1976 Summer Olympics

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Games of the XXI Olympiad
Games of the XXI Olympiad
Host city Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Nations participating 92
Athletes participating 6,028 (4,781 men, 1,247 women)
Events 198 in 21 sports
Opening ceremony July 17
Closing ceremony August 1
Officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Canada
Athlete's Oath Pierre St.-Jean
Judge's Oath Maurice Fauget
Olympic Torch Stéphane Préfontaine and
Sandra Henderson
Stadium Olympic Stadium

The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, were celebrated in 1976 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. These are the summer Olympic Games organized by the International Olympic Committee. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games in May 1970 over the bids of Moscow and Los Angeles, which later hosted the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympic Games respectively.

Contents

[edit] Highlights

  • The Games were opened by Queen Elizabeth II (as head of state of Canada) and the several members of the Canadian Royal Family attended the opening ceremonies.
  • Canada, the host country, left with only five silver and six bronze medals. It was the first and only time to date in Olympic history that the host country of the Summer Games won no gold medals. This feat 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 once more for Canada at the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.
  • Republic of China (Taiwan) withdrew after Canada informed them that they could not compete under the name "Republic of China". This was done because Canada officially recognized the People's Republic of China. Canada did try and compromise by saying that the people of the Republic of China could retain their national flag and anthem, but they refused.
  • In protest at a tour of South Africa by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby union team early in the year, Congo's official Jean Claude Ganga led a boycott of 28 African nations as the IOC refused to bar the New Zealand team. Some of the nations (including Morocco, Cameroon and Egypt) had already participated, however, as the teams withdrew only after the first day. From Southern and Central Africa, only Senegal and Ivory Coast took part. Both Iraq and Guyana also opted to join the Congolese-led boycott.
  • Because of the Munich massacre, security at these games was in evidence, as they it been earlier in the year at the Winter games in Innsbruck, Austria, though far lower than the norm for today's Olympic Games.
  • The Olympics were a financial disaster for Montreal, as the city faced debts for 30 years after the Games had finished. The Olympic Stadium, a daring design of French architect Roger Taillibert, remains a lasting monument to the huge deficit and as such is known as the Big Owe; it never had an effective retractable roof, and the tower was completed only after the Olympics. In December 2006 the stadium's costs were finally paid in full.[1] The total expenditure (including repairs, renovations, construction, interest, and inflation) amounted to C$1.61 billion.
  • The Olympic Flame was "electronically" transmitted via satellite from Athens to Ottawa, by means of an electronic pulse derived from the actual burning flame. From Ottawa, it was carried by hand to Montreal. After a rainstorm doused the Olympic flame 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.
  • 14-year-old Nadia Comăneci of Romania scored seven perfect 10s and won three gold medals, including the prestigious All Around. The score board could hold only 3 digits and the score was shown as 1.00. In women's gymnastics three gold medals were also been won by Nellie Kim of USSR. Nikolai Andrianov of USSR won four gold medals, including All Around, in men's gymnastics.
  • Viktor Saneyev (Soviet Union) won his third consecutive triple jump gold medal, while Klaus Dibiasi of Italy did the same in the platform diving event.
  • Alberto Juantorena of Cuba became the first man to win both the 400 m and 800 m at the same Olympics. Finland's Lasse Virén also achieved a double in the 5000 and 10,000 m and finished 5th in the marathon, thereby failing to equal Emil Zátopek's 1952 achievements.
  • Boris Onischenko, 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 wasn't one. Because of this, the USSR modern pentathlon team was disqualified. Onischenko earned the enmity of other Soviet Olympic team members: for example, USSR volleyball team members threatened to throw him out of the hotel's window if they met him.
  • Women's events were introduced in basketball, handball and rowing.
  • Five American boxers - 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.
  • Princess Anne of the United Kingdom was the only female competitor not to have to submit to a sex test. She was a member of her country's equestrian team.
  • Japanese gymnast Shun Fujimoto 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."
  • The East German women's swim team won all but two gold medals, though it was later learned most of these women had been subject to testosterone injections by their own coaches and superiors. (See Doping (sport)).
  • Luann Ryan won the women's Archery gold for the USA; Ryan had never before competed at international level.

[edit] Venues

The Olympic Village as it appears today.
The Olympic Village as it appears today.

[edit] Montreal Olympic Park

[edit] Venues in Greater Montreal

[edit] Venues outside Montreal

[edit] Medals awarded

Velodrome (foreground) and Olympic Stadium (its tower completed after the Games), Montreal
Velodrome (foreground) and Olympic Stadium (its tower completed after the Games), Montreal

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

[edit] Medal count

Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Soviet Union Soviet Union 49 41 35 125
2 East Germany East Germany 40 25 25 90
3 United States United States 34 35 25 94
4 West Germany West Germany 10 12 17 39
5 Japan Japan 9 6 10 25
6 Poland Poland 7 6 13 26
7 Bulgaria Bulgaria 6 9 7 22
8 Cuba Cuba 6 4 3 13
9 Romania Romania 4 9 14 27
10 Hungary Hungary 4 5 13 22
Further information: 1976 Summer Olympics medal count

[edit] Participating nations

Participating nations
Participating nations

Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of athletes from each nation that competed at the Games.

^ WD: Athletes from Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia competed on July 18-20 before these nations withdrew from the Games.

[edit] Boycotting countries

The following 28 countries boycotted the Games.[2] The boycott was due to the participation of New Zealand: New Zealand's national rugby union team (the All Blacks) continued to play rugby with South Africa.[3] (South Africa had been banned from the Olympics since 1964 due to its apartheid policies).

Boycotting countries shown in yellow, green and orange
Boycotting countries shown in yellow, green and orange

Zaire did not compete, but claimed financial causes rather than political. Both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China boycotted the games over issues concerning the legitimacy of each other. In November 1976, the International Olympic Committee recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole legal representative.

[edit] See also

[edit] Olympics with significant boycotts

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Quebec's Big Owe stadium debt is over
  2. ^ Africa and the XXIst Olympiad. Olympic Review. IOC (1976). Retrieved on 3 April, 2006.
  3. ^ BBC ON THIS DAY | 17 | 1976: African countries boycott Olympics

[edit] External links

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