The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad and officially branded as Montreal 1976, were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam on May 12, 1970, over the bids of Moscow and Los Angeles. It was the first and, so far, only Summer Olympic Games to be held in Canada. Toronto hosted the 1976 Summer Paralympics the same year as the Montreal Olympics, which still remains the only Summer Paralympics to be held in Canada. Calgary and Vancouver later hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1988 and 2010, respectively.
The World Athletics Championships are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics. Alongside the Olympic Games, they represent the highest level championships of senior international outdoor athletics competition for track and field athletics globally, including marathon running and race walking. Separate World Championships are held by World Athletics for certain other outdoor events, including cross-country running and half-marathon, as well as indoor and age-group championships.
At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, 37 events were contested in athletics. There were a total number of 1005 participating athletes from 80 countries.
Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully assess that this is maintained throughout the race. Typically held on either roads or running tracks, common distances range from 3,000 metres (1.9 mi) up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi).
Sweden competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 116 competitors, 99 men and 17 women, took part in 90 events in 16 sports.
Japan competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 213 competitors, 153 men and 60 women, took part in 119 events in 20 sports.
Athletes from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 88 competitors, 83 men and 5 women, took part in 52 events in 14 sports.
Volodymyr Stepanovych Holubnychy was a Soviet and Ukrainian race walker, who competed for the Soviet Union. He dominated the 20 kilometre race walk in the 1960s and 1970s, winning four Olympic medals from 1960 to 1972 and finishing seventh in 1976. He became Olympic champion in 1960 and 1968. He is regarded as one of the greatest race walkers of all time and competed at the Olympics on five occasions in 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976.
Colombia competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 35 competitors, 32 men and 3 women, took part in 30 events in 7 sports.
Mexico competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 97 competitors, 92 men and 5 women, took part in 54 events in 17 sports.
Turkey sent a team to compete at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 27 competitors, 26 men and 1 woman, took part in 27 events in 8 sports. However, Turkey did not win any medals at this edition of Olympics.
João Paulo Garcia Vieira is a Portuguese racewalker.
Luxembourg competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Eight competitors, all men, took part in seven events in four sports.
Honduras competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The nation returned to the Olympic Games after missing the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Andreas Erm is a former German race walker.
The men's individual road race at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was held on 26 July 1976. There were 134 cyclists from 40 nations starting the race. The maximum number of cyclists per nation was four. Fifty-eight cyclists finished the race. The event was won by Bernt Johansson of Sweden, the nation's first victory in the men's individual road race. Giuseppe Martinelli put Italy back on the podium with his silver; the nation had won gold or silver every Games from 1956 to 1968 but did not medal in 1972. Mieczysław Nowicki's bronze was Poland's first medal in the event.
The Men's 20 km Race Walk at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR had an entry list of 34 competitors. Seven athletes were disqualified and two did not finish in the final, which was held on Thursday, 24 July 1980.
Ronald ("Ron") Owen Laird was a race walker from the United States, who competed for the New York Athletic Club. He represented his native country at four Olympiads. His best finish was 19th place in the men's 50 km walk at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. He won the 20 km event at the 1967 Pan American Games, and finished 25th in that event in the Mexico City 1968 Summer Olympics and 20th in the Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics, but was disqualified in the 1964 Summer Olympics event in Tokyo.
Race walking events at the Summer Olympics have been contested over a variety of distances at the multi-sport event. There were three race walking events in the 2020 Summer Olympics: a men's and a women's 20 kilometres walk, and a men's 50 kilometres walk. The races were held in a final-only format.
The men's team time trial event was part of the road cycling programme at the 1976 Summer Olympics. The venue for this event was the Mont-Royal Park, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
