• These Olympics were the first of two summer games to be organized under the IOC presidency of
Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin. •
Taro Aso was a member of the Japanese shooting team. 32 years later, he would be elected as the Prime Minister of Japan. • The Games were opened by
Elizabeth II, as
head of state of Canada, and several members of the
Royal Family attended the opening ceremonies. This was particularly significant, as these were the first Olympic games hosted on Canadian soil. The Queen's daughter,
Princess Anne, also competed in the games as part of the British riding team. Additionally, the Queen's husband,
Prince Philip, was President of the
International Equestrian Federation (FEI) at the time. • After a rainstorm doused the
Olympic Flame a few days after the games had opened, an official relit the flame using his cigarette lighter. Organizers quickly doused it again and relit it using a backup of the original flame. • The Israeli team walked into the stadium at the opening ceremony wearing black ribbons in commemoration of the 1972
Munich massacre. • Women's events were introduced in basketball,
handball, and
rowing. • Canada, the host country, finished with five silver and six bronze medals. This was the first time that the host country of the Summer Games had not won any
gold medals. This had occurred previously only in the Winter Games –
1924 in
Chamonix, France, and
1928 in
St. Moritz, Switzerland. This later occurred at the
1984 Winter Games in
Sarajevo,
Yugoslavia, and again at the
1988 Winter Olympics in
Calgary, Alberta, Canada. • Because of the
Munich massacre, security at these games was visible, as it had been earlier in the year at the
Winter Games in
Innsbruck, Austria. • At age 14, gymnast
Nadia Comăneci of Romania became the first person to score a
perfect 10 at the Olympics, recording seven 10.00 scores and winning three gold medals, including the
all-around. The scoreboard could hold only 3 digits and the score was shown as 1.00. •
Alberto Juantorena of Cuba became the first man to win both the 400 m and 800 m at the same Olympics. • Finland's
Lasse Virén repeated his
1972 double win in the 5,000 and 10,000 m runs, the first runner to successfully defend a 5,000 m win (since equalled by Great Britain's
Mo Farah in 2016). Virén finished 5th in the
marathon, thereby failing to equal
Emil Zátopek's 1952 achievements. •
Hasely Crawford won Trinidad and Tobago's first Olympic gold medal by finishing first in the 100 meter dash. •
Viktor Saneyev of the
Soviet Union won his third consecutive
triple jump gold medal, while
Klaus Dibiasi of Italy did the same in the platform
diving event. •
Boris Onishchenko, a member of the Soviet Union's
modern pentathlon team, was disqualified after it was discovered that he had rigged his
épée to register a hit when there was not one. Because of this, the Soviet modern pentathlon team was disqualified. Due to his disqualification, he earned the nickname "Boris DISonish-chenko". Many suggested that he was a victim of the Soviet "win it all" mentality. • Five American
boxers –
Sugar Ray Leonard,
Leon Spinks,
Michael Spinks,
Leo Randolph and
Howard Davis Jr. won gold medals in
boxing. This has been often called the greatest Olympic boxing team the United States ever had, and, out of the five American gold medalists in boxing, all but Davis went on to become professional world champions. •
Princess Anne of Great Britain was the only female competitor not to have to submit to a
sex test. She was a member of her country's
equestrian team. • Japanese gymnast
Shun Fujimoto performed on a broken right knee, and helped the Japanese team win the gold medal for the team
championship. Fujimoto broke his leg on the floor exercise, and due to the closeness in the overall standings with the USSR, he hid the extent of the injury. With a broken knee, Fujimoto was able to complete his event on the rings, performing a perfect triple somersault dismount, maintaining perfect posture. He scored a 9.7 thus securing gold for Japan. Years later, when asked if he would do it again, he stated bluntly "No, I would not." • The U.S. men's swimming team won all but one gold medal.
John Naber won four gold medals and a silver medal. • The East German women's swimming team won all but two gold medals.
Kornelia Ender won four gold medals and a silver medal. • In winning the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle,
Jim Montgomery became the first person to break the 50 second mark in the event, taking first place in the final in a time of 49.99. • For the first time ever, a woman won an Olympic medal in shooting: American
Margaret Murdock caught the silver in the
three positions event.
Lanny Bassham (another American) and Murdock tied for the first place, but Murdock was placed second after review of the targets. Bassham suggested that two gold medals be given, and after this request was declined, asked Murdock to share the top step with him at the award ceremony. At that time, all the shooting sport events were mixed. Murdock became the first woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting. •
Luann Ryon won the women's
Archery gold for the United States; Ryon had never before competed at the international level. •
Bruce Jenner won the gold medal for
decathlon, setting a world record of 8,634 points. •
Greg Louganis won the silver medal for the 10m Platform event in Men's Diving at 16 years old. •
Alex Oakley, the Canadian race walker, became the oldest track and field athlete to compete at the Olympic Games. He was aged 50, and taking part in his fifth Olympics. • The
New Zealand men's national field hockey team beat Australia to win gold, becoming the first non-Asian/European team to win the gold medal in hockey. It is also the first Olympic games in which hockey was played on artificial turf. • The Polish men's volleyball team came back from being down 2 sets against the USSR to win the gold medal. • Twenty-year-old
Morehouse College student
Edwin Moses sets a new world record in the 400m hurdles, less than a year after taking up the event. He is also America's only male individual track gold medalist. •
Thomas Bach of
West Germany won a gold medal in the
team foil event in
fencing. He would later become
IOC President. • Heavyweight boxer
Clarence Hill won a bronze medal for
Bermuda. His accomplishment makes Bermuda the smallest nation in terms of population to win an Olympic medal at the Summer Olympics. •
East Germany surpassed all expectations for a middle-sized nation by finishing with the second most gold medals in total. The East German women's swimming team won all but two gold medals. Swimmer
Kornelia Ender won four gold medals and a silver medal. However, the GDR's achievements were later fundamentally undermined by the exposure of a serious and systematic scheme of doping by the East German sporting authorities. It was later revealed that after injecting athletes with performance-boosting drugs at the Montreal Olympics, East German officials dumped the leftover serum and syringes in the
Saint Lawrence River. == Venues ==