Rowing at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by 14 events. It took place in the Man-made Basin, located at the Trade Unions Olympic Sports Centre (Krylatskoye district, Moscow). The rowing schedule began on 20 July and ended on 27 July.

Due to the American-led boycott some strong rowing nations were not present. In that situation East Germany dominated the competition: they won 14 medals, including 11 golds, from 14 events.

Pos	Country:	Gold:	Silver:	Bronze:	Total:
1	GDR	11	1	2	14
2	USSR	1	9	2	12
3	Romania	1	0	2	3
4	Finland	1	0	0	1
5	Bulgaria	0	1	3	4
6	Great Britain	0	1	2	3
7	Poland	0	1	1	2
	Yugoslavia	0	1	1	2
9	Czechoslovakia	0	0	1	1

Note:country names are given in the form they were used in the official documents of the IOC in 1980.