Summer Olympic Games swimmer Mark Spitz, Lasse Virén (of Finland)'s back-to-back gold in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters (defeating American distance running great Steve Prefontaine in the former), and the winning of three gold medals by 16-year-old Soviet gymnastic sensation Olga Korbut - who thrilled the world with an historic backflip off the high bar. Korbut, however, failed to win the all-around, losing to her teammate Ludmilla Tourischeva. There was no such tragedy in Montreal in 1976, but bad planning and fraud led to the Games' cost far exceeding the budget. The Montreal Games were the most expensive in Olympic history, until
Football at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification South Africa in spite of the Soweto uprising), the three African participants withdrew a day before the start of the Games. The Pre-Olympic tournaments of the Asian Qualifiers for the 1976 Summer Olympic saw Iran, Israel and North Korea qualify. Football at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification The men's qualification for the 1976 Summer Olympics. A total of 16 teams qualified but only 13 teams participated in the finals of the Olympic tournament. <br> <br> <br> The European Qualifiers for the 1976 Summer Olympics tournament took place after two rounds (qualifying and tournament). East Germany, France, Spain and