The championship in 25 sports was played by 6189 athletes from 88 countries. For the first time tournaments were included in the program of the Olympic Games women's teams in basketball and handball. And it's nice that the list Olympic champions sportswomen opened Soviet Union.

Soviet athletes performed successfully in most sports and won an undeniable victory in all respects. Our delegation had 792.5 points and 125 medals - 49 gold, 41 silver, 35 bronze. The Soviet Olympians won in Montreal, despite many unfavorable factors - a significant time difference, unusual climatic conditions, and a difficult political situation.

Athletes of the GDR also performed well in competitions in athletics, rowing, bullet and trap shooting, football. As a result, the delegation of the GDR took the overall 2nd place, with 638 points and 90 medals (40 gold, 25 silver and 25 bronze). 3rd place - for US athletes - 603.75 points, 94 medals (34 gold).

A total of 198 gold medals were played. Athletes from the socialist countries won 121.

A significant contribution to the victory of Soviet sports was made by 48 Leningraders who were part of the sports delegation of the USSR. They won 34 medals: in individual competitions - 2 gold, 6 silver, 2 bronze; in team - 7 gold, 10 silver, 7 bronze. In the team standings, they received 98.9 points - 12.48 percent of the total points of the entire USSR delegation.

41 Leningraders entered the top six and brought the team points. Our compatriots did not have such a high performance at the previous Games.

Athletes were the most successful: they received 9 medals and 43 points.

One of the main heroines of athletics competitions was Tatiana Kazankina from Leningrad. When the national team was being assembled for a trip to Montreal, Tatyana was being prepared to compete at a distance of 1500 meters. It was on it that about a month before the Games she set a phenomenal world record - 3 minutes 56 seconds, becoming the first woman in the world to run a one and a half kilometer distance faster than 4 minutes. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. And suddenly - a surprise! Two weeks before the Olympic starts on test competitions in Paris, Tatyana ran 800 meters with the second result in the history of the world athletics- 1 minute 56.6 seconds! It was then that the question arose: to run in Montreal only 1500 meters or 800 too? The championship in the 800-meter races was played in the first days, and the "one and a half" - at the end of the competition. So Kazankina would first have to run 800 meters for three days in a row, then after one day of rest, again for three days in a row go to a one and a half kilometer distance. Is she strong enough?

There were many doubts. The last word was left to the athlete and her coach Nikolai Yegorovich Malyshev. And they took the risk!

With anxiety and hope, the entire Soviet delegation followed each start of the Leningrad race. In the heats and semi-finals, she had to run so hard to secure a place to advance to the next stage of the tournament and at the same time save her strength for the final.

Participants of the 800 meters race start. Tatyana wins her race with an overall fourth result. In the semi-finals, the speed is much higher. The first semi-final brought success to the athlete from the GDR A. Weiss-Barkusski - 1 minute 56.53 seconds. Tatyana is the second, losing about a second to the winner. And here are the eight best athletes in the final. At first, the Soviet runner S. Styrkina led the race. Then the Bulgarian N. Shtereva sprinted. The first athletes from the GDR E. Zinn and A. Weiss ran to the finish line, and just at that time Kazankina began to increase her speed. She overtook her rivals and crossed the finish line first. Stopwatches fixed a new world record - 1 minute 54.94 seconds.

Rest day and run again. Now at her "crown" distance - 1500 meters. Tatyana believed: here she would not yield to anyone. Pre run. She showed a relatively low time, but quite enough to reach the semi-finals. Having tactically correctly built a run, Kazankina also won the second semi-final.

A truly example of tactical wisdom and skill can serve as an athlete's run in the final. Having ceded the leadership to her rivals for a large part of the distance, Tatyana vigilantly followed the lead group. And when less than 100 meters were left to the finish line, she began a stormy finish, which only she was capable of. So she won the second gold award.

Two Leningraders represented our team in the shot put - Alexander Baryshnikov and Evgeny Mironov. For Baryshnikov, this was the second Olympics. Four years ago, Alexander's performance was unsuccessful. The athlete, under the guidance of the Honored Trainer of the USSR V.I. Alekseev, mastered the original and unusual way of the circular swing in the shot put. But excessive smooth surface the circle for pushing did not give the athlete the necessary support during rotation, which prevented him from showing a good, by Olympic standards, result. Baryshnikov came to Montreal as one of the main favorites: two weeks before the Olympics, at competitions in Paris, he sent a 22-meter shot, setting a world record. Yevgeny Mironov was included in the team just before the departure.

