{"id":942,"date":"2026-01-20T14:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T19:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montrealolympique.ca\/?page_id=942"},"modified":"2026-02-02T16:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:15:11","slug":"montreal-and-the-olympic-games-a-story-of-perseverance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/montrealolympique.ca\/en\/the-1976-games\/montreal-and-the-olympic-games-a-story-of-perseverance\/","title":{"rendered":"Montr\u00e9al and the Olympic Games: A Story of Perseverance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Determined to take its place in Olympic history, Montr\u00e9al\u00a0submitted\u00a0its bid several times before finally being chosen to host the 1976 Summer Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Olympic\u00a0ambitions as\u00a0early as the 1920s\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1928,&nbsp;when the unwritten rule was to host that year&#8217;s Summer and Winter Olympic Games in the same city, the city of Los Angeles was awarded the 1932 Summer Games.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seeing an opportunity, Montr\u00e9al put forward a bid to host the Winter Games&nbsp;in the event that&nbsp;the American cities withdrew.&nbsp;Ultimately, Lake&nbsp;Placid, in New York State, was selected&nbsp;to host the 1932 Winter Olympic&nbsp;Games..&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Montr\u00e9al also entered the race to host the 1936 Winter Games, which were&nbsp;eventually&nbsp;awarded to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A relentless race of repeated bids<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The current site of the Olympic Park had already been&nbsp;designated&nbsp;in 1937 as a potential&nbsp;site&nbsp;for the 1942 British Empire Games<\/strong>&nbsp;(now the Commonwealth Games), as well as the 1944 Winter and Summer Olympic Games. However, the Second World War led to the cancellation of the&nbsp;Games&nbsp;and suspension of all related work.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;<strong>city later&nbsp;submitted&nbsp;a&nbsp;new bid in 1949 for the 1956 Games,&nbsp;and&nbsp;again in 1960 for the 1972 edition<\/strong>. These attempts were unsuccessful.&nbsp;Melbourne was selected for 1956, and Munich for 1972.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"735\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/montrealolympique.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/obtention_jeux2-735x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/montrealolympique.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/obtention_jeux2-735x1024.jpg 735w, https:\/\/montrealolympique.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/obtention_jeux2-215x300.jpg 215w, https:\/\/montrealolympique.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/obtention_jeux2-768x1070.jpg 768w, https:\/\/montrealolympique.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/obtention_jeux2.jpg 861w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u00a9 Jean Drapeau, Archives de la Ville de Montr\u00e9al, Amsterdam, 12 mai 1970<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The sixth bid is the winning one!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Building on the experience and success of the 1967 World Exposition, Montr\u00e9al&nbsp;submitted&nbsp;its candidacy once again on December 4, 1969, driven by Mayor Jean Drapeau.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>On May 12, 1970<\/strong>, during the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Amsterdam,&nbsp;<strong>Montr\u00e9al was officially awarded the Games of the XXI Olympiad.<\/strong>&nbsp;The city became the first and, to this day,&nbsp;only Canadian city to host the Summer Olympic Games.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perseverance finally paid off, paving the way for a transformative project for the entire city.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The wait is over!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The construction of a true sports\u00a0facilities in Montr\u00e9al\u2019s east end had long been central to the city\u2019s urban-planning ambitions. The time had come to revitalize this industrial sector and create sports infrastructure that would serve both high-performance athletes and the residents of this working-class neighbourhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Determined to take its place in Olympic history, Montr\u00e9al submitted its bid several times before finally being chosen to host the 1976 Summer Games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1057,"parent":933,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-942","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"mb":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Montr\u00e9al and the Olympic Games: A Story of Perseverance - Montr\u00e9al olympique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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