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1976 Summer Olympics

The 1976 Summer Olympics (French: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1976), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad (French: Jeux de la XXIe Olympiade) and commonly known as Montreal 1976 (French: Montréal 1976), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam on May 12, 1970, over the bids of Moscow and Los Angeles. It was the first and, so far, only Summer Olympic Games to be held in Canada. Toronto hosted the 1976 Summer Paralympics the same year as the Montreal Olympics, which still remains the only Summer Paralympics to be held in Canada. Calgary and Vancouver later hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1988 and 2010, respectively.

"Games of the XXI Olympiad" redirects here. For the album by Black Cab, see Games of the XXI Olympiad (album).

Host city

Montreal, Canada

Long Life to the Montréal Games
(French): Longue vie aux Jeux de Montréal

92

6,073 (4,813 men, 1,260 women)

198 in 21 sports (27 disciplines)

July 17, 1976

August 1, 1976

Twenty-nine countries, mostly African, boycotted the Montreal Games when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to ban New Zealand, after the New Zealand national rugby union team had toured South Africa earlier in 1976 in defiance of the United Nations' calls for a sporting embargo due to their racist apartheid policies. The Soviet Union won the most gold and overall medals.

Cost and cost overrun[edit]

The Oxford Olympics Study estimates the outturn cost of the Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics at US$6.1 billion in 2015 dollars and cost overrun at 720% in real terms.[11] This includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast centre, and media and press centre, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are not included, such as those for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost overrun for Montreal 1976 is the highest cost overrun on record for any Olympics. The cost and cost overrun for Montreal 1976 compares with costs of US$4.6 billion and a cost overrun of 51% for Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and $15 billion and 76% for London in 2012. The average cost for the Summer Games from 1960 to 2016 was $5.2 billion in 2015 dollars, and the average cost overrun was 176%.


Much of the cost overruns were caused by the Conseil des métiers de la construction union, whose leader was André "Dede" Desjardins.[12] French architect Roger Taillibert, who designed the Olympic stadium, recounted in his 2000 book Notre Cher Stade Olympique that he and Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau tried hard to buy off Desjardins, even taking him to a lunch at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton hotel in a vain attempt to end the "delays".[12] Ultimately Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa made some sort of secret deal to buy off Desjardins, which finally allowed work to proceed.[12] Taillibert wrote in Notre Cher Stade Olympique "If the Olympic Games took place, it was thanks to Dede Desjardins. What irony!"[12]

These Olympics were the first of two summer games to be organized under the IOC presidency of .

Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin

was a member of the Japanese shooting team. 32 years later, he would be elected as the Prime Minister of Japan.

Taro Aso

The Games were opened by , as head of state of Canada, and several members of the Royal Family attended the opening ceremonies. This was particularly significant, as these were the first Olympic games hosted on Canadian soil. The Queen's daughter, Princess Anne, also competed in the games as part of the British riding team. Additionally, the Queen's husband, Prince Philip, was President of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) at the time.

Elizabeth II

After a rainstorm doused the a few days after the games had opened, an official relit the flame using his cigarette lighter. Organizers quickly doused it again and relit it using a backup of the original flame.

Olympic Flame

The Israeli team walked into the stadium at the opening ceremony wearing black ribbons in commemoration of the 1972 .[17]

Munich massacre

Women's events were introduced in basketball, , and rowing.[18]

handball

Canada, the host country, finished with five silver and six bronze medals. This was the first time that the host country of the Summer Games had not won any . This had occurred previously only in the Winter Games – 1924 in Chamonix, France, and 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. This later occurred at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and again at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

gold medals

Because of the , security at these games was visible, as it had been earlier in the year at the Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

Munich massacre

At age 14, gymnast of Romania became the first person to score a perfect 10 at the Olympics, recording seven 10.00 scores and winning three gold medals, including the all-around. The scoreboard could hold only 3 digits and the score was shown as 1.00.

Nadia Comăneci

of Cuba became the first man to win both the 400 m and 800 m at the same Olympics.

