XXII Summer Olympic Games in Moscow 19.7.1980

Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department commemorated the XXII Olympics by issuing a set of two stamps. The 100 paise stamp depicts the athletic event of high jump. The 280 paise stamp shows the equesterian event of show jumping. The design of 280 paise stamp is based on the photograph by courtesy of Director, Remount and Veterinary Services, Army Headquarters.

The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympia, was an international multi-sport event held in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present day Russia. The 1980 Games were the first to be staged in Eastern Europe.

Led by the United States at the insistence of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, 65 countries boycotted the games because of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, though some athletes from some of the boycotting countries participated in the games, under the Olympic Flag. This prompted the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics.

80 nations were represented at the Moscow Games - the smallest number since 1956. Six nations made their first Olympic appearance in 1980: Angola, Botswana, Jordan, Laos, Mozambique, and Seychelles. Cyprus made its debut at the Summer Olympics, but had appeared earlier at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Sri Lanka competed for the first time under its new name (previously as Ceylon), Benin had competed previously as Dahomey and Zimbabwe competed for the first time under that name (previously as Rhodesia).

Although approximately half of the 24 countries that boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics (in protest at apartheid in South Africa) participated in these games, the 1980 Summer Olympics were disrupted by another, even larger, boycott led by the United States in protest at the 1979 Soviet war in Afghanistan. The Soviet invasion spurred Jimmy Carter to issue an ultimatum on January 20, 1980 that the US would boycott the Moscow Olympics if Soviet troops did not withdraw from Afghanistan within one month.

65 countries and regions invited did not take part in the 1980 Olympics. Many of these followed the United States' boycott initiative, while others cited economic reasons for not coming. Many of the boycotting nations participated instead in the Liberty Bell Classic (also known as the "Olympic Boycott Games") in Philadelphia. However, the nations that did compete had won 71% of all medals, and also 71% of the gold medals, at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. As a form of protest against the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, fifteen countries marched in the Opening Ceremony with the Olympic Flag instead of their national flags, and the Olympic Flag and Olympic Hymn were used at medal ceremonies when athletes from these countries won medals. Competitors from three countries – New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain – competed under the flag of their respective National Olympic Committees. Some of the teams that marched under flags other than their national flags were depleted by boycotts by individual athletes, while some athletes did not participate in the march. The impact of the boycott was mixed. Some events, such as field hockey and equestrian sports, were hard hit. Others such as boxing, judo, rowing, swimming, track and field and weightlifting had more participants than in 1976.