ABSTRACT
When the IOC awarded the 1980 Summer Games to Moscow, the Soviet government saw it as an opportunity to bolster the city’s underdeveloped tourist industry. Massive resources were devoted to the project in order to demonstrate the progress of the communist state – but in 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and 65 countries announced they would boycott the Games.
Nevertheless the Games went ahead with competitors from 80 nations. Moscow already had a modern central sports complex at Luzhniki, constructed on marshy ground in a bend of the Moskva River, which opened in 1956. The 100,000-spectator capacity stadium at its centre was largely steel framed with external stone block cladding, and required no major upgrades before the 1980 Games.
A synthetic running track was laid, grandstand structures reinforced and an Olympic Flame Bowl installed above the eastern grandstand. Four tall lighting towers were erected outside the stadium, creating a lighting intensity on the infield high enough to ensure high-quality colour TV broadcasting.
Since the Games, the Luzhniki Stadium has undergone two major upgrades: a new roof in 1996 and a total internal transformation beginning in 2013. It is now a dedicated field sports venue, and hosted the 2018 World Cup final.
