Montreal+1976+4


 * __Montreal Olympics-1976: Elizabeth B., Ella, and Paul H.__**

by Lordcolus Republic of China (Taiwan) withdrew after Canada told them that they could not compete under the name "Republic of China", because Canada officially recognized People’s Republic of China. Canada tried to compromise by saying that the people of the Republic of China could keep their national flag and anthem, but they refused.
 * 1. Taiwan withdrew from the games, when Canada wouldn’t recognize them as a republic of china.**


 * 2. Many East German swimmers were accused of using steroids.**

by mandolux http://www.flickr.com/search/?l=3&q=steroid+&m=text

by limowreck666 http://www.flickr.com/search/?l=3&q=steroid+&m=text

In 1976 the East German women's swim team won 11 of the 13 events. Many suspected that this sudden emergence owed at least as much to testosterone injections by their own coaches and superiors, as to skill and training. Sadly, they were to be proven right more than 20 years later, after Germany was reunified and former East German coaches and doctors went on trial for giving steroids to young athletes, usually without their knowledge. Shirley Babashoff, a United States swimmer, was the first to accuse her rivals of using anabolic steroids because of their big muscles and deep voices. An official from the East German team responded, "They came to swim, not to sing."


 * 3.The Olympics cost Canada $2 Billion, putting them in debt for decades.**

The organization of the Olympics was bad financially for Montreal and the city faced debts for twenty years after the Games had finished. The Olympic Stadium, a “daring” design of French architect Roger Taillibert, remains a lasting monument to the huge mistake, and as such is known as the Big Owe; it never had an effective retractable roof, and the tower was completed after the Olympics. The Montreal games of 1976 are the most expensive Games ever organized to date.

The Stadium Finances: Despite the initial projected cost of the Olympic Stadium (C$134 million in 1970), strikes and delays escalated the cost to C$264 million when it opened (unfinished). In May of 1976 the Quebec government introduced a tobacco tax to try and recover from its stadium debt. The debts were finally paid off in 2006, and the total cost (including repairs, renovations, construction, interest, and inflation) was C$1.61 billion.



Montreal Olympic Tower: photo by wallyg

http://www.flickr.com/search/?l=3&q=+1976+Olympics&m=text



Olympic Stadium: photo by Herman Beun

http://www.flickr.com/search/?l=3&q=+1976+Olympics&m=text


 * 4. Many African Nations boy-cotted the games.**
 * * Algeria
 * Cameroon
 * Central African Republic
 * Chad
 * Congo
 * Egypt
 * Ethiopia ||  || * Gabon
 * Gambia
 * Ghana
 * Guyana
 * Iraq
 * Kenya
 * Libya ||  || * Madagascar
 * Malawi
 * Mali
 * Morocco
 * Niger
 * Nigeria
 * Sudan ||  || * Swaziland
 * Tanzania
 * Togo
 * Tunisia
 * Uganda
 * Upper Volta
 * Zambia ||

In protest at a tour of South Africa by the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Union team early in the year, Congo’s official Jean Claude Ganga led a boycott of 28 African nations, because the International Olympics Committee refused to bar the New Zealand team. Some of the nations (including, Morocco, Cameroon and Egypt) had already participated, and the teams withdrew only after the first day. From Southern and Central Africa, only Senegal and Ivory Coast took part. Both Iraq and Guyana also chose to join the Congolese-led boycott.

Image by "The West End" http://www.flickr.com/search/?l=3&q=montreal+1976+olympics&m=text

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