Tag Archives: Olympic Games

Spirit in Motion: Canada and the Paralympics

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By Sali Lafrenie

With the Olympic Games winding down and the Paralympic Games winding up in 2 weeks, it’s time for a paralympic preview. The 2024 Paralympics will also take place in Paris, from August 28th to September 8th, and will include 22 sports:

  • Para archery
  • Para athletics
  • Para badminton
  • Blind football
  • Boccia (similar to bocce and pétanque)
  • Para canoe
  • Para cycling
  • Para equestrian
  • Goalball
  • Para judo
  • Para powerlifting
  • Para rowing
  • Shooting Para Sport
  • Sitting volleyball
  • Para swimming
  • Para table tennis
  • Para taekwondo
  • Para triathlon
  • Wheelchair basketball
  • Wheelchair fencing
  • Wheelchair rugby (previously called murderball)
  • Wheelchair tennis

While the Modern Olympic Games date back to 1896, the Paralympics have a different history. The Paralympic Games as we know them date back to 1984. But they had a different name from 1960 to 1980: the International Stoke Mandeville Games.

The International Stoke Mandeville Games

Although the International Stoke Mandeville Games began in 1960, their origin dates to 1948 at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England. Like the Inter-Allied Games and the Invictus Games, the Stoke Mandeville Games were meant to be a rehabilitative experience for people with disabilities and for veterans. The Games eventually grew into a large-scale sports competition.

Initially consisting of only wheelchair athletes, the Games grew over time to include athletes from other countries—making them international—as well as athletes with a range of disabilities, which lead to the inclusion of more sports.

While the International Stoke Mandeville Games are considered the precursor to the Paralympics, there are and were many different types of sports competitions for athletes with disabilities such as the World Abilitysport Games, the Special Olympics, the Parapan American Games, and the Deaflympics (first held in Paris in 1924).

Below, we can see photographs of athletes competing at the 1972 International Stoke Mandeville Games in sports like archery, swimming, and wheelchair basketball.

A black and white photograph of a wheelchair archer drawing a bow and wearing a t-shirt with a maple leaf on it.

Archery, 21st International Stoke Mandeville Games, Heidelberg, Germany, August 1–10, 1972. (e011783300)

A black and white photograph of Para swimmers in the water holding onto the starting blocks.

Swimming, 21st International Stoke Mandeville Games, Heidelberg, Germany, August 1–10, 1972. (e011783302)

A black and white photograph of two wheelchair basketball teams at tip off.

Basketball, 21st International Stoke Mandeville Games, Heidelberg, Germany, August 1–10, 1972. (e011783301)

Canada and the Paralympic Games

Participating in the Games for over 50 years, Canadian Para athletes have a long and shiny history at the Paralympics. It’s safe to say that Canadian Para athletes tend to win a lot, given that they rank fourth in All-Time Paralympic Summer Games Medal Standings. Team Canada has dominating records in Para swimming, Para athletics, Para cycling, and wheelchair basketball. Notable athletes in these sports include Benoît Huot, Michelle Stilwell, Chantal Petitclerc, and Richard Peter.

Each of these athletes have made their mark on parasport history in different ways. Huot did so at Rio 2016 when he earned his 20th Paralympic medal, officially tying the record for second all-time Paralympic swimming medals. Stilwell left her mark in two different sports, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair racing, winning at least one gold medal in both sports. Senator Chantal Petitclerc, perhaps one of the most recognizable names in Canadian parasport alongside Rick Hansen, represented Canada at 5 Paralympics and won 21 medals. Richard Peter, also a dual-sport athlete and five-time Paralympian, competed in wheelchair basketball and in Para badminton, winning multiple medals with the wheelchair basketball team throughout his career. Peter was also featured in the docuseries “Chiefs and Champions” highlighting Indigenous athletes representing Canada in sports.

A colour photograph of athletes wearing red Team Canada jackets, one in the foreground standing and shaking the Prime Minister’s hand and another in the background speaking to someone.

Paralympic athlete Benoît Huot during recognition ceremony at Parliament Hill with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Credit: Jason Ransom. (MIKAN 5586583)

A colour photograph of athletes wearing red Team Canada jackets sitting in wheelchairs and moving in a line to shake the hands of members of parliament.

