The 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal were held without the participation of 28 African countries, which boycotted the Games after an unsuccessful bid to bar New Zealand from competing in them.

The countries had sought New Zealand's exclusion because its rugby team had played in South Africa, a nation whose apartheid policies the countries were opposed to. Of the 92 nations that did compete, the Soviet Union earned the most medals, winning a total of 125. The United States came in second with 94.

Two memorable Olympic firsts took place in Montreal. In boxing, super-heavyweight fighter Clarence Hill's third-place finish made his tiny, island nation of Bermuda the least populous ever to medal at a Summer Olympics. In gymnastics, Romania's Nadia Comaneci became the first gymnast in the history of the Games to receive a perfect score-she was only 14 years old.