When Michelle Ford stood on the starting block of lane three for the Olympic 800 metres freestyle final on July 26 1980, she had East Germans to her left and right, in lanes one, four and five. A quick look at the results from the first five days of competition - and at the past two Olympic Games - showed what the Australian teenager was up against.

United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee chief executive Sarah Hirshland has sent a message of support to the American athletes who missed out on competing at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a result of the boycott instigated by US President Jimmy Carter.

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has confirmed it will invite International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Sebastian Coe to its 40th anniversary celebrations of the Moscow Olympics next year.

The test events for Tokyo 2020 are set to begin next month under the banner of "Ready, Steady, Tokyo" and feature some 56 competitions.

In just over a month, Krasnoyarsk will stage the first Winter Universiade on Russian soil, but 46 years ago Moscow welcomed the students of the world to a summer Games for the first time. No University Games have enjoyed a bigger spotlight than those held in the Russian capital in 1973. This was because Moscow was also a candidate for the 1980 Olympics.

British fencer Steven Paul competed at three Olympic Games - Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984 and Barcelona 1992 - without winning a medal. He found more success after he retired when he trained Pierce Brosnan for his fencing scenes in the James Bond film Die Another Day and served as the actor's double for the more technical shots in the movie released in 2002. The film earned $432 million worldwide, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of the year. 

One way or another, Russian sport is set to dominate the headlines over the next few months.

Polish pole vaulter Władysław Kozakiewicz gestured angrily at spectators following his winning leap to secure the Olympic gold medal at Moscow 1980 after they had booed, hissed, jeered, and whistled him during the competition, where his closest rival was the Soviet Union's Konstantin Volkov. Pictures of the incident circled the globe, with the exception of the Soviet Union and its satellites, although the event was broadcast live on TV in many countries there. Kozakiewicz's act received much support in Poland, which was in the midst of labour strikes that led to the creation of the labor union Solidarity less than two months later. After the Games, the Soviet ambassador in Warsaw demanded that Kozakiewicz be stripped of his medal over his "insult to the Soviet people". The official response of the Polish Government was that Kozakiewicz's arm gesture had been an involuntary muscle spasm caused by his exertion. To this day in Poland the obscene insult is called "Kozakiewicz's gesture".

Ethiopian middle-distance runner Miruts Yifter, a double Olympic champion at the 1980 Games in Moscow, has died in Toronto at the age of 72.

Long before Sebastian, Lord Coe, hit the giddy heights of presiding over London 2012 and then taking over as grand pooh-bah of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from Lamine Diack, he was a middle distance runner. A very good one too, particularly his 1,500 metres run at the Los Angeles Olympics.

There is much talk at present in the sports world and elsewhere of the threat of a new cold war.

A decision to allow male boxers to compete without headguards at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 36 years has been hailed as "great achievement" by International Boxing Association President C K Wu.

Athletics Australia has called for an investigation into the triple jump final at the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games, claiming it has scientific evidence that Australian athlete Ian Campbell was incorrectly denied a gold medal-winning jump.

The National Olympic Committee of Mongolia have created a mini tree park in commemoration of the late freestyle wrestler Dugarsürengiin Oyuunbold.