The men's marathon at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR had an entry list of 76 competitors, with 74 athletes from 40 nations starting and 53 runners finishing the race held on Friday 1 August 1980.

The event was won by Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany, the second man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the marathon (after Abebe Bikila in 1960 and 1964).

Both the Netherlands (Gerard Nijboer's silver) and the Soviet Union (Satymkul Dzhumanazarov's bronze) won their first men's Olympic marathon medals.

[2] Algeria, the Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and Zimbabwe each made their first appearance in Olympic men's marathons.

The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a "very flat" out-and-back route along the Moskva river.