The qualification standard - 19 meters 40 centimeters - was completed by 11 athletes. Baryshnikov sent the shot 21 meters 32 centimeters on the first attempt, improving the Olympic record. And here is the final competition. After the first attempt, Baryshnikov was in the lead - 20 meters 53 centimeters. On the second - the American E. Feuerbach came forward, exceeding the result of the Leningrader by 2 centimeters. In the third attempt, with a clean and jerk of exactly 21 meters, Baryshnikov again took the lead. The fifth attempt brought the athlete from the GDR U. Bayer to the 1st place, who pushed the projectile 21 meters 5 centimeters. Following him, Mironov also overcame this grandmaster's trait - 21 meters 3 centimeters. The last attempt did not make any changes to the location of the leaders. Evgeny Mironov became a silver medalist, Alexander Baryshnikov - bronze.

Our compatriot Tatyana Anisimova left the Olympic stadium with a dual feeling: on the one hand, the great joy of the silver medalist of the Olympic Games; on the other hand, she was offended: after all, she lost only 0.01 (!) seconds ... Tatyana confidently won the preliminary race for 100 meters with hurdles, showing a good result of 12.98 seconds. Then 1st place in the semi-finals. In the final race everything was decided by hundredths of a second. The athlete from the GDR I. Schaller won - 12.77 seconds, Anisimova - 12.78 seconds, Muscovite N. Lebedeva, who took 3rd place - 12.80 seconds.

Triumphal success was achieved by Soviet athletes in the hammer throw: they occupied the entire podium! Already after the first throw in the final, three representatives of the USSR national team took the lead. The champion was the Ukrainian athlete Yuriy Sedykh, who set an Olympic record - 77 meters 52 centimeters, the silver medalist - Alexei Spiridonov from Leningrad. He also surpassed the former Olympic record by sending a projectile 76 meters 8 centimeters. The champion of the previous Games and the coach of the champion-76 from Kiev Anatoly Bondarchuk rose to the third step of the podium.

Shot putter Nadezhda Chizhova came to Montreal for her third Olympics. Having healed another injury, she, together with her coach V.I. Alekseev, was as collected and careful as possible during training and competitions. And yet, at the most acute and crucial moment in the struggle for Olympic medals not protected from injury. First attempt - 20 meters 84 centimeters. The second push turned out to be even better: the core fell 12 centimeters further than the first result. Her closest rival, Bulgarian I. Hristova, lost 8 centimeters to her. But after the third severe injury, our disco wrestler Faina Melnik took Nadya out of the circle in her arms. And the competition continued. And in the fifth attempt, Hristova showed a result 20 centimeters better than that of Chizhova. A new Olympic record was registered - 21 meters 16 centimeters. Hristova became the champion of the Games. And Chizhova, in addition to the previously won gold award in Munich and bronze - in Mexico City, added a silver one from Montreal.

Twenty men's teams contested the championship in relay race 4X100 meters. Our team took 3rd place in the race and the semi-finals. The eight strongest teams met in the final. The fate of the medals was decided in the last meters. The US runners won - 38.33 seconds, the GDR athletes finished second - 38.66 seconds, the USSR team lost 0.12 seconds to them. Bronze medals were received by Leningraders Alexander Aksinin and Nikolai Kolesnikov.

The Olympic debut of basketball players took place. The six strongest teams in the world were allowed to fight for the medals. Our basketball players played five matches at the XXI Games and achieved success in all of them. In a meeting with the national team of Czechoslovakia, the advantage Soviet athletes determined by 13 points. In all other meetings the gap was from 20 to 60 points.

a significant contribution to this brilliant victory brought in by the main point guard, the captain of the Leningrad team, Nadezhda Zakharova. A talented athlete added to her numerous high titles - champions of the world, Europe, the USSR - the most honorary title of Olympic champion.

But Soviet fans expected more from the men's basketball team. After the preliminary tournament, where the basketball players won all five matches, everyone hoped that they would claim the gold. However, in the semi-final game, our basketball players lost to the team of Yugoslavia - 84: 89 - and could only claim bronze medals. In the final match, they defeated Canadian athletes by a margin of 28 points - 100:72 - and took 3rd place.

Three Leningraders performed as part of the USSR national team: V. Arzamaskov and A. Makeev. And the gold medals were given to the US basketball players who defeated the team of Yugoslavia in the decisive match - 95:74.

In Montreal, another debut of Soviet athletes took place. For the first time in Olympic program competitions in rowing included races for women. The greatest success was achieved by the team of the GDR. Our team took the overall 2nd place. Among those who won Olympic medals, there were 2 Leningrad women who were part of the coxswain four: Galina Ermolaeva - the owner of many high sports titles- and a very young Anna Kondrashina, who had been swimming for more than 10 years. The two-time Olympic champion Yury Tyukalov supervised her training in rowing. This four, having confidently won the preliminary race, reached the final, where they lost only to the GDR team, receiving silver medals.

