The costs of staging the 21st Olympiad even overshadowed the opening ceremony, with cranes dominating the skyline of a construction that was barely finished in time. Industrial disputes had exacerbated the problems caused by lack of funds in Montreal, a city until recently still paying off its debts from that time.
The Canadians, however, won praise for their superb organisation and tight security, which was critical after the tragedy of Munich. The Israeli team wore black arms bands as a mark of respect for the 11 athletes who died at the hands of Palestinian terrorists in 1972. But politics did not stop there.
Participation levels were smaller than they had been in Munich, partly because of a boycott by 22 African nations protesting over New Zealand's rugby tour of apartheid South Africa. A total of 6,028 athletes, including 1,247 women, from 92 nations took part in a record 198 events.
Gymnastics produced one of the star performers in Nadia Comaneci, the 14-year-old Romanian who won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze. On the track, Lasse Viren, of Finland, retained his 5,000 and 10,000m crowns, and finished fifth in the marathon in the absence of African runners.
For longevity of form, few surpassed Irena Szewinska, of Poland, whose victory in the 400m on the track capped a career in which she won a gold medal as a member of the 4 by 100m in 1964 and a gold medal in the 200m in 1968. Montreal also witnessed the first basketball tournament for women and the bulky form of Vasiliy Alexeyev, the Soviet lifter, powering his way to retaining his super-heavyweight title.
One of the abiding memories of Montreal was the sight of the muscle-heavy women swimmers and rowers from East Germany. In the pool, the East Germans won an astonishing 11 out of 14 titles, Kornelia Ender taking four gold medals and a silver in the freestyle relay won by the US. Ender won the 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly titles within half an hour of each other.
In rowing, East German women won four of the six titles. Some of those women would later be named in Stasi files showing that they had been doped with anabolic steroids to enhance their performances.
As the drugs era took hold, the US slipped out of the top two on the medals table for the first time in Olympic history as the Soviet Union, on 49 titles, found its greatest rival in political affiliate the GDR, with 40 titles, The US achieved 34 victories for third, while Canada suffered the worst ever performance by a host nation, failing to win a title and finishing 27th overall.
Britain slipped back a little too, finishing 13th with just three titles, one of those to David Wilkie, the greatest British swimmer in history, whose victory in a world record over 200m breaststroke was so emphatic as to remain one of the abiding images of Montreal.
CRAIG LORD
The Times
