The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad and commonly known 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.
Préfontaine and Henderson lighting the Olympic Flame
East German athletes Waldemar Cierpinski, Hans-Georg Reimann and Karl-Heinz Stadtmüller at the Olympic Village
The Olympic Village in January 2008.
Velodrome (foreground) and Olympic Stadium (its tower completed after the Games), Montreal
Montreal is the second most populous city in Canada, the tenth most populous city in North America, and the most populous city in the province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill around which the early city of Ville-Marie was built. The city is centred on the Island of Montreal, which obtained its name from the same origin as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard. The city is 196 km (122 mi) east of the national capital, Ottawa, and 258 km (160 mi) southwest of the provincial capital, Quebec City.
Montreal
Jacques Cartier at Hochelaga. Arriving in 1535, Cartier was the first European to visit the area.
French authorities surrender the city of Montreal to the British after the Articles of Capitulation was signed in 1760.
View of Lachine Canal in 1826, a year after it opened. It bypassed the rapids west of the city, linking Montreal with other continental markets.