Paralympic athletes Michelle Stilwell and Jason Crone during recognition ceremony at Parliament Hill with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Credit: Jill Thompson. (MIKAN 5609841)

A colour photograph of athletes, three in the foreground in wheelchairs wearing Paralympic medals and seven sitting on benches in the background.

Paralympic athletes Tyler Miller, Marco Dispaltro, and Richard Peter during recognition ceremony at Parliament Hill with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Credit: Jason Ransom. (MIKAN 5609841)

The Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame

Canadians have made an impact on the Games inside and outside of the competition itself. Currently, the Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame consists of 42 inductees in three categories: builders, coaches, and athletes.

One important builder is Dr. Robert W. Jackson, an orthopaedic surgeon who is credited with founding the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association and as being a major advocate of parasports. While Dr. Jackson’s legacy lies in his contributions to the medical field as a pioneer of arthroscopic surgery, his legacy is also important to the world of sports. Outside of his work promoting parasports, Dr. Jackson also worked with professional athletes in two major leagues: the Canadian Football League (Toronto Argonauts) and the National Basketball Association (Dallas Mavericks). And in 1976, he was responsible for organizing the Paralympics in Toronto, also known as the Toronto Olympiad. All of this and more can be found in Dr. Jackson’s fonds here at LAC.

Another important Hall of Fame inductee is Eugene Reimer, a member of the first Canadian Paralympic team and a dominant wheelchair athlete. Throughout his athletic career, Reimer won 10 medals across 4 Paralympics and more than 50 medals at national and international competitions. He was also named Canadian male athlete of the year for these achievements. Reimer was an all-around athlete, a true competitor and multi-talented athlete who also played for the Vancouver Cable Cars wheelchair basketball team—the same team that Rick Hansen and Terry Fox played on in British Columbia. Check out this photo of Reimer competing in Para archery at the 1972 Games.

A black and white photograph of a row of archers sitting in wheelchairs.

Canada’s Eugene Reimer, archery, 21st International Stoke Mandeville Games, Heidelberg, Germany, August 1–10, 1972. (e011783299)

Athletes and sports to watch

Turning back to Paris 2024, let’s look at some of the athletes and sports coming up!

Given Canada’s success in Para swimming, it only makes sense to start there. This year, Canada is sending 22 Para swimmers to Paris. While there are some new faces, there are quite a few familiar ones including Aurélie Rivard, Nicholas Bennett, and Katarina Roxon, who will be competing in her fifth Paralympics.

While there are a lot of crossover sports between the Olympic and the Paralympic Games, one of the best parts of the Paralympics are the sports that are unique to them, like goalball. If you’ve never watched the sport, then you’re in for an exciting time, and if you have watched goalball, then you know exactly what I mean. The women’s goalball team has seen a lot of success recently and historically, securing their spot in Paris by winning gold at the 2023 Parapan American Games.

Just like the Olympics, the Paralympics are always evolving and changing. Sometimes that evolution looks like adding or removing sports, and other times it looks like providing more parity between athletes and prize money. In the last 16 years, the Paralympics have added five sports to their roster: Para rowing, Para triathlon, Para canoe, Para badminton, and Para taekwondo. It’s an exciting time to be a sports fan, and if you can’t get enough of the Paralympic Games and want to learn more, check out this list of 50 Things To Know About The Paralympic Games. Happy watching!

Additional Resources

  • 2012-09-19 Olympians, Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN 5609841)
  • 2015-07-10 Toronto Pan American Games, Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN 5610897)
  • Amazing athletes: an all-star look at Canada’s Paralympians by Marie-Claude Ouellet and Jacques Goldstyn; translated by Phyllis Aronoff and Howard Scott (OCLC 1240172154)

Sali Lafrenie is a Portfolio Archivist in the Private Archives Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

 

Faster, Higher, Stronger: Canada at the Summer Olympics

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By Sali Lafrenie

The Olympics are heating up! With the games underway, now is the perfect time to dive back into our Olympic coverage here at Library and Archives Canada. While Canada is often considered a powerhouse in winter sports, Canadian athletes have earned more medals at the Summer Games than at the Winter Games. To date, Canada has earned a total of 326 medals at the Summer Olympics, with the most success in athletics, aquatics (swimming, artistic swimming, and diving) and paddle sports (canoe/kayak and rowing).

