounted attempt
Another scandal occurred in the triple jump. True, it became widely known about him only 35 years later. According to the president of the Australian Athletics Federation (AA) David Grace in the spring of 2015, the organization allegedly received scientific evidence that Ian Campbell's result had to be counted. In the third attempt, the Australian athlete landed between the Olympic (17.39 m) and world (17.89 m) records. However, this jump was not counted: the judges considered that Campbell had violated the rules before the flight phase.
At the end of the competition in 1980, the Australian delegation filed a protest, which was not satisfied. As a result, the potential record holder remained only fifth with a result of 16.72 m, while the gold went to the representative of the USSR Jaak Uudmäe (17.35 m). In 2015, AA presented evidence that Campbell did not break the rules, and his result was 17.51 m with an error of four centimeters. At the same time, the best indicator in the career of an Australian athlete was 17.09 m.
The famous photojournalist Yuri Rost, in turn, believed that the triple jump competition was won by the three-time Olympic champion Viktor Saneev, and the result of Uudmäe was allegedly pulled by the judges.
“I filmed this competition. And on my camera you can see that Saneev in the final attempt jumped the farthest - 17 meters 24 centimeters. But even earlier, our judges pulled the champion result for the young Estonian Uudmäe - 17.35, ”Rost said in an interview with Sport-Express in 2014.
Two champions in artistic gymnastics
Many questions to refereeing arose in the women's artistic gymnastics tournament. Shortly before the start of the Olympics, the absolute world champion Elena Mukhina received a severe spinal injury - she was forever confined to a wheelchair. Therefore, the three-time champion of Montreal-1976 Nadia Comaneci from Romania was considered the main favorite.
In the personal all-around, however, she shared the second place with Maxi Gnauk from the GDR, leaving the Soviet athlete Elena Davydova ahead. Before the final type of the program - floor exercises - Comaneci had only one gold medal, won on a balance beam. Such a result was considered a clear failure for the conqueror of the previous Games.
According to one of the versions, the score of the Romanian was specially raised on the free judges to support the delegation of a friendly country. At first, the Soviet gymnast Nelly Kim received the highest points, performing brilliantly. Then there was a lively discussion at the judges' table. After recounting, both athletes got the same final result - 19.875 each. The fans greeted this decision with a deafening whistle. As can be seen from the video, both Comaneci and Kim were also extremely unhappy with the verdict.
As a result, two participants at once rose to the highest step of the podium. No one was awarded a silver medal, and Gnauk and another representative of the USSR, Natalya Shaposhnikova, shared the third place.
“At first I was in first place with a margin of one or two tenths. Then Romania filed a protest - and Nadia was raised to mine. I believe that the friendship of peoples played a role: let's not swear, it is better to share the gold, so as not to offend the country of the social bloc. Consideration of the protest took about five minutes, everything was decided quickly, ”Kim said in an interview with Sports.ru.
It is worth noting that for both Comaneci and Kim, this Olympic gold was the last in their careers.