Athletics at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games

The 1976 Olympics were hampered by a boycott by African nations, in response to the New Zealand rugby team having recent toured South Africa. Though it was argued that rugby was not an Olympic sport, it failed to satisfy African sports leaders. The biggest loss in the competition from the boycott came in the 1,500 metres where Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi was co-favorite with New Zealander John Walker. But their great battle never materialized and Walker won the gold medal relatively easily. In the 400 hurdles, the defending champion was Uganda’s John Akii-Bua who was in top form. His competition was to come from an American newcomer, Edwin Moses, who won the gold medal and would eventually become the greatest ever at that discipline. But sadly these two great athletes never met on the track. Three athletes won doubles in 1976: Cuba’s Alberto Juantorena became the first ever to win the 400/800 (save 1906); Lasse Virén again won the 5,000/10,000 distance races; and the Soviets Tatyana Kazankina won the 800 and 1,500 metres for women. There were numerous world records set on the Montréal track – Moses in the 400H, Anders Gärderud (SWE) in the steeplechase, Miklós Németh (HUN) in the javelin, Bruce Jenner (USA) in the decathlon, Annegret Richter (GDR) in the 100, Irena Szewińska (POL) in the 400, and the women’s 4x400 by a GDR team.