In the men's competitions from the Soviet crews, the four with the helmsman, the backbone of which were Leningraders, performed better than others. In the preliminary race, the four participated in the following composition: Vladimir Yeshinov, Nikolai Ivanov, Alexander Klepikov and Alexander Sema with a Muscovite Alexander Lukyanov at the helmsman. The crew took the 2nd place necessary for reaching the semi-finals. But already in the semi-finals, having overcome the two-kilometer distance in excellent style, they showed best time day.

The six strongest crews met in the final. Unfortunately, due to the illness of Alexander Sema, Muscovite Mikhail Kuznetsov took his place. Of course, it was more difficult for the athletes, but, leading from start to finish, our boat won a beautiful victory. By decision of the leaders of the Olympic regatta, gold medals were awarded to all five rowers participating in the competition.
came to Montreal for his fifth Olympics. This, by unanimous opinion, was the most experienced and skillful among all the helmsmen. In Montreal, he "led" his deuce with a coxswain to silver medals. This "medal was the last award of an athlete who completed more than twenty years of performances in international rowing regattas.

In the other four - without a coxswain - two more Leningrad rowers performed: Valery Dolinin and Anushavan Gasan-Jalalov, whose partners were Estonian Raul Arnemann and Muscovite Nikolai Kuznetsov. In the final race, our four lost to the boats of the GDR and Norway and became the owner of bronze medals.

From the very first performance of Soviet athletes at the Olympic Games, Leningrad kayakers achieved success as part of our team. In Montreal, this pleasant tradition was adequately supported by Galina Kreft, who, together with the Novgorod athlete Nina Gopova, performed in a double kayak. In the final race, the main competitors of our athletes were the crew from the GDR, the winner of three recent championships peace. Kreft and Golova took the lead from the start and held it until the very finish.

In the swimmers' competition, the US team excelled. The second sum of points was scored by the athletes of the GDR. Soviet swimmers performed better than in Munich. Soviet swimmers were especially distinguished in breaststroke swimming. At the 100-meter distance, they took 2nd and 3rd places, and in swimming at 200 meters, the entire podium remained with the representatives of the USSR. A significant contribution was made to the victory by 5 Leningraders. Andrey Krylov performed at four distances. In the 100m freestyle swimming, he made it to the finals, but he could not rise above 8th place, and took an honorable 4th place in the 200m.

Our other crawler - Vladimir Salnikov competed at distances of 400 and 1500 meters. On the first of them, he lacked 2 seconds to reach the final, on the second, the athlete managed to improve his personal record by 20 seconds in the preliminary swim and become one of the finalists. Here, the young Leningrader raised the ceiling of his record by another 10 seconds, bringing it to 15 minutes 29.45 seconds. This result brought him 5th place and was registered as a European record.

Excellent fighting qualities were demonstrated by Andrey Smirnov, who competed in integrated swimming at 400 meters. In the final, he managed to win thirteen hundredths of a second against the Hungarian A. Hargitai, champion and world and European record holder, but ... two American swimmers finished ahead of him. As a result - 3rd place and a bronze medal (4 minutes 26.90 seconds - new record countries).

In the 4x100 meter medley relay, where Andrei Krylov competed in our team at the last stage, the Soviet swimmers took 5th place. The performance of our athletes in the 4X200-meter freestyle relay was much more successful. In the second preliminary heat, the quartet set a new Olympic record - 7 minutes 33.21 seconds. True, this record did not last long - it was beaten by US swimmers. And in the final, both of these teams improved their results markedly: US swimmers finished in 7 minutes 23.22 seconds - a new world record; our guys set a European record - 7 minutes 27.97 seconds. Andrey Krylov and Andrey Bogdanov from Leningrad, V. Raskatov from Zaporozhye, Sergey Koplyakov from Minsk...

Silver award in freestyle wrestling competitions (first average weight) was received by Viktor Novozhilov from Leningrad. After four confident victories, he had to meet with a very strong American wrestler D. Peterson, who managed to achieve a clear victory. For conquest Olympic award It was imperative for Victor to win the last fight of the world and European champion A. Zeger. (Germany). And our fellow countryman did an excellent job with this difficult task ...

Soviet fencers performed with great success in Montreal. Having won 3 gold medals and 47 points, they became the winners in the team championship.

Eduard Vinokurov from Leningrad was a member of the saber team. The first rivals of the Soviet team were athletes from France and Bulgaria. In both matches, our musketeers confidently won. In the quarterfinals, they defeated the US fencers - 9:1. The most stubborn match was in the semi-finals with the Romanians. When all sixteen fights ended, the scoreboard showed an equal score - 8:8. Our athletes scored one more blow and reached the final, where they were to meet with the Italian team. Soviet fencers held it with great enthusiasm and won with a score of 9:4. Vinokurov added his second highest award to the previously won gold and silver medals.

