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Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics

Dates 23 – 31 July 1976
Medal Events 37

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.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
100 metres, Men Olympic 23 – 24 July 1976 63 40
200 metres, Men Olympic 25 – 26 July 1976 45 33
400 metres, Men Olympic 26 – 29 July 1976 44 29
800 metres, Men Olympic 23 – 25 July 1976 42 31
1,500 metres, Men Olympic 29 – 31 July 1976 42 28
5,000 metres, Men Olympic 28 – 30 July 1976 36 23
10,000 metres, Men Olympic 23 – 26 July 1976 41 26
Marathon, Men Olympic 31 July 1976 67 36
110 metres Hurdles, Men Olympic 26 – 28 July 1976 24 17
400 metres Hurdles, Men Olympic 23 – 25 July 1976 22 16
3,000 metres Steeplechase, Men Olympic 25 – 28 July 1976 24 16
4 x 100 metres Relay, Men Olympic 30 – 31 July 1976 80 20
4 x 400 metres Relay, Men Olympic 30 – 31 July 1976 64 16
20 kilometres Race Walk, Men Olympic 23 July 1976 38 21
High Jump, Men Olympic 30 – 31 July 1976 37 23
Pole Vault, Men Olympic 24 – 26 July 1976 27 13
Long Jump, Men Olympic 28 – 29 July 1976 33 25
Triple Jump, Men Olympic 29 – 30 July 1976 25 18
Shot Put, Men Olympic 23 – 24 July 1976 23 17
Discus Throw, Men Olympic 24 – 25 July 1976 30 20
Hammer Throw, Men Olympic 26 – 28 July 1976 20 13
Javelin Throw, Men Olympic 25 – 26 July 1976 23 15
Decathlon, Men Olympic 29 – 30 July 1976 28 15
100 metres, Women Olympic 24 – 25 July 1976 39 22
200 metres, Women Olympic 26 – 28 July 1976 36 21
400 metres, Women Olympic 25 – 29 July 1976 38 19
800 metres, Women Olympic 23 – 26 July 1976 35 20
1,500 metres, Women Olympic 28 – 30 July 1976 36 19
100 metres Hurdles, Women Olympic 28 – 29 July 1976 23 15
4 x 100 metres Relay, Women Olympic 30 – 31 July 1976 40 10
4 x 400 metres Relay, Women Olympic 30 – 31 July 1976 44 11
High Jump, Women Olympic 26 – 28 July 1976 35 23
Long Jump, Women Olympic 23 July 1976 30 19
Shot Put, Women Olympic 31 July 1976 13 8
Discus Throw, Women Olympic 28 – 29 July 1976 15 9
Javelin Throw, Women Olympic 23 – 24 July 1976 15 10
Pentathlon, Women Olympic 25 – 26 July 1976 20 13
1006 (703/303) 79 (72/49)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres, Men Hasely CrawfordTTO Don QuarrieJAM Valery BorzovURS
200 metres, Men Don QuarrieJAM Millard HamptonUSA Dwayne EvansUSA
400 metres, Men Alberto JuantorenaCUB Fred NewhouseUSA Herman FrazierUSA
800 metres, Men Alberto JuantorenaCUB Ivo Van DammeBEL Rick WohlhuterUSA
1,500 metres, Men John WalkerNZL Ivo Van DammeBEL Paul-Heinz WellmannFRG
5,000 metres, Men Lasse VirénFIN Dick QuaxNZL Klaus-Peter HildenbrandFRG
10,000 metres, Men Lasse VirénFIN Carlos LopesPOR Brendan FosterGBR
Marathon, Men Waldemar CierpinskiGDR Frank ShorterUSA Karel LismontBEL