In this instalment of our Olympics series, we’re revisiting these popular medal sports and a few others!

Five Canadian postage stamps depicting various Olympic sports, such as diving, cycling, swimming, athletics, and gymnastics.

Canadian postage stamps depicting sports moments from the 1992 Olympic Games. (e003576364)

The Matchless Six: Amsterdam 1928

Remembered for their outstanding performances at the 1928 Olympics, the “Matchless Six” were Canada’s first Olympic women’s team. But why were they the first? And what did they do?

Despite the modern Olympic Games beginning in 1896, women were not allowed to compete in athletics until 1928. The team, consisting of Fanny Rosenfeld, Jean Thompson, Myrtle Cook, Florence Jane Bell, Ethel Smith, and Ethel Catherwood, made history by collectively winning four medals and competing in four events. Their dominance was particularly impressive given that women could only compete in five athletics events at the time.

The Matchless Six paved the way for future generations of Canadian women in athletics. They have since all been recognized individually in multiple halls of fame in Canada and in Parks Canada’s registry of National Historic Persons.

Photograph of six women dressed in white blazers and skirts posing for a photo. Four other individuals are present in the background.

The Matchless Six: Canadian women’s track and field team taking part in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. (a151001)

A Family of Olympians: 1912, 1960–1968

After qualifying for and competing in the 1912 Olympics, John “Army” Howard became the first Black Olympian to represent Canada (the first Black Canadian-born Olympian to medal was Raymond Lewis in 1932). Although his athletic career was put on hold while he served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War, he got the chance to compete one more time for Canada at the 1919 Inter-Allied Games where he won bronze in the 100-metre event. Photos of the 1919 Inter-Allied Games can also be found in our collection.

His legacy continued through his grandchildren, Valerie and Harry Jerome, both of whom competed at the Olympics during the 1960s. Making their Olympic debut together in Rome 1960, the brother-sister duo made an impact on and off the track. They both won numerous medals at the National Championships, the Pan American Games, and the Commonwealth Games. However, it was Harry who made multiple Olympic appearances, winning bronze in the 100-metre event. Their family left an enduring mark on Canadian athletics and provided early representation for Black athletes on Team Canada.

Photograph of three athletes running on a track across the finish line at the Olympics.

Harry Jerome competing at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico. (a209764k)

Medal Droughts: 1912–1984 and 1936–2024?

Sometimes medal droughts happen, but the important part is when they end. Canada has experienced two notable medal droughts, particularly in swimming and basketball. For decades, Canadian swimmers were shut out from the top of the podium, leaving George Hodgson as our sole gold medal winner—he won two gold medals and set four world records in 1912. With the outbreak of the First World War, Hodgson put his athletic career on hold to serve as a flight sub-lieutenant with the Royal Naval Air Service. In 1984, the 72-year drought ended spectacularly with golden finishes by Alex Baumann, Anne Ottenbrite (the first Canadian woman to win gold in swimming), and Victor Davis.

Photograph of a man in a swimsuit.

George Hodgson. (a050291)

In basketball, Canadian teams have been working hard to end an 88-year drought. However, with recent success at the FIBA World Cup and the Pan American Games, both the men’s and women’s teams are suiting up for the Olympics together for the first time in over two decades. With Canadian players at an all-time high in the NBA and growing buzz about a new WNBA franchise coming to Canada in 2026, will 2024 be the year that Canadian basketball ends its medal drought?

Photograph of a man and a woman standing together.

Alisha Tatham, a member of the London 2012 women’s basketball team—the team’s first appearance since the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Credit: Jason Ransom. (MIKAN 5609841)

Paddling to the Podium: 1992–1996 and 2004–2012

Team Canada has an extensive history of success in paddle sports, winning a total of 69 medals at the Summer Games in rowing (introduced at the Paris 1900 Games) and kayaking (introduced at the Paris 1924 Games). So, it should come as no surprise that rowing ranks as the third most successful event for Canadians at the Summer Olympics, with kayaking coming in fourth.