Leningrader Vladimir Osokin joined the Soviet cycling team. He finished 4th in the 4km track pursuit and won the silver medal in the team pursuit.

The volleyball players also performed well. To the men's team volleyball team included 3 Leningraders - Vyacheslav Zaitsev, Alexander Ermilov and Vladimir Dorokhov. In the final, volleyball players from the Soviet Union and Poland received the right to fight for the Olympic "gold". The fight lasted 2 hours and 26 minutes. The first batch was Soviet volleyball players- 15:11, the second was won by the Poles - 15:13. The third again brought our team forward - 15:12. In the fourth game, which could be the last, the Soviet athletes led with a score of 14:13, then - 15:14, but in the end they still lost to their opponent - 17:19. In the fifth, decisive game, our team faltered. As a result, the defeat - 7: 15. The USSR volleyball players received only silver awards.

The huge hall "Forum" was placed at the disposal of the gymnasts. Of particular interest were the performances of Soviet athletes. The filigree skill of Nikolai Andrianov, who became the absolute champion, stormily welcomed the audience. The young Leningrad gymnast Alexander Dityatin, 18, also played in the national team. absolute champion VI Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. In Montreal, he worked exactly on all shells. Only in the all-around he was not lucky: 4th place. Before the 3rd, he lacked only 0.05 (!) points. In the team competition, the Leningrader won the silver medal. And Dityatin got the right to play in two finals, where the championship was played certain types exercises. And although he took only 6th place on the horse, he achieved success in the exercises on the rings - he won his second silver medal, losing the gold to Andrianov.

In August, Rio de Janeiro will open XXXI summer Olympic Games. With the help of photographs, we will remember how the last Olympics were held. The first in line was Montreal-76.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the XXI Summer Olympic Games in Montreal. In 1976, Canada, the capital of the province of Quebec, the city of Montreal, hosted the Olympics for the first time. In general, it was not the most festive Olympics - the reason for this was the boycott of the Games by African countries, unprecedented security measures and a flurry of criticism due to the excessive high cost of the Montreal Games. But in sports plan The Olympics took place on the highest level, a number of high results and world records were shown, and the stars and heroes would be enough for several Games.

The Montreal Olympic Games were held from July 17 to August 1, 1976. They were attended 6073 athlete (including 1260 women) from 90 countries.

African boycott. African countries demanded to be removed from the Games New Zealand. The reason for this was that shortly before the Olympics, New Zealand rugby players played friendly matches with rugby players from South Africa (South Africa at that time was in international isolation due to their apartheid policy). The IOC refused to remove the New Zealanders and, in response, 30 African countries unanimously boycotted the Olympics. And they did it already while in Montreal, and some even managed to take part in the first day of the competition. This was the first large-scale boycott of the Olympic Games. It will be repeated at the next two Olympics.

debts. The huge cash costs of hosting (about $5 billion, making the Games the most expensive until Beijing 2008) left the city and province heavily indebted for 30 years, and many of the planned facilities were not completed on time or overpriced. several times.

Emblem of the Montreal Olympics

Beaver became the mascot of the Games Amik

Amik surrounded by female volunteers

At these Games, Soviet athletes performed enchantingly, confidently winning the unofficial team standings. They won 49 gold, 41 silver and 35 bronze medals. The second unexpectedly became the athletes of the GDR, for the first time ahead of the Americans, who became third. The top ten included seven countries representing the socialist bloc. The hosts of the Games, Canadians, did not win a single gold medal. This happened for the first time in history Summer Olympics(after 12 years on winter games in Calgary, Canadians will also be left without gold).

Built in downtown Montreal Olympic Park - a complex of structures that included the main arena of the Games - Olympic Stadium for 70,000 spectators, velodrome, swimming pool and the Maurice Richard Arena.

This is how the park looked during construction:

And this is how it became during the Games:

A tower crane is visible in the background of the stadium. The fact is that by the beginning of the Games they did not have time to build a tower, which was completed after the end of the Olympics.

This is what the Olympic Park looks like today. And the completed tower of the Olympic Stadium became the tallest inclined structure in the world.

Just a few tens of meters from Olympic Park The Olympic Village was built

On July 17, 1976, at the Olympic Stadium, in the presence of 73,000 spectators, the solemn Opening Ceremony of the XXI Summer Olympic Games took place. Canadians granted the right to open the Games to the Queen of Great Britain Elizabeth II, which is the head of Canada. Her daughter, princess anna, performed at these Games for the UK equestrian team.

