Athletics at the 1980 Moskva Summer Games:

In 1978 Henry Rono (KEN) had a superb summer in which he broke world records for the steeplechase, 5K,10K, and 3,000 metres, and won the Commonwealth Games steeplechase gold medal. He would have been heavily favored but was injured in the Olympic year. The silver medalist from 1976, Poland’s Bronisław Malinowski, was back and had won the 1974 and 1978 European Championships and was likely the favorite. But he had been beaten in July by Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi who had moved up to this event from the 1,500/mile. Bayi, a noted front runner, took the lead from the start and was on world record pace thru two kilometres. He had a 30-metre lead on Malinowski by then, but the Pole slowly closed the gap, coming to five metres back at the bell. Malinowski took the lead over the water jump on the final lap and won quite easily, Bayi hanging on for the silver medal. This was the last time the steeplechase was not won by a Kenyan, thru at least 2004.