The most successful Canadian athletes in these sports have each earned four medals: Marnie McBean, Kathleen Heddle, and Adam van Koeverden. McBean and Heddle competed at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, earning four medals in two games and the titles of triple gold medallists. Now a member of Parliament, kayaker van Koeverden earned four medals in three games and is often referred to as Canada’s most successful paddler.

McBean and Heddle’s golden achievements have earned them both induction into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame—a recognition van Koeverden should expect to receive as well.

Photograph of two men smiling and shaking hands.

Adam van Koeverden meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper after the London 2012 Olympics. Credit: Jason Ransom. (MIKAN 5609841)

Back-to-Back Appearances: 2000–2004 and 2020–2024

Competing in the women’s water polo event at Paris 2024, Team Canada is making their fourth appearance at the Summer Games. Earning their Olympic berth in dramatic fashion earlier this year, the women’s water polo team is looking to make some waves. While we eagerly wait to see how the team will do, let’s look back at the team from Sydney 2000 and their notable co-captain, Waneek Horn-Miller.

Known for her athletic skills and motivational speaking, Waneek Horn-Miller is one of Canada’s most influential women in sport. She’s also the first Mohawk woman to compete for Team Canada at the Olympics. Co-leading the first women’s Olympic water polo team in 2000 to their best-ever finish, she also competed at the 1999 Pan American Games and at the 2001 FINA World Championships. While Horn-Miller no longer competes, she continues to share her love for sports and community through her work as a sports commentator, brand ambassador, and public speaker. In addition to sharing her experiences of the Oka Crisis, Waneek is the director of the Storyboot Project and served as assistant chef de mission at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.

Photograph of numerous athletes marching behind a man carrying a large Canadian flag.

Team Canada at the opening ceremony for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. Waneek Horn-Miller can be seen in front with both of her arms stretched out wide. Credit: Deborah Ransom. (MIKAN 5603894)

While the hunt for the podium continues for popular sports like hockey, football, volleyball, and basketball, the games have yet to begin for newer sports like skateboarding, sport climbing, and breaking (making its debut). So, what’s in store for Team Canada? Which sports are you most excited to watch? And, who’s going to be the flagbearer for the closing ceremony?

Additional Resources

Sali Lafrenie is a Portfolio Archivist in the Private Archives Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

Ahead by a Century: remembering the Paris 1924 Olympics

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By Sali Lafrenie

Picture it. Paris, 1924.

You’re at the Summer Olympic Games. And there are roughly 3,000 other athletes there with you.

What sport are you playing? Tennis? Maybe soccer? Basketball? Oh wait, is it aquatics? Athletics? No, boxing? Well, whatever it is, I bet you’re excited. You should be: Team Canada only sent 65 competitors, and this is the first time the Games are going to be broadcast live on the radio!

A black and white panoramic photograph of an outdoor stadium with hundreds of athletes.

General view of the Stadium of Colombes at the beginning of the 1924 Olympic Games (e011783298).

Considered to be the most successful of the Modern Games, the 1924 Summer Games in Paris looked very different from the Olympics that we know and love today. For starters, there were only 17 sports included in these Games. Five sports had been dropped from the previous iteration in 1920, with others included solely for demonstration or exhibition purposes.

Playing host for a third time, Paris 2024 will see Canada send 338 athletes to compete. The Games boast a whopping 32 sports, doubling the number of sports included at the 1924 Olympics.

In honour of the centenary, let’s dive into the 1924 Olympic Games!

1924 Winter Olympics

Did you know that when France bid to host the Summer Olympics in 1924, they accidentally started a new trend? That trend was the Winter Olympic Games.

The practice of hosting the Summer and Winter Games in the same year—sometimes in the same country—continued until 1992 when the International Olympic Committee decided to shift the Games to an alternating two-year schedule.

Before 1924, the Olympics only consisted of summer sports and did not have a winter sports equivalent. But there’s always a first. Hosted in Chamonix, France from January 25 to February 5, 1924, 260 athletes competed across 16 events. This means that 2024 is also the 100-year anniversary of the first Winter Olympic Games.

While Canada only sent 12 athletes to these Games—collectively earning a singular medal—there’s more to the story than that. The Chamonix Olympics was just the beginning for these athletes and the Canadian Winter Olympic Team, which had a roster of 215 athletes in 2022.