Elizabeth II appears at the stadium accompanied by the prince's husband Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and IOC President Lord Killanin

General view of the stadium during the opening ceremony:

Americans at the opening ceremony. The flag is carried by a swimmer Gary Hall Sr.. (After 20 years his son Gary Hall Jr. will also take part in the Olympic Games and become a five-time Olympic champion)

And this is the delegation of the Island of Freedom, led by the champion of Munich-72 boxer Teofilo Stevenson, on the way to the Olympic Stadium

On after the stadium comes the national team of the Soviet Union. The flag is carried by the great weightlifter Vasily Alekseev for whom these Games will be triumphant.

Queen of Great Britain Elizabeth II declares the Olympic Games open.

The Olympic flame was lit by 15-year-old schoolchildren Stephane Prefontaine and Sandra Henderson, which symbolized the linguistic unity of Canada. For the first time in history, the Fire of the Games was lit by two people:

The opening ceremony of the Montreal Olympics was the last to focus on the official and protocol part. Starting from next Games in Moscow, the discoveries became theatrical, more built on historical and artistic performance.

In 1976, this photograph flew around the world. 14 year old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comanechi became the main star of the Montreal Olympics, making a splash on the gymnastic platform. She won 3 gold medals (in the individual all-around, beam and crossbar) and became the first gymnast in history to receive the highest mark - 10 points (she will receive seven such marks in Montreal). Later, the Montreal Games will be called the "Olympics of Nadia Comanechi"

Nadia Comanechi against the background of its historical assessment. The electronic scoreboard was not adapted for such a case, so it displayed 1.00

A Soviet gymnast shone among the men Nikolay Andrianov. He won the most awards at these Games - seven. Four gold, two silver and one bronze

Soviet gymnast won three gold medals Nelly Kim, who became another heroine of those Games

This is the Olympic Stadium and the "Queen of Sports". 100m final. An unexpected victory Haysley Crawford from Trinidad and Tobago (far right). Valery Borzov became the third

Winners in the hundred-meter race on the podium. Haisley Crawford- gold, Don Quarry(Jamaica) - silver, Valery Borzov- bronze. They say that in the morning on the day of the final Borzov an unknown person called and said that he would be destroyed by a sniper if he entered the track. Nevertheless, Borzov came out and won the bronze medal.

High jump gold19 year old winsPole Jacek Wszola

Unidentified 20 year old American Edwin Moses wins the 400m hurdles with a world record. Moses would later become great, from 1976 to 1987 he would not lose a single race, winning 107 in a row.

So the athletes trained in the Olympic Village

Triple jumpin Montrealwins Viktor Saneev. An outstanding athlete won for the third time in a row Olympic gold(after Mexico City-68 and Munich-72).

Basketball match between the women's teams of the United States and Czechoslovakia. In Montreal-76, women's basketball debuted at the Games for the first time

Another hero of the Montreal OlympicsCuban Alberto Juantorena receives gold medal running 800 meters. He also won the 400m. No one has previously managed to win the 400 and 800 meters at the same Olympics. Nobody has succeeded so far.

Alberto Juantorena wins the 800m world record

This is an East German swimmer Cornelia Ender. Games Star. In Montreal, she won 4 golds (100m and 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 4x100 medley relay), all with world records and one silver. Swimmers from the GDR completely dominated the waterways, winning 10 gold medals out of 12. After 15 years, everyone found out that they did it with the help of doping. In the 70s, a large-scale state doping program began to operate in the GDR, which had no equal in sports history.

Pedestal for 100 meters crawl. From left to right: Petra Example(GDR) - silver, Cornelia Ender(GDR) - gold, Enith Brigid(Holland) - bronze

Again Athletics. 1500 meters gold wins Ian Walker from New Zealand

Balance beam exercise performs Olga Korbut(the Montreal Olympics was not successful for Olga - one gold in the team all-around became weakfor herconsolation. Montreal has a new queen.

Fencers of Germany with gold medals of the Games-76 for victory in the team foil. In the center sits the future President of the IOC Thomas Bach

American world record holder jumps high Dwight Stones. He was the top favorite but ended up third

Soviet weightlifter Alexander Voronin became the Olympic champion in the lightest weight class. Left - György Köszegi from Hungary (silver), on the right - Iranian Mohammad Nassiri(bronze)

British cyclists in the 4000m team pursuit. They will win bronze medals.

US swimmers John Naber, John Henken, Matt Vogel and Jim Montgomery- Champions in the 4x100m medley relay. American male swimmers enchanted in the Montreal basin, winning 12 out of 13 distances

To be continued

XXI Summer Olympic Games were held in the city of Montreal (Canada) from July 17 to August 1, 1976.

City selection

In addition to Montreal, Moscow and Los Angeles competed for the 1976 Games.

