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Look back at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, 50 years later

Fifty years later, take a look at some of the highlights from the 1976 Olympic Games held in Montreal.

Published: May 04, 2026 at 11:11AM EDT

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1976 Montreal Olympics Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau with a model of the proposed Olympic Stadium, explains in the Quebec City national assembly in January, 1975 how despite soaring costs the Montreal 1976 games will be self-financing. Drapeau, the autocratic mayor with the common touch who ruled Montreal for 29 years and whose crowning achievement was Expo 67, died Thursday, August 12, 1999 at 83. (CP PHOTO)

1976 Montreal Olympics FILE - In this July 18, 1976, file photo, Nadia Comaneci, of Romania, dismounts from the uneven parallel bars during a perfect "10" performance at the Summer Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. Bela and Martha Karolyi, famous for training Comaneci, the first woman gymnast to win a perfect score, went on to help USA Gymnastics to win 41 Olympic medals, including 13 gold over three decades. Former U.S. gymnasts and coaches interviewed by The Associated Press have described a culture rife with verbal and emotional abuse. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File)

1976 Montreal Olympics FILE - This July 30, 1976 file photo shows athlete Bruce Jenner reacting after securing gold in the Olympic Decathlon in Montreal, Canada. With speculation flying, Bruce Jenner's mother opened up Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015, about his gender journey. Esther Jenner, 88, has been besieged by calls from the media in recent days, but the widow in Lewiston, Idaho, isn't interested in fueling gossip. Instead, in a wide-ranging, nearly hour-long phone interview, she praised her Olympian son for his courage, stopping short of some details that have been floated by unnamed sources online and in tabloids. (AP Photo, File)

Leonard Szczerba FILE - In this July 29, 1976, file phot, Sugar Ray Leonard of Palmer Park, Md., right, throws a right at Kazmier Szczerba of Poland during the light welterweight boxing match at the XXI Summer Olympic Games in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Once dominant, U.S. boxers have won a grand total of one bronze medal in the last two Olympics and were embarrassed by being shut out in London. Unfortunately, things look just as bleak for the Americans next month in Rio. (AP Photo/File)

1976 Montreal Olympics FILE - In this July 30, 1976 file photo, U.S. athlete Bruce Jenner, of San Jose, Calif., third left, stands on the podium after receiving the gold medal in the men's decathlon at the XXI Olympic held in Montreal, Canada. Guido Kratschmer, of West German, second left, took home the silver and Mykola Avilov, of the Soviet Union, right, took home the bronze. With speculation flying, Bruce Jenner's mother opened up Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015, about his gender journey. Esther Jenner, 88, has been besieged by calls from the media in recent days, but the widow in Lewiston, Idaho, isn't interested in fueling gossip. Instead, in a wide-ranging, nearly hour-long phone interview, she praised her Olympian son for his courage, stopping short of some details that have been floated by unnamed sources online and in tabloids. (AP Photo, File)

Edwin Moses FILE - In this June 21, 1980, file photo, Edwin Moses, gold medal winner in 1976 in Montreal, wins in the 400 intermediate hurdles as the 1980 Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore. Moses, the man who once won a remarkable 107 finals in a row from 1977-87 and who lowered the world record to 47.02 seconds during his prime, says he has been enjoying watching hurdlers break new barriers over the past two years. (AP Photo/File)

1976 Montreal Olympics FILE - In this July 26, 1976 file photo, U.S. athlete Bruce Jenner leaps in the air during the long jump event in the decathlon at the Summer Olympic games in Montreal, Canada. Jenner later won the gold medal. With speculation flying, Bruce Jenner's mother opened up Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015, about his gender journey. Esther Jenner, 88, has been besieged by calls from the media in recent days, but the widow in Lewiston, Idaho, isn't interested in fueling gossip. Instead, in a wide-ranging, nearly hour-long phone interview, she praised her Olympian son for his courage, stopping short of some details that have been floated by unnamed sources online and in tabloids. (AP Photo, File)

1976 Montreal Olympics FILE - In this July 26, 1976, file photo, the United States women's relay team, from top left, Wendy Boglioli, Kim Peyton, and Jill Sterkel celebrate after Shirley Babashoff, bottome left, finished the final leg of the 4x100 meter freestyle relay event to win gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. Babashoff has a bunch of silver medals. They should be gold. The International Olympic Committee should have fixed this travesty years ago but inexplicably continues to drag its feet. (AP Photo/File)

Kornelia Ender, Shirley Babashoff FILE - In this July 19, 1976, file photo, East German swimmer Kornelia Ender, right, who was awarded the Olympic gold medal for the 200 meter freestyle event, stands on the podium, as her main opponent, silver medalist Shirley Babashoff of the U.S. acknowledges the crowd during the medal ceremony in Montreal, Canada. Babashoff has a bunch of silver medals. They should be gold. The International Olympic Committee should have fixed this travesty years ago but inexplicably continues to drag its feet. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File)

1976 Montreal Olympics FILE - In this July 20, 1976, file photo, flagless poles stand in the Olympic Village in Montreal. Dozens of countries, mainly from Africa, boycotted the 1976 Montreal Games to protest New Zealand's sporting ties to the South African apartheid regime. This year's Tokyo Games will be an Olympics like no other. But that isn't such a rarity for an event that has persevered through wars, boycotts and even a pandemic in its 125-year modern history. (AP Photo/File)

1976 Montreal Olympics Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau seems a little more enthusiastic about things than Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa as they tour Olympic Stadium in Montreal Sunday after the Olympic facilities were officially turned over to the Olympic organizating committee to prepare for games next month. Drapeau, the autocratic mayor with the common touch who ruled Montreal for 29 years and whose crowning achievement was Expo 67, died Thursday, August 12, 1999 at 83. (CP PHOTO/Chris Haney)

1976 Montreal Olympics FILE - In this 1976, file photo, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci stands before a scoreboard in Montreal, Canada. The Perfect 10 made the Romanian superstar more than a champion. It made her a legend. Yet four decades after her barrier-shattering uneven bars routine in Montreal, the one that ended with Comaneci and coach Bela Karolyi initially staring at the scoreboard in confusion when it read 1.00 because it wasn‚Äôt outfitted to put up the first 10.0 in Olympic history, Comaneci wonders where the recognition of flawlessness has gone. (AP Photo/File)