The Women's pentathlon competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal was held on 25–26 July.

After four of the five events, with only the 200 metres remaining, the top 8 of the 19 competitors were separated by less than 100 points: All of the leaders were matched against each other in the final heat.

[2] Had Pollak run the 200 metres in 23.58 instead of 23.64, then she would have won the gold medal.

While Siegl jumped from seventh to first in one event, Tkachenko had the misfortune of dropping from first to fifth in less than 25 seconds.

She would go on to lead the Soviet podium sweep four years later in Moscow.