Where exactly the games will take place was decided by the International Olympic Committee, whose meeting was held on May 12, 1970 in Amsterdam. Moscow and Los Angeles were considered favorites. Even the Mayor of Montreal Jean Drapeau acknowledged that Montreal had little chance against Moscow. Indeed, in the first round, Moscow was in the lead with 28 votes to 25 for Montreal and 17 for Los Angeles, but this did not give the required majority. The USSR was so confident of victory that it prematurely released a TASS statement two hours before the announcement of the final decision. However, it was soon withdrawn. Los Angeles did not participate in the second round, and almost all members of the Olympic Committee who voted for it cast their votes for Montreal, which received 41 votes against the same 28 from Moscow, one vote was not taken into account.

After the announcement of the results, the statement of the Soviet side, circulated through TASS, said that the choice of Montreal was contrary to logic and common sense, that this was a blow to the Olympic movement and its ideas, and that the members of the committee were guided by personal political likes and dislikes, and not by the principles of expansion and strengthening Olympic Movement. The mayor of Los Angeles said that they were victims of the Cold War, that the committee obviously did not want to take one side or another between the US and the USSR and chose the simplest way to solve the problem.

Thus, the choice of the Canadian city was made for fear of backlash as a result of divisions between the superpowers. These fears were confirmed during subsequent Olympics - and were boycotted, respectively. Western countries and the states of the socialist camp.

Preparing for the Games

Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau initially declared that it would be "a modest Games, at which simplicity and dignity will reign in the tradition of the greatness of man." This was said taking into account the experience (and losses) of the past. However, dignity, traditions and grandeur soon had to be forgotten. The fever started. Expenses for "simple" structures exceeded the estimates many times over: they planned 310 million dollars, but in the end they spent almost two billion. Construction went on difficult conditions. There were severe frosts, fraud flourished, contractors blackmailed the organizing committee. The mistakes of the builders led to the tragic death of thirteen workers, to many accidents. Every now and then there were strikes.

As a result, the Montreal Olympics up to the 2008 was the most expensive in history - it cost $ 5 billion (equivalent to $ 20 billion in 2006). The city paid off its Olympic debts until 2006.

Symbolism

The Organizing Committee of the Games has released two main series of posters. The first series illustrated eight themes, including "Montreal and Antiquity", "Olympia and the Torchbearer", "Kingston - 1976", etc.

The emblem of the International Olympic Committee was recognized as the main poster, which depicts five rings in the form of successive waves, symbolizing the invitation to participate in the Games of athletes from all continents. The second series of posters is devoted to sports topics.

Mascot

Beaver Amik became the mascot of the XXI Summer Olympic Games. Canadian beaver - national symbol Canada. He played an important role in the history of the country. For a long time beaver fur was one of the most important trades in North America. Canadian lumberjacks are also called beavers. In addition, the beaver is considered a symbol of hard work. He has the qualities that distinguish a real athlete: patience, willpower, perseverance. The name Amik also means "beaver" in the language of the indigenous people of Canada.

As the main attribute, the talisman had a bright red belt with the image of the Olympic emblem, similar to the ribbon on which the medal is awarded.

It is known that Amik was the name of the leader of the beavers in the epic poem Henry Longfellow"Song of Hiawatha".

The opening ceremony

The Olympics were opened as the head of Canada, while all The Royal Family attended the opening ceremony.

Queen Elizabeth II at the Montreal Olympics

The opening of the Games was accompanied by a demonstration of the technical innovations of the time. The lighting ceremony turned out to be especially unusual and spectacular. Olympic flame. A fire lit at a stadium in Montreal was transformed into radio waves and transported by space satellite to Ottawa, Canada, where another device turned the waves back into fire. From the capital of Canada, the fire was solemnly carried to Montreal and Kingston, where sailing competitions were held.

Canadian athletes Stephen Prefontaine and Sandra Henderson light the flame of the XXI Summer Olympic Games

The standard-bearer of the USSR national team during the traditional parade of the participating countries was the wrestler Nikolay Baloboshin. Before the Olympics in Montreal, the then sports director of the USSR, Sergei Pavlov, nominated Balboshin and insisted on his point of view to the end. And here was the thing. On the eve of the 1976 Games, the World Cup in Greco-Roman wrestling. Balboshin and Bulgarian met in the final battle Kamen Lozanov. During the fight, our athlete's thigh muscle came off. Despite the hellish pain, he continued the fight literally on one leg. Not surprisingly, the opponent eventually won. However, Pavlov noted the character, willpower and courage of the athlete. That is why he was entrusted with the red flag. In Canada, Balboshin set a record that can be repeated, but cannot be improved. He always put all his opponents on the shoulder blades, but he himself did not miss a single trick.

Delegation of the USSR national team at the opening of the XXI Summer Olympic Games

USSR at the Olympics in Montreal

The national team of the Soviet Union won a landslide victory. In Montreal, Soviet athletes won the most medals of each value: 49 gold, 41 silver and 35 bronze. Gymnasts, wrestlers and weightlifters brought the most medals to the USSR national team.