Alberto Juantorena

Finland's repeated his 1972 double win in the 5,000 and 10,000 m runs, the first runner to successfully defend a 5,000 m win (since equalled by Great Britain's Mo Farah in 2016). Virén finished 5th in the marathon, thereby failing to equal Emil Zátopek's 1952 achievements.

Lasse Virén

won Trinidad and Tobago's first Olympic gold medal by finishing first in the 100 meter dash.

Hasely Crawford

of the Soviet Union won his third consecutive triple jump gold medal, while Klaus Dibiasi of Italy did the same in the platform diving event.

Viktor Saneyev

a member of the Soviet Union's modern pentathlon team, was disqualified after it was discovered that he had rigged his épée to register a hit when there was not one. Because of this, the Soviet modern pentathlon team was disqualified. Due to his disqualification, he earned the nickname "Boris DISonish-chenko". Many suggested that he was a victim of the Soviet "win it all" mentality.[19]

Boris Onishchenko

Five American – Sugar Ray Leonard, Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, Leo Randolph and Howard Davis Jr. won gold medals in boxing. This has been often called the greatest Olympic boxing team the United States ever had, and, out of the five American gold medalists in boxing, all but Davis went on to become professional world champions.

boxers

of Great Britain was the only female competitor not to have to submit to a sex test.[20] She was a member of her country's equestrian team.

Princess Anne

Japanese gymnast performed on a broken right knee, and helped the Japanese team win the gold medal for the team championship. Fujimoto broke his leg on the floor exercise, and due to the closeness in the overall standings with the USSR, he hid the extent of the injury. With a broken knee, Fujimoto was able to complete his event on the rings, performing a perfect triple somersault dismount, maintaining perfect posture. He scored a 9.7 thus securing gold for Japan. Years later, when asked if he would do it again, he stated bluntly "No, I would not."[21]

Shun Fujimoto

The U.S. men's swimming team won all but one gold medal. won four gold medals and a silver medal.

John Naber

The East German women's swimming team won all but two gold medals. won four gold medals and a silver medal.

Kornelia Ender

In winning the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle, became the first person to break the 50 second mark in the event, taking first place in the final in a time of 49.99.

Jim Montgomery

For the first time ever, a woman won an Olympic medal in shooting: American caught the silver in the three positions event. Lanny Bassham (another American) and Murdock tied for the first place, but Murdock was placed second after review of the targets. Bassham suggested that two gold medals be given, and after this request was declined, asked Murdock to share the top step with him at the award ceremony. At that time, all the shooting sport events were mixed. Murdock became the first woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting.[22]

Margaret Murdock

won the women's Archery gold for the United States; Ryon had never before competed at the international level.

Luann Ryon

[a] won the gold medal for decathlon, setting a world record of 8,634 points.

Bruce Jenner

won the silver medal for the 10m Platform event in Men's Diving at 16 years old.[23]

Greg Louganis

the Canadian race walker, became the oldest track and field athlete to compete at the Olympic Games. He was aged 50, and taking part in his fifth Olympics.

Alex Oakley

The beat Australia to win gold, becoming the first non-Asian/European team to win the gold medal in hockey. It is also the first Olympic games in which hockey was played on artificial turf.

New Zealand men's national field hockey team

The Polish men's volleyball team came back from being down 2 sets against the USSR to win the gold medal.

Twenty-year-old student Edwin Moses sets a new world record in the 400m hurdles, less than a year after taking up the event. He is also America's only male individual track gold medalist.

Morehouse College

of West Germany won a gold medal in the team foil event in fencing. He would later become IOC President.

Thomas Bach

Heavyweight boxer won a bronze medal for Bermuda. His accomplishment makes Bermuda the smallest nation in terms of population to win an Olympic medal at the Summer Olympics.[24]

Clarence Hill

surpassed all expectations for a middle-sized nation by finishing with the second most gold medals in total. The East German women's swimming team won all but two gold medals. Swimmer Kornelia Ender won four gold medals and a silver medal. However, the GDR's achievements were later fundamentally undermined by the exposure of a serious and systematic scheme of doping by the East German sporting authorities.[25] It was later revealed that after injecting athletes with performance-boosting drugs at the Montreal Olympics, East German officials dumped the leftover serum and syringes in the Saint Lawrence River.[26]

