1976 Summer Olympics: Games of the XXI Olympiad, in Montréal, Canada

Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games in May 1970, over the bids of Moscow and Los Angeles. Moscow would later host the 1980 Summer Olympics, and Los Angeles would later host the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Games of the XXI Olympiad

Host city	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Nations	92
Athletes	6,084 (4,824 men, 1,260 women)
Events	198 in 21 sports (27 disciplines)
Opening	July 17
Closing	August 1
Opened by	Queen Elizabeth II
Cauldron	Stéphane Préfontaine Sandra Henderson
Stadium	Olympic Stadium
Summer
← Munich 1972 Moscow 1980 →
Winter
← Innsbruck 1976 Lake Placid 1980 →

Twenty-nine countries boycotted the Games due to the refusal of the IOC to ban New Zealand, after the New Zealand national rugby union team had toured South Africa earlier in 1976. The boycott was led by Congolese official Jean-Claude Ganga. Some of the boycotting nations (including Morocco, Cameroon and Egypt) had already participated, however, and withdrew after the first few days. Senegal and Ivory Coast were the only African countries that competed throughout the duration of the Games. Elsewhere, Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, El Salvador, Iraq, Guyana, Sri Lanka and Syria also opted to join the Congolese-led boycott. South Africa had been banned from the Olympics since 1964 due to its apartheid policies. Other countries, such as El Salvador and Zaire, did not participate in Montreal for purely economic reasons. Seychelles did not participate in Montreal beacause their National Olympic Committee was not created and recognized by the IOC. Malta was the only country to boycott both the 1956 and 1976 Games.

 

Republic of China boycott

An unrelated boycott of the Montreal Games was the main issue between the Republic of China (ROC) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). The ROC team withdrew from the games when Canada's Liberal government under Pierre Trudeau told it that the name "Republic of China" was not permissible at the Games because Canada had officially recognized the PRC in 1970. Canada attempted a compromise by allowing the ROC the continued use of its national flag and anthem in the Montreal Olympic activities; the ROC refused. In 1979 the IOC established in the Nagoya Resolution that the PRC agreed to participate in IOC activities if the Republic of China was referred to as "Chinese Taipei". Another boycott would occur before the ROC would accept the provisions of the 1979 Resolution although the reason that so many other countries boycotted were not all the same as the ROC.

• IOC page for the 1976 Summer Olympics