ABSTRACT
The Montreal Summer Olympics were to be a modest affair, remembered for the harmony they would bring back to the Games and for demonstrating that even a medium-sized city could stage a successful world event. These were to be the Olympics with a human face. In this chapter,1 we take stock of the fact that three and a half decades later a different legacy has taken hold and the 1976 Olympics are best known for their extravagant cost overrun ($700 million on an inflated $1.2 billion price tag), for the boycott of twenty-six African nations, and for coming close to an abrupt cancellation.2 Although Montrealers still retain a rather positive image of those three weeks in July, they remain convinced that in the short run the Games proved a catastrophe for the city’s economy and its reputation, with very little to show except an over-sized and under-used stadium.