Charles “Charlie” Gorman, New Brunswicker and First World War Veteran, was one of these athletes. He made his Olympic debut in speed skating alongside the debut of the sport itself. Despite a disappointing finish in the 1924 Games, Gorman competed and won medals for Team Canada in numerous competitions, such as the American Championships, the Canadian Championships, and the World Championships.

A black and white photograph of a man speed skating and looking directly at the camera.

Photo of Charles Gorman speed skating (a050382).

Cecil Smith Hedstrom also made history at these Olympic Games when she became the first female Olympian to represent Canada. Competing in figure skating, Smith appeared in three Olympic Games and achieved many early feats to propel Canadian figure skating onto the world stage. For all these reasons and more, Smith was inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame in 1991.

Earning the only medal for Team Canada at the Chamonix Games, the Toronto Granites Hockey Club won Canada’s first Winter Olympic gold medal. With this win, the Granites extended Canada’s Olympic ice hockey medal streak, initiated in 1920 by the Winnipeg Falcons who won gold in Antwerp. While ice hockey made its debut in the Antwerp Games, that was the first and last time the sport was included in the Summer Olympics. This means that Canada is the only country to have won a gold medal in ice hockey at both the Summer and the Winter Olympic Games.

A black and white photograph of a men’s hockey team standing on the ice holding hockey sticks.

Winnipeg Falcons, Olympic Champions (a049622).

1924 Summer Olympics

While all Olympic Games are important, the 1924 Summer Games had a special glow to it: live radio transmissions, the introduction of the Athlete’s Village, and the debut of the Olympic motto, “Faster, Higher, Stronger.”  The Modern Games ushered in a new era of international sports competitions that has only continued to expand in size and spectacle since 1924.

One of the greatest success stories of the 1924 Olympics comes from a group of athletes who technically were not a part of the Games: the Edmonton Grads. Although basketball was not officially included in the Olympics—men’s basketball would join in 1936 and women’s basketball would join in 1976—the Fédération sportive féminine internationale (FSFI) decided to hold their own matches alongside the Summer Games.

At home and abroad, the Grads were a difficult team to beat. They won approximately 95% of all the games they ever played and won the FSFI women’s basketball tournaments in 1924, 1928, and 1936.

Two black and white photographs of a group of female athletes. The first photograph has nine women standing in a line with one holding a basketball. The second photograph has nine women posing in two rows with a man standing in the middle of the back row.

Team photos of the Edmonton Grads in 1924 and 1936 (a050440) and (a050442).

Making his Olympic debut, Canadian hurdler Warren “Monty” Montabone soared onto the world stage in Paris 1924 and then again in Amsterdam 1928. In between Olympic appearances, Monty also set a Canadian record that stood for 58 years in the 110 m hurdles event. His athletic career can be traced beyond the Olympics all the way back to his time as a student athlete at Loyola and as an amateur athlete with the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association.

Another athlete who made his Olympic debut in 1924 is Victor Pickard, the pole vaulter and javelin thrower. Pickard represented Canada at two Olympic Games (1924 and 1928) and won a gold medal in pole vaulting at the British Empire Games in 1930. During his athletic career, Pickard’s highest jump at the Olympics was 3.45 m, but his personal best was 4.15 m. Today, the Canadian pole vault record stands at 6.00 m and the world pole vault record stands at 6.24 m.

Two black and white photographs of a male pole vaulter. The first shows a man jumping over a bar with a vaulting pole. The second shows a man holding a vaulting pole horizontally before beginning to run.

Victor Pickard at the 1924 Olympics (a151000) and (a151014).

While every Olympic Games is different, they always guarantee two things: excitement and excellence. Whether that’s through record-breaking performances, making a political statement or rallying around an athlete in need, the Olympics have got something for everyone. The Games have come to symbolize a lot more than just fair play, athleticism, and national identity. They’re a cultural moment. They bring people together in bars, in living rooms, and in schools. They’re history in the making and they’re just getting started.

