Timeline August 1980

Events in August 1980 7

• 1980 1980 Summer Olympics XXII Olympiad - Moscow Marked by a US-led boycott. Winner: Soviet Union.
• 1980 US-Led Boycott of Moscow Olympics Dozens of nations skip the 1980 Summer Games over Afghanistan The United States led a boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympics, joined by roughly 65 countries, in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. President Carter announced the boycott in early 1980, and many Western allies and allied nations followed suit. The move deepened Cold War divisions and prompted a retaliatory Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
• 1980 – 1981 The Wall live -- the most theatrical rock show ever The Wall is performed live at Earls Court in London (August 1980) and the Nassau Coliseum and Los Angeles Sports Arena (February-March 1980). The show -- featuring a 40-foot wall built across the stage during the performance, animated Gerald Scarfe projections, life-size marionettes and an inflatable teacher -- is the most theatrical rock production ever staged. Each performance costs over $1 million to produce. Only 31 shows are performed due to the logistical complexity. The wall is demolished at the end of each show. The concerts are landmarks in the history of rock spectacle.
• 1980 US Open 1980 Men: John McEnroe · Women: Chris Evert Lloyd
• 1980 Bologna Railway Station Bombing Neo-fascist terrorist attack kills 85 in Italy A bomb hidden in a suitcase exploded in the waiting room of Bologna Centrale railway station on 2 August 1980, killing 85 people and wounding over 200. The attack was later attributed to neo-fascist militants during Italy's "Years of Lead." It remains the deadliest terrorist bombing in Italian history.
• 1980 Gdansk Agreement Signed Poland's communist government recognizes independent trade unions Strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, led by electrician Lech Walesa, forced Poland's communist government to sign an agreement on 31 August 1980 permitting independent trade unions. The accord led to the formation of Solidarity, the first independent labor union in the Soviet bloc. It marked a pivotal step toward the eventual collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe.
• 1980 – 1989 Solidarity Movement Solidarność The first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country, which led to the fall of the Iron Curtain.