History
Fast Facts
Host City: Montreal, CanadaOpening date: July 17, 1976
Closing date: Aug. 1, 1976
Nations: 92
Athletes: 6,028 athletes (1,247 women, 4,781 men)
198 events in 21 sports
The Montreal Games ran into serious problems before they even began. The original budget of $310 million (American) grew to nearly $1 billion because of bad management, poor planning, and just plain corruption, plunging the city of Montreal, the province of Quebec, and the nation of Canada into heavy debt to pay the tab.
Meanwhile, Tanzania exhorted African nations to boycott the Olympics if New Zealand was allowed to compete. The rationale was that New Zealand's national rugby team had toured South Africa, which was still following its apartheid policy. Even though rugby isn't an Olympic sport, 23 nations took part in the boycott.
A few weeks before the games were to begin, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announced that athletes from Taiwan wouldn't be allowed to compete under the name of the Republic of China. Trudeau held firm against protests from the International Olympic Committee, and Taiwanese athletes stayed home.
Once the opening ceremony began,though, everything went smoothly. It was a very quiet Olympics for the United States, which won only 84 medals, finishing third behind the Soviet Union and East Germany. The men's swimming team was dominant, winning 12 of 13 events and capturing both gold and silver in 11 of the individual events. John Naber was the top performer, winning four gold medals.
As in 1972, the media star was a young female gymnast, 14-year-old Nadia Comaneci of Romania, who supplanted Olga Korbut. Comaneci was actually a much better gymnast than Korbut. She became a focus of attention when her performance on the uneven bars during the team competition won her the first perfect score of 10.0 in Olympic history. She went on to win six more perfect scores, along with five individual medals, including three golds.
The biggest track and field star was Alberto Juantorena of Cuba, the first runner to score a double in the 400- and 800-meter runs. Two athletes won gold in their events for the third straight time: Klaus Dibiasi of Italy in platform diving and Viktor Saneyev of the Soviet Union in the triple jump.
East Germany's strong showing, led by its women's swimming team, was the surprise of the 1976 Olympics. In 1972, East German women didn't win a single gold medal in swimming. In 1976, they won 11 of the 13 events. Many suspected that this sudden emergence owed at least as much to steroids as to skill and training. Sadly, they were to be proven right more than 20 years later, after Germany was reunified and former East German coaches and doctors went on trial for giving steroids to young athletes, usually without their knowledge.
No new sports were added to the 1976 Olympic program, but women competed in basketball, rowing, and team handball for the first time.