Additional Resources

Sali Lafrenie is a Portfolio Archivist in the Private Archives Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

Unrevealed Secrets: The 1976 Montréal Olympics

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By Brittany Long

The 1960s and 1970s were marked by global turbulence, with terrorist attacks, airplane hijackings, and kidnappings frequently dominating the headlines. Against this backdrop of uncertainty, preparing the security for the 1976 Olympic Games in Montréal posed a monumental challenge for Canadian security agencies. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Canadian Armed Forces, and local authorities had to coordinate their efforts to ensure the safety of athletes and spectators from around the world.

A black-and-white photograph of a group dancing in the Montréal Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Opening ceremony at the Montréal Olympic Games, July 17, 1976. Photo: Paul Taillefer. (e004923376)

Not only was Queen Elizabeth II set to visit and officially open the Games, but Montréal was set to host 6,084 Olympic athletes from 92 different countries. Given the scale of the event, no one wanted a repeat of the tragic events at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where 11 athletes were killed in a terrorist attack.

With the 1976 Summer Olympics taking place during the Cold War, it was crucial to assess possible threats, identify areas of vulnerability, and ensure the security of all venues. Security measures needed to be meticulously planned and kept confidential in the lead-up to and during the Games to protect Canadians, foreign visitors, and athletes. For instance, intensive security plans were required for something as simple as Queen Elizabeth II’s route from her lodging to the venue.

Preparation began months before the event, during which the alert level was at its peak, particularly for departments such as External Affairs, the RCMP, and National Defence. All of the agencies and federal departments involved generated a large legacy of records, which were created in order to maintain the security surrounding the Olympic Games.

Eventually, some of these documents were transferred to Library and Archives Canada (LAC). For example, the Department of External Affairs fonds holds at minimum nine boxes worth of material related to the 1976 Games, while the RCMP fonds holds approximately 170 boxes. Additional records are scattered throughout various other fonds as well.

Black-and-white photo featuring a crowd of people walking down a ramp at the Montréal Olympic Stadium.

Crowds walking down a stadium ramp at the 1976 Montréal Olympics Games. Photo: Paul Taillefer. (e004923378)

Since the documents pertained to security matters, most were classified as confidential, secret, and at times top secret upon their creation and remained classified when transferred to LAC. Many of these documents are still classified almost 50 years after the closing ceremonies of the 1976 Olympics. This creates delays in granting access to these records. Even worse, there is no way to know exactly which records are classified. How is this possible?

Decades ago, recordkeeping and transfer protocols differed significantly. File lists of documents transferred to LAC often lacked any indication of their security classification. As a result, to determine if the Montréal Olympic records remain classified, we first need to identify what we have in our collections about the Games. Once identified, we then need to review the documents to ascertain their classification status—a time-consuming process.

Over the summer and early fall of 2023, we focused on nine boxes of material from the Montréal Olympic Games series in the Department of External Affairs fonds—a relatively small selection of records compared to other series in LAC’s collections. It took days to sift through and analyze the contents of these boxes to determine how much of it remained classified. This review determined that around a third of the files within this one series are still classified.

A black-and-white photo of a group of women dancing in white robes at the closing ceremony of the Montréal Summer Olympics. A man is streaking in the middle of them.

Closing ceremony at the Montréal Olympic Games featuring 500 young women dancing while a male streaker poses among them, August 1, 1976. Photo: Paul Taillefer. (e004923381)

After examining the contents of the boxes and information within the files, an analytical report was compiled. According to the fundamental principle of declassification, only the creator of the records can declassify them. Consequently, the results of our analysis were submitted to the relevant departments for their decision.

The classified records related to the security measures for the 1976 Montréal Olympic Games are not the only ones that remain classified decades after their creation. The declassification section of the Access to Information and Privacy Branch at LAC works closely with other departments to enhance access to historical records for all Canadians. This collaboration aims to unlock more of our collective past and ensure that valuable historical information is accessible to the public.

Additional Resources

Brittany Long is an archivist working on declassification in the Access to Information and Privacy Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

The XXI Summer Olympic Games opened July 17, 1976 in Montréal

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By Dalton Campbell

A colour photograph depicts two young people standing on a raised platform in a crowded stadium. They each have a hand on a torch which they are holding aloft. Beside them is a large ceremonial cauldron that is lit with a flame.

