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.

[2] Twenty-nine countries, mostly African, boycotted the Montreal Games when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to ban New Zealand, after the New Zealand national rugby union team had toured South Africa earlier in 1976 in defiance of the United Nations' calls for a sporting embargo due to their racist apartheid policies.

[7] Robert Bourassa, then the Premier of Quebec, asked Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to advise Canada's monarch Elizabeth II to attend the opening of the games.

[10][11] Trudeau's action was widely condemned as having brought shame on Canada by succumbing to political pressure to keep the Chinese delegation from competing under its name.

[14] This includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast centre, and media and press centre, which are required to host the Games.

Much of the cost overruns were caused by the Conseil des métiers de la construction union, whose leader was André "Dede" Desjardins.

[15] French architect Roger Taillibert, who designed the Olympic stadium, recounted in his 2000 book Notre Cher Stade Olympique that he and Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau tried hard to buy off Desjardins, even taking him to a lunch at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton hotel in a vain attempt to end the "delays".

[15] Ultimately Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa made a secret deal to buy off Desjardins, which finally allowed work to proceed.

[15] Taillibert wrote in Notre Cher Stade Olympique "If the Olympic Games took place, it was thanks to Dede Desjardins.

The ceremony was marked by the adorning of Israel's flag with a black mourning ribbon, in memory of the eleven athletes and coaches killed by Palestinian terrorists at the previous Summer Olympic Games in Munich four years earlier.

Much of the music performed for the parade was arranged by Victor Vogel and was inspired by late Quebecois composer André Mathieu.

Following that came the official speeches, first by Roger Rousseau, head of the Montreal Olympic organizing committee, and Lord Killanin.

The flag was carried by eight men and hoisted by four women, representing the ten provinces and two territories (at the time) of Canada.

The two troupes merged in dance together to the strains of "Vive le Compagnie" and exited the stadium with the Antwerp Flag, which would be displayed at Montreal City Hall until the opening of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Three cannons were then fired, as the 80-member troupe of female dancers unfolded special crates that released doves and ribbons in the five Olympic colours.

The torch was carried by 15-year-olds Stéphane Préfontaine and Sandra Henderson, chosen as representatives of the unity within Canada's linguistic heritage.

Finally, a choral performance of "O Canada" in both French and English marked the close of the opening ceremony, as the announcers concluded with a declaration of the Games motto: 'Vive les Jeux de Montreal!

The Games were dominated by the Soviet Bloc, with the USSR and its satellites occupying seven out of top ten places in the medal standings.

Elsewhere, Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Iraq, Guyana, Sri Lanka and Syria also opted to join the Congolese-led boycott.

[36][37] ABC Sports paid US$25-million for television broadcast rights in the United States, and produced 76.5 hours of coverage.

In 1976, CBC Sports began its practice of talking live with athletes immediately after events, and built a studio for the interviews.

[38] CBC broadcasters were given information kits on the athletes, prepared by Jack Sullivan, the former sports editor of The Canadian Press.

Many citizens regard the Olympiad as a financial disaster for the city as it faced debts for 30 years after the Games had finished.

Mayor Jean Drapeau had confidently predicted in 1970 that "the Olympics can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby", but the debt racked up to a billion dollars that the Quebec government mandated the city pay in full.

Australia's failure to win a gold medal led the country to create the Australian Institute of Sport.