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Did you know?
- For the first time after 1928, there was no American athlete on the victory podium of the 100m event. In 1976, the fastest man in the world was a tall and very strong runner from Trinidad, Hasely Crawford. Crawford won all the preliminaries and ran in the final in an amazing way, thus becoming first Olympic winner in the 100m, something which few people believed until the beginning of the race.
- Dwight Stones, the American holder of the world record in the high jump, was hissed by the spectators, because he had made negative comments on the organization of the Games. However, later he attributed his irritation to the heavy rainfall during the event, which had produced a negative effect on his performance. He won the bronze medal. First Olympic winner was a 19-year-old Polish, Jacek Wszola. The spectators were enthusiastic with the final, because one of the contenders for the title was a practically unknown Canadian, Greg Joy, who eventually won the silver medal.
- From 1932 the Americans won uninterruptedly the 110m hurdles. However, in the Montreal Olympics this tradition was interrupted by the French runner Guy Drut. The French champion led the final right from the start and won with a slight difference the Cuban Alejandro Casanas, thus becoming the first French runner from 1960 to win a gold Olympic medal.
- The Soviet Viktor Sanyeyev won the triple jump for the third time in a row, directing his hopes to the 1980 Moscow Olympics, in order to equal Al Oerter's record with four victories in the discus throw in four consecutive organizations.
- An eminent figure in the history of the Olympic Games, Edwin Moses, confirmed his reputation and superiority in the 400m hurdles, where he won with great ease. His main opponents were his compatriot Mike Shine and the Soviet Yevgeniy Gavrilenko, who finished second and third respectively.
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