They were held in the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium at Luzhniki (south-western part of Moscow) between July 24 and August 1.

Polish gold medallist pole vaulter Władysław Kozakiewicz showed an obscene bras d'honneur gesture in all four directions to the jeering Soviet public, causing an international scandal and almost losing his medal as a result.

[1][2][3][4][5] The Soviet Union's Jaak Uudmäe and Viktor Saneyev won the first two places in the triple jump, ahead of Brazil's world record holder João Carlos de Oliveira.

Campbell insisted he hadn't scraped, and it was alleged the officials intentionally threw out his and de Oliveira's best jumps to favor the Soviets, similarly to a number of other events.

Similar allegations were made about a favorable call aiding Tatyana Kolpakova in the women's long jump.