Puerto Rico at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Puerto Rico competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. Notably, in partial support of the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics athletes competed under the Olympic Flag.

Despite the American boycott being supported by the administration of pro-statehood governor Carlos Romero Barceló, Germán Rieckehoff led the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee (COPUR) in defiance and declared that Puerto Rico would exercise its Olympic sovereignty and participate.^[1] The government cut funding and widespread discussion of the concept was held, after which delegation of five members (three of them athletes) was sent.^[1] Following internal debate within the COPUR, they paraded under the Olympic flag.^[1]

Flyweight (– 51 kg)

• Alberto Mercado
  1. First round — bye
  2. Second round — lost to  Roman Gilberto (MEX) after referee stopped contest in first round

Featherweight (– 57 kg)

• Luis Pizarro
  1. First round — bye
  2. Second round — defeated  Jean Pierre Mberebe Baban (CMR) after referee stopped contest in third round
  3. Third round — defeated  Fitzroy Brown (GUY) on points (5-0)
  4. Quarterfinals — lost to  Adolfo Horta (CUB) on points (0-5)

Light-Welterweight (– 63.5 kg)

• José Angel Molina
  1. First round — defeated  Ebrahim Saide (ETH) on points (5-0)
  2. Second round — defeated  Dietmar Schwarz (GDR) after referee stopped contest in third round
  3. Quarterfinals — lost to  Serik Konakbaev (URS) retired

Footnotes

• Official Olympic Reports

Bibliography

• Sotomayor, Antonio (2016). The Sovereign Colony: Olympic Sport, National Identity, and International Politics in Puerto Rico. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803278813.