If you take the Green Line north towards Honoré-Beaugrand and exit at Pie-IX, you will find the Olympic Stadium of Montreal just a short metro ride away from McGill’s downtown campus. Arguably one of the most recognizable buildings in the city, it’s one of the many ways that citizens are reminded of the city’s Olympic history.
With the Winter Olympics set to begin in Milan this February, discussions of the sports games that unite the world have been brought to the forefront yet again. This year marks an important anniversary for Montreal. Fifty years have passed since the city hosted the 21st edition of the Summer Olympic Games in 1976, an event which has left a profound city-wide impact.
Montreal has a complicated relationship with its Olympic past. Controversies about corruption among the event’s organizers and construction mishaps (with the Olympic Stadium almost not being finished in time) surrounded the event, followed by the financial devastation that the city was left with. With an initial budget of only $120 million (CAD), the city ended up in around $1.6 billion (CAD) of debt. The city only finished paying the cost of the games thirty years later in 2006.
These financing failures had political ramifications that still echo today. This is partially due to voter dissatisfaction over the scandals that surrounded the Olympics; which voters associated with the incumbent Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) government. In reality, the PLQ had limited ties to the scandals, but the association persisted. Later that year, the province elected the opposing Parti Québécois (PQ), which campaigned for governmental efficiency and anti-corruption, into power for the first time. As a result, Quebecois separatist sentiments increased, becoming a defining feature of Montreal life in the following decades. Separatism still impacts the politics of the province today, asshown with recent demonstrations in October.
The Olympics, however, did somewhat benefit Montreal. In the wake of the event, the city’s tourism greatly increased thanks to an augmented international visibility. Montreal has become a frequent host of other major sporting and cultural events such as Formula 1 and the International Jazz Festival, giving the city more opportunities to promote itself and its cultural development. Montreal also gained improved sporting infrastructure initially built for the games. Much of it is still in use today, such as the Olympic Pool, which sees 250,000 recreational users a year. It is also the host of Canada’s Bell swimming trials, organized to select which swimmers compete for the country. Other venues have been converted into significant landmarks, with the Olympic Velodrome becoming the famous Biodome.
McGill University also contains an element of the city’s Olympic legacy, as Olympics field hockey tournaments were hosted at Molson Stadium. The stadium became the first Olympic venue to use artificial turf and has hosted many events since 1976 beyond McGill sporting competitions: concerts, Alouette football games, and more. A handful of people associated with the university were also competitors or administrators in the games.
The 1976 Games are not just remembered for the city that hosted them but also for many athletic success stories. Most notably, Romanian Nadia Comăneci achieved the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics and American Caitlyn Jenner set the world record for points in the decathlon. Furthermore, the competition between various nations became a diplomatic battleground; especially in the midst of the Cold War, which saw communist countries like the Soviet Union use the games as a means to display its power.
The 1976 Olympic Games demonstrate the power sports can have on various facets of everyday life. While the event allowed Montreal to showcase its best features by hosting these major events, it also revealed corruption and scandals that amplified underlying political tensions in the city. Furthermore, the 1976 games demonstrated how sports can foster international community. The Olympics’ global stage united the world through friendly competition and the ability to marvel at incredible feats of athleticism.
The International Olympic Committee defines its philosophy, known as Olympism, as an aim to “place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind … promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity,” directed by the Games’ core values of “excellence, respect and friendship.” In other words, the Olympics seeks to create a community united through sport. In the wake of recent cuts of several sport programs at McGill, the legacy of the 1976 Olympics encourages us to reflect on the power of sports and togetherness.