{"id":801083,"date":"2026-07-14T10:18:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/801083\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T10:18:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:18:33","slug":"montreal-olympics-left-a-lasting-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/801083\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal Olympics left a lasting legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Olympic rings are displayed outside Olympic Stadium in Montreal earlier this year,Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

When reflecting on the 1976 Montreal Games, it\u2019s hard not to think of the controversies surrounding the Olympic Stadium, whose problem-plagued construction and ballooning costs earned it the nickname the \u201cBig Owe.\u201d <\/p>\n

But 50 years later, key players in the Olympic movement say the first Games on Canadian soil had a lasting impact on Quebec\u2019s sporting culture that went far beyond those negative headlines. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese Games left a great legacy,\u201d said Thomas Bach, who is the honorary president of the International Olympic Committee and a 1976 gold medallist in the team foil fencing event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the controversies at the time, like with all the Games to follow elsewhere,\u201d he said by video from Lausanne, Switzerland in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving visited Montreal afterwards, seeing the Olympic Park, the Olympic Village and the stadium, in seeing that Montreal and Canada have since become premier hosts for international sporting events \u2014 like the Road World Cycling Championships you\u2019re welcoming this year \u2014 all of this is because of the these first Games.\u201d <\/p>\n

Canada, he added \u201cput itself on the world map as a major organizer of sporting events.\u201d <\/p>\n

Eric Myles, the chief sport officer at the Canadian Olympic Committee, said he sometimes hears people express regret about the Olympic Stadium. Over the years, the venue has attracted negative press for its chunks of falling concrete, a faulty retractable roof and a $1-billion price tag that took Montrealers three decades to pay off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was unfortunate about the Olympic Stadium was the corruption [surrounding its construction],\u201d Myles said in an interview at the committee\u2019s offices earlier this year. \u201cIt didn\u2019t have anything to do with the Games.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said the Montreal Games were the first to be profitable, in terms of operating expenses, which surprises people to hear. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy when you say that; people look at you and don\u2019t believe you,\u201d Myles said. \u201cThey were incredibly well organized.\u201d <\/p>\n

Claude Mailhot, a sports broadcaster who covered 21 Olympic Games, including in Montreal and Vancouver 2010, also believes the Games were a success. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Montreal Games worked so well, despite the costs for the stadium and the criticism (then-Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau) received, that if Montreal hadn\u2019t done a good job, Calgary and Vancouver would have never got to host Olympic Games,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Bach believes that while the Games attracted controversy, people\u2019s attitudes have shifted over time. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow, with a little hindsight, people can realize that it wasn\u2019t debt, but that Canada made a very good investment,\u201d he said. \u201cCanada has been seeing a return on that investment for several years.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Games were also the catalyst to build some of the country\u2019s first major sporting venues, many of which are still in use today. Those include the Claude-Robillard Sports Complex, the Olympic Basin, and the stadium, which is currently getting a new roof. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of things that are still there and that have really benefitted the Montreal, Quebec and Canadian communities,\u201d Myles said. \u201cThat was really a plus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tricia Smith, the president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, added that the Games led to the creation of a number of provincial sports federations. <\/p>\n

In recent years, some 40 per cent of Canada\u2019s Olympic team has been comprised of Quebec athletes, which may also be part of the Montreal legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an athlete, you could see the support Quebec has for its athletes,\u201d said Smith, a four-time Olympian who won a silver medal in rowing in Los Angeles in 1984.<\/p>\n

She said that enthusiasm continues today. <\/p>\n

\u201cQuebec has a fantastic culture of support for its athletes, whether it\u2019s the spectators who turn out in person or the coverage provided by the media,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Myles agrees the structures and organizations that support athletes are particularly strong in the province. Those include provincial sports departments, businesses that sponsor events, comprehensive media coverage and strong citizen support. <\/p>\n

He said the province has developed an expertise and is often considered \u201cavant-gardiste.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it exists elsewhere in Canada, but it\u2019s much more fragmented,\u201d he said. \u201cIn some way, a lot of that comes from the 1976 Games.\u201d <\/p>\n

That includes the education department\u2019s Sport-\u00e9tudes program, which allows student athletes to balance their education with competitive goals. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome extremists want the focus to be solely on development, but we can\u2019t abandon excellence,\u201d Myles said. \u201cIt\u2019s the balance between the two that is needed. When it\u2019s done right, there is a great place for it. I feel the Games really helped foster that \u2013 the desire to be the best.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mailhot believes the 1976 Games helped to boost the province\u2019s sporting culture in a way that is still being felt, 50 years later. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt opened up the minds of people in Montreal, and probably all of Quebec, that there was more than just professional sports,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He believes the Olympics inspired many people to launch their own amateur sporting careers, or to start to compete more seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe some young people saw that and told themselves, \u2018Maybe distance running might interest me. I run already, but now, maybe I can run for medals,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sure [the Olympics] were a catalyst and a positive influence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Olympic rings are displayed outside Olympic Stadium in Montreal earlier this year,Christinne…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,2338,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-801083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-montreal","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}