The Olympic cauldron is lit during the opening ceremonies of the XXI Summer Olympic Games, Montréal, July 17, 1976. ©Canadian Olympic Committee

Montréal, Quebec was awarded the games in the second round of voting by Olympic delegates in 1970. After the first ballot, Moscow was leading Montréal 28 votes to 25, resulting in third-place Los Angeles being automatically eliminated. The Montréal bid received most of the Los Angeles support and was selected as host city.

A colour photograph depicts the inside of Olympic Stadium, Montréal. The athletes of the competing nations assemble on the infield of the stadium. The flags of the competing nations hang from the rafters.

The delegations of participating countries gather during the opening ceremonies for the XXI Summer Olympic Games, Montréal, July 17, 1976. ©Canadian Olympic Committee

Construction of the Olympic facilities was slow due to complicated architectural designs, the rapid inflation rate and governments reluctant to commit to funding. Exceptionally cold weather halted construction in January 1976. When the games started, 19 of the 21 facilities were finished; however the Olympic Stadium, the centrepiece, was not completed when the games began.

Nadia Comaneci, a 14-year-old gymnast from Romania, was perhaps the biggest star of the Montréal games. In the opening days of the Olympics, she earned an unprecedented perfect 10.00 for her routine on the uneven bars. However, as the score board was equipped with only three digits, the judges—in uncharted territory—displayed scores of “1.00.”

A colour photograph depicts a young woman standing on the podium waving to the crowd. She is wearing a white track suit with “Romania” written on it. Behind her on the floor are two other young women.

Romania’s Nadia Comaneci (centre) waves to the crowd after her gold medal win in the uneven bars during the gymnastics competition at the XXI Summer Olympic Games. She went on to earn five medals, including three gold. The silver medal is awarded to Teodora Ungureanu of Romania (left) and the bronze to Márta Egervári of Hungary (right). Montréal, July 1976. ©Canadian Olympic Committee

Apparently at a meeting before the 1976 Olympics, there had been a discussion to use score clocks with four digits. The decision was to use three-digit clocks because a perfect ten was impossible.

Michel Vaillancourt, riding his horse Branch County, was the first Canadian to earn an individual equestrian medal at the Olympics. Born northeast of Montréal, he was performing in front of his hometown crowd when he won a silver medal in individual show jumping.

Colour photograph of a man riding a horse as they complete a jump over a fence in the equestrian competition. The audience is seated in the background.

Canada’s Michel Vaillancourt rides Branch County in an equestrian event at the XXI Summer Olympic Games, Montréal, July 1976. ©Canadian Olympic Committee

On the last day of the games, the high jump competition was held in the rain. The world record holder, Dwight Stones of the United States, had been favoured to win. After an interview in which he appeared to criticize the facilities and the hosts, he was booed by the crowd. Stones, who disliked jumping in wet conditions, struck the bar and was eliminated. The next athlete, Canada’s Greg Joy, cleared the bar, bringing the crowd of almost 70,000 to their feet in a standing ovation. Joy would finish with the silver medal, ceding the gold to Jacek Wszola of Poland.

Colour photograph of a man competing in the high jump event. The photo depicts him in the air approaching the bar. Behind the mat are photographers. The crowd is seated in the background.

Canada’s Greg Joy competes in the high jump event at the XXI Summer Olympic Games, Montréal, July 1976. ©Canadian Olympic Committee

Although no Canadian earned a gold medal at the 1976 games, Greg Joy was cheered and honoured as if he had. He was named flag bearer for the closing ceremonies. Later that year he received the Lionel Conacher Award as Canada’s male athlete of the year, beating out jockey Sandy Hawley and hockey superstar Guy Lafleur. For many years afterwards, his jump and celebration were replayed nightly across the county; it was the second-last clip in the O Canada video shown on CBC television immediately before the network signed off for the night.

Colour photograph of a man, dressed in shorts and sleeveless t-shirt, standing with his arms raised in the air. In the background are people dressed in rain gear.

Greg Joy after winning the high jump event at the XXI Summer Olympic Games, Montréal, July 1976. ©Canadian Olympic Committee

The closing ceremonies were held on August 1, 1976. Canada finished the games with five silver and six bronze medals—more than double the number of medals won by Canada in 1968 or 1972.

Additional Resources

Dalton Campbell is an archivist in the Science, Environment and Economy Section of the Private Archives Division.