East Germany

– opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, football (final), equestrian (jumping team final)

Olympic Stadium

– diving, modern pentathlon (swimming), swimming, water polo (final)

Olympic Pool

– cycling (track), judo

Olympic Velodrome

– athletics (20 km walk), modern pentathlon (running)

Montreal Botanical Garden

– boxing, wrestling (freestyle finals)

Maurice Richard Arena

– wrestling

Centre Pierre Charbonneau

– athletes' residence

Olympic Village

Doping[edit]

East Germany encouraged and covered up a culture of doping across many sports for decades, and GDR doping was present at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.[32] Doping of West German athletes, too, was prevalent at the Games.[33]

Television coverage[edit]

ABC Sports paid US$25-million for television broadcast rights in the United States, and produced 76.5 hours of coverage.[34]


CBC Sports budgeted less than CAD$2-million and produced 169 hours of coverage, compared to 14 hours of programming at the 1972 Summer Olympics. The network expanded its coverage when convinced there would be increased media interest from Canadians. When the network was criticized for spending taxpayer dollars, executive producer Bob Moir toured the country to explain the project and boasted that, "the biggest team in Montreal will be the CBC team... It will be bigger than the Canadian Olympic team".[34] CBC Sports had 245 people on its crew, and aired from 9 am until 11 pm daily, taking breaks only for newscasts. Ted Reynolds and Lloyd Robertson co-hosted coverage of the opening ceremonies. In 1976, CBC Sports began its practice of talking live with athletes immediately after events, and built a studio for the interviews.[34] CBC broadcasters were given information kits on the athletes, prepared by Jack Sullivan, the former sports editor of The Canadian Press.[35]

Controversies[edit]

Illegal presence of Quebec flag at closing ceremony[edit]

On 16 March 2023, the Canadian satirical show Infoman revealed an unprecedented controversy from the 1976 Montreal Olympics. During the closing ceremony, an 8-foot-wide by 16-foot-long Quebec flag (bigger than the another national flags) mysteriously appeared on the technical ring between two Olympic flags, only to disappear immediately after.


The flag was found a year after its mysterious appearance under the stands of the Olympic Stadium, in a plastic bag, by the boss of a former employee of the organizing committee of the Games. He offered to keep the flag and she accepted. Thirty years later, she entrusted the flag to her brother-in-law, a history professor and stage manager during the Games, with the intention of giving it to Quebec independence.


According to the stage manager, the flag appeared before or during the equestrian competitions that took place on the same day as the closing ceremony. He suspects that a member of the organizing committee of the Games may be responsible for its appearance.


When the controversy was revealed by Infoman, Cédric Essiminy, a public relations advisor for the Parc Olympique, stated that no one knew that this event had taken place. He claimed that installing a flag of this size would have required a team of several people.


The Quebec flag was provocative for two reasons: it is illegal to fly a flag that does not represent a country at the Olympic Games, and it was larger than the Olympic flags.


Finally, Jean-René Dufort raised the flag again to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Quebec flag in the Olympic Stadium.


To date, the identity of the individuals responsible for this event remains unknown.[36]

1976 Summer Paralympics

1976 Winter Paralympics

1976 Winter Olympics

1976 Summer Olympics

1976 Summer Olympics

List of IOC country codes

Use of performance-enhancing drugs in the Olympic Games — 1976 Montreal

Corridart

Paul Charles Howell. The Montreal Olympics: An Insider's View of Organizing a Self-Financing Games (2009)

National Film Board of Canada, (118 minute film), Jacques Bobet, producer (may not be available outside Canada).

Games of the XXI Olympiad

Proulx, Daniel; Mollitt, J. James (1969). Chantigny, Louis (ed.). The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XXI Olympiad (PDF). , Ontario, Canada: Organizing Committee of the Games of the XXI Olympiad.

Ottawa

. Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.

"Montreal 1976"

1976: African countries boycott Olympics

Official site by senior members of the Montreal Games Organizing Committee

. Montreal Gazette. July 12, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.

"NFB gives viewers a look into the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal"

Video Clips