The heroes of the Games were Soviet gymnasts and Nelly Kim.

A student from Vladimir Andrianov in Montreal collected a whole collection of awards: 4 gold, 2 silver and bronze. The Canadian newspaper Toronto Star wrote about Andrianov: “This modest and serious guy from Russia was able to break the hegemony Japanese gymnasts who did not give absolute primacy to anyone on recent Olympics. Andrianov demonstrated amazing strength and unique technique. It is no coincidence that he was ahead of Sawao Kato, who followed him, by a whole point.

Vladimir Andrianov in an exercise on the rings

And Nelly Kim at the XXI Summer Olympic Games won 3 gold (vault - the highest score of 10.0, floor exercises and in the team championship) and 1 silver (all-around) medals.

Scandals of the XXI Summer Olympic Games

Modern pentathlon

The USSR national team was considered the favorite in team competition. Its leader was Boris Onishchenko, who already had three Olympic medals on his account - gold in the team event and silver in the individual championship of Munich-72, as well as a silver award in the team event of Mexico City-68. However, in Montreal, Onishchenko was convicted of fraud during a fencing competition: the judges discovered a secret technical device that allowed Onishchenko, by pressing a hidden button on the sword handle, to light a lamp on the device that fixes the injections, although in reality the sword did not touch the opponent. Onishchenko accidentally pressed the button at the moment when he was a few meters from the opponent. The athlete was disqualified, and the USSR national team lost its chances of winning the team championship. The first three places were taken by teams from Great Britain, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

Resourceful sportsman-inventor Boris Onishchenko

Political scandal

A few weeks before the opening of the Games-76, participation in the Olympics of athletes from New Zealand was under threat. 22 African countries demanded a ban on their arrival in Canada, outraged that shortly before the start of the Games, New Zealand athletes played a rugby match with the South African team (South Africa was expelled from the IOC in 1970 due to the apartheid regime in the country). The IOC refused to support the protest and remove New Zealanders from the Games, as rugby is not olympic view sports. In response, 30 countries, most of them African, boycotted the Olympics.

The games in Montreal were also the first to ignore the existence of the Republic of China (Taiwan) team: due to Canada's non-recognition of the island's authorities, it was decided to ban its team from being officially called the "China team". Canada, as a compromise, suggested that Taiwanese athletes limit themselves to the private use of state symbols, but the Taiwanese authorities chose to refuse and boycott the Olympics. It is curious that the People's Republic of China also announced a boycott, not satisfied with the half-hearted decisions of the IOC. The question that the PRC team is the only legitimate representative of China was decided by the IOC only in November 1976, after the Montreal Games.

He had everything - crazy speed, brilliant technique, amazing composure and remarkable intelligence. He could go down in the history of world sports as a great champion, which, in fact, he was. But he was remembered for completely different reasons - as the author of an unprecedented fraud in the history of the Olympic Games. Today Boris Onishchenko turns 78 years old.

Lost gold

The Soviet pentathlete Boris Onishchenko came to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal with the goal of winning two gold medals at once. He already had a team victory - he became the best four years ago in Munich, along with Pavel Lednev and Vladimir Shmelev. But Onishchenko did not have a personal triumph, although there was nothing left before him. Leading after four types, he unsuccessfully ran the cross and lost the gold to the Hungarian Andras Balzo. “Since it happened, you need to secure such an advantage before running that you can’t miss even with a weak result in cross-country,” Onishchenko said before the Games. Readers are waiting for a continuation like “And to achieve an advantage, he trained for days without knowing the rest”? No matter how! The vice-champion of Munich decided to seek his fortune in the work of an electrical engineer.

It all started in the spring

In the spring of 1976, the last pre-Olympic tournament was held in London. Sometimes the strongest athletes miss such competitions, but then almost all the top athletes from Europe gathered in the capital of England. The competition was unconditionally won by the Soviet pentathletes, which was not a surprise. But the leader of the British Jeremy Fox I decided to make out a video of fencing fights - it was in this form that ours received a decisive advantage. And on one of the fragments, Fox saw something incomprehensible - the blade of Boris Onishchenko clearly passed by, and the light that announced the injection was still on!

Several times Fox squandered this episode and could not see where the Soviet athlete got to. Did not find an answer and his coach Mike Proudfoot. The invited experts made it clear that, most likely, there were problems with the equipment - the electrical circuit spontaneously closed and gave incorrect information. The British decided not to raise any extra noise before the Olympics.

