| Event: | Women's 400 metre individual medley |
| Games: | 1980 Summer |
| Venue: | Swimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex |
| Date: | 26 July |
| Competitors: | 16 |
| Nations: | 11 |
| Win Value: | 4:36.29 |
| Gold: | Petra Schneider |
| Goldnoc: | GDR |
| Silver: | Sharron Davies |
| Silvernoc: | GBR |
| Bronze: | Agnieszka Czopek |
| Bronzenoc: | POL |
| Prev: | 1976 |
| Next: | 1984 |
The women's 400 metre individual medley event at the 1980 Summer Olympics was held on 26 July at the Swimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex.[1]
The eventual gold medal winner, Petra Schneider, later admitted that her performance was aided by the use of steroids as part of the East German state-run doping programme.[2]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following records were established during the competition:
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 4:46.53 | Q | ||
| 2 | 3 | 4:49.04 | Q | ||
| 3 | 3 | 4:51.59 | Q | ||
| 4 | 2 | 4:51.97 | Q | ||
| 5 | 2 | 4:52.01 | Q | ||
| 6 | 1 | 4:52.38 | Q | ||
| 7 | 1 | 4:55.99 | Q | ||
| 8 | 2 | 4:56.26 | Q | ||
| 9 | 2 | 4:56.92 | |||
| 10 | 3 | 4:57.13 | |||
| 11 | 3 | 5:01.58 | |||
| 12 | 1 | 5:03.75 | |||
| 13 | 1 | 5:04.56 | |||
| 14 | 3 | 5:07.74 | |||
| 15 | 3 | 5:21.82 | |||
| 16 | 1 | 5:27.19 | |||
| 1 | DNS | ||||
| 2 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 2 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4:36.29 | |||||
| 4:46.83 | |||||
| 4:48.17 | |||||
| 4 | 4:48.54 | ||||
| 5 | 4:49.18 | ||||
| 6 | 4:49.25 | ||||
| 7 | 4:50.91 | ||||
| 8 | 4:53.30 |