110 metres Hurdles, Men Guy DrutFRA Alejandro CasañasCUB Willie DavenportUSA
400 metres Hurdles, Men Edwin MosesUSA Mike ShineUSA Yevgeny GavrilenkoURS
3,000 metres Steeplechase, Men Anders GärderudSWE Bronisław MalinowskiPOL Frank BaumgartlGDR
4 × 100 metres Relay, Men United StatesUSA East GermanyGDR Soviet UnionURS
4 × 400 metres Relay, Men United StatesUSA PolandPOL West GermanyFRG
20 kilometres Race Walk, Men Daniel BautistaMEX Hans-Georg ReimannGDR Peter FrenkelGDR
High Jump, Men Jacek WszołaPOL Greg JoyCAN Dwight StonesUSA
Pole Vault, Men Tadeusz ŚlusarskiPOL Antti KalliomäkiFIN Dave RobertsUSA
Long Jump, Men Arnie RobinsonUSA Randy WilliamsUSA Frank WartenbergGDR
Triple Jump, Men Viktor SaneyevURS James ButtsUSA João do PuloBRA
Shot Put, Men Udo BeyerGDR Yevgeny MironovURS Aleksandr BaryshnikovURS
Discus Throw, Men Mac WilkinsUSA Wolfgang SchmidtGDR John PowellUSA
Hammer Throw, Men Yury SedykhURS Aleksey SpiridonovURS Anatoly BondarchukURS
Javelin Throw, Men Miklós NémethHUN Hannu SiitonenFIN Gheorghe MegeleaROU
Decathlon, Men Bruce JennerUSA Guido KratschmerFRG Nikolay AvilovURS
100 metres, Women Annegret RichterFRG Renate StecherGDR Inge HeltenFRG
200 metres, Women Bärbel EckertGDR Annegret RichterFRG Renate StecherGDR
400 metres, Women Irena SzewińskaPOL Christina BrehmerGDR Ellen StreidtGDR
800 metres, Women Tatyana KazankinaURS Nikolina ShterevaBUL Elfi ZinnGDR
1,500 metres, Women Tatyana KazankinaURS Gunhild HoffmeisterGDR Ulrike KlapezynskiGDR
100 metres Hurdles, Women Johanna SchallerGDR Tatyana AnisimovaURS Nataliya LebedevaURS
4 × 100 metres Relay, Women East GermanyGDR West GermanyFRG Soviet UnionURS
4 × 400 metres Relay, Women East GermanyGDR United StatesUSA Soviet UnionURS
High Jump, Women Rosie AckermannGDR Sara SimeoniITA Yordanka BlagoevaBUL
Long Jump, Women Angela VoigtGDR Kathy McMillanUSA Lidiya AlfeyevaURS
Shot Put, Women Ivanka HristovaBUL Nadezhda ChizhovaURS Helena FibingerováTCH
Discus Throw, Women Evelin SchlaakGDR Mariya VergovaBUL Gabriele HinzmannGDR
Javelin Throw, Women Ruth FuchsGDR Marion BeckerFRG Kate SchmidtUSA
Pentathlon, Women Siegrun SieglGDR Christine LaserGDR Burglinde PollakGDR

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
East Germany GDR 11 7 9 27
United States USA 6 8 8 22
Soviet Union URS 4 4 10 18
Poland POL 3 2 0 5
Finland FIN 2 2 0 4
Cuba CUB 2 1 0 3
West Germany FRG 1 4 4 9
Bulgaria BUL 1 2 1 4
Jamaica JAM 1 1 0 2
New Zealand NZL 1 1 0 2
France FRA 1 0 0 1
Hungary HUN 1 0 0 1
Mexico MEX 1 0 0 1
Sweden SWE 1 0 0 1
Trinidad and Tobago TTO 1 0 0 1
Belgium BEL 0 2 1 3
Canada CAN 0 1 0 1
Italy ITA 0 1 0 1
Portugal POR 0 1 0 1
Brazil BRA 0 0 1 1
Czechoslovakia TCH 0 0 1 1
Great Britain GBR 0 0 1 1
Romania ROU 0 0 1 1