The Men's 20 km Race Walk at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR had an entry list of 34 competitors.

The race occurred on a very hot and humid day in the Grand Arena of Central Lenin Stadium.

The defending champion of the Montreal summer games, Daniel Bautista of Mexico, led along with Soviet Anatoly Solomin for the majority of the race.

[1] In what was considered a major upset, Maurizio Damilano of Italy won the gold with a finishing time of 1-23:35.5, over a minute faster than silver medalist Pyotr Pochinchuk of Belarus, competing for the USSR.

Roland Wieser took the bronze for East Germany, the country with the second highest medal total at these Olympics after the USSR.