"Your sword, monsieur"

On a hot July day, the Olympic tournament started in modern pentathlon. After the first type, show jumping, the USSR national team was in fourth place. This view has never been successful for our athletes. But in fencing, the Soviet pentathletes turned around full program. The victory in this form in one fell swoop allowed them to climb to second place with a minimum gap behind the UK team. In the battle with the British, everything was revealed. Danny Natingale and Adrian Parker quickly fell victim to Onishchenko's pressure and technique. Remained the best in the camp of opponents Jeremy Fox. The British athlete realized that he got too close to his opponent, being at the injection distance. Thanks to his great coordination, he managed to take a step back before Onishchenko made a lunge. The blade of the pentathlete from Poltava cut through the air... and at that moment the lantern lit up! There is an injection in favor of the USSR! The hall is buzzing, Fox is dumbfounded.

Proudfoot jumps onto the platform and demands an investigation. First, the scoreboard was analyzed - no problems. Contacts and wires are OK. “Your sword, monsieur,” the referee says almost like in a movie. Onishchenko is not particularly eager to give it away, but nothing can be done. The result stunned everyone - a secret button was mounted in the handle of Onishchenko's sword, by pressing which he could close the circuit at any moment, which fixes the injection on the scoreboard. The organizers were completely at a loss. The arbitrator stood with a sword in his hands and did not know what to do with it. In the end, the weapon was replaced, and with the right sword, Onishchenko won the fight against Fox, and after - eight more.

Lifetime disqualification

At the end of the second day of the tournament, Onishchenko was announced to be disqualified, and with him the entire USSR national team. Only Lednev and Boris Mosolov who fought only for personal awards. Chairman of the then Goskomsport Sergey Pavlov(by the way, our best sports boss of all time, which we should definitely talk about separately) subjected Onishchenko to public condemnation. The athlete was immediately expelled from the Olympic village, deprived of the title of ZMS, membership in the CPSU and disqualified for life.

It seemed that the end was put in the history of grandiose fraud. There is only one answer to one question: why? After all, Onishchenko, even without any secret buttons, was the best fencer in the world pentathlon. Apparently, the answer lies on the surface - in Montreal, the Soviet athlete was already 38 years old, these Games would certainly be his last. And taking personal gold at any cost became an obsession for Onishchenko.

Fraudster and victim

The Western press sometimes recalls this incident and each time talks about new consequences for the athlete. From the most delusional “drank and died” and “mines in Siberia” to “an honored guest as a victim of a criminal regime that forced athletes to cheat.” The truth, as usual, lies in the middle. At least, it is known that Boris Onishchenko still lives in Kyiv, but he is not eager to communicate with journalists. He really is not only a sports cheat, but also a victim. Only not of the regime, but of his blinding ambition, which forced him to resort to forgery in order to win at any cost.

It was supposed to take place in the USA, in Denver. However, the inhabitants of the city voted against the holding of the games in a referendum, so the Olympic Committee was in difficult situation. As a result, Innsbruck, which had already hosted them in 1964, agreed to host the Olympic Games.

1123 people from 37 countries took part in the Winter Olympics. Competitions were held in ten sports disciplines: skiing, bobsleigh, speed skating, jumping, luge, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, figure , hockey. According to the results of the Olympiad, athletes from the Soviet Union won an unconditional victory, winning 13 gold, 6 silver and 8 bronze medals. Second place went to the GDR with 7 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze medals. Representatives of the USA got the third place - 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals.

One of the most spectacular competitions in the winter Olympic Games always hockey. Unfortunately, the Canadian team, which boycotted the games, did not play in Innsbruck, so in the final for the right to name the strongest team world fought eternal rivals - the teams of the USSR and Czechoslovakia. The beginning of the meeting was not in favor of hockey players from the USSR, already in the first half they lost with a score of 0:2. In the second half, they managed to bounce back, but in the third, with eight minutes left, the Czechs took the lead again. However, their expectations were not destined to come true - the goals of Alexander Yakushev and Valery Kharlamov allowed the team from the USSR to become champions for the fourth time in a row. The Czechs got the second place, the third was taken by athletes from Germany.

Soviet athletes performed well in figure skating. Gold in pair skating won by Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev, the victory in ice dancing was won by Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov. In men's single skating silver went to Vladimir Korolev, who lost only to the excellent performance of Briton John Curry. In women, the American Dorothy Hamill deservedly won the gold medal.

The games were also successful for Soviet skiers. Sergey Savelyev won the 30 km race, Nikolay Bazhukov and Evgeny Belyaev took the first two places in the 15 km race. In the team race, the team of the Soviet Union managed to win bronze, athletes from Finland won gold.

In women in ski race Raisa Smetanina was the first in 10 kilometers, the Soviet girls also won gold in the relay race.

The biathletes also took the gold medal to the USSR - Nikolai Kruglov became the first in the individual race for 20 kilometers, there were no equals to Soviet athletes in the relay race.

The 1976 Winter Olympics became one of the most successful for athletes from the USSR and forever went down in the history of Soviet and Russian sports.