Australia competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 180 competitors, 146 men and 34 women, took part in 115 events in 20 sports. Australia performed poorly, winning one silver and four bronze medals, finishing thirty-second on the medals table. This result caused significant negative backlash within the country, and spurred Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser to set up the Australian Institute of Sport.
Medalists
Archery
In the second Olympic archery competition that Australia contested, the nation sent two women and two men. Only one archer, Terry Reilly, had Olympic experience. He dropped 11 places from his 1972 finish.
Women's Individual Competition: Carole Toy — 2305 points (→ 15th place) Maureen Adams — 2114 points (→ 25th place)
Men's Individual Competition: David Anear — 2407 points (→ 13th place) Terry Reilly — 2331 points (→ 26th place)
Athletics
Men's 4 × 400 metres Relay
Max Binnington, Peter Grant, Don Hanly, and Rick Mitchell
Heat — 3:05.75 (→ did not advance)
Men's 5.000 metres
David Fitzsimons
Heat — did not start (→ did not advance, no ranking)
Men's 10.000 metres
Chris Wardlaw
Heat — 28:17.52
Final — 28:29.91 (→ 12th place) David Fitzsimons Heat — 28:16.43 Final — 29:17.74 (→ 14th place)
Men's 400m Hurdles
Don Hanly
Heat — 51.90s (→ did not advance) Peter Grant Heat — 51.07s (→ did not advance)
Men's Long Jump
Chris Commons
Heat — 7.46m (→ did not advance)
Men's Marathon
Chris Wardlaw — 2:23:56 (→ 35th place) David Chettle — did not finish (→ no ranking) Ross Haywood — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Men's 20 km Race Walk
Ross Haywood — 1:30:59 (→ 12th place)
Men's Hammer Throw
Peter Farmer
Qualifying round — 69.92m
Final — 68.00m (→ 12th place)
Basketball
Men's competition
Preliminary round (Group A): Lost to Cuba (89-111) Lost to Soviet Union (77-93) Defeated Mexico (120-117) Lost to Canada (69-81) Defeated Japan (117-79) Classification Matches: 5th/8th place: Lost to Italy (72-79) 7th/8th place: Lost to Cuba (81-92) → 8th place Team Roster: Robbie Cadee Ian Watson Andrew Campbell Tony Barnett Eddie Palubinskas Perry Crosswhite Russell Simon Michael Tucker Andris Blicavs Peter Walsh John Maddock Ray Tomlinson Head coach: Lindsay Gaze
Boxing
Canoeing
Cycling
Twelve cyclists represented Australia in 1976.
Individual road race
Clyde Sefton — 4:49:01 (→ 28th place) Remo Sansonetti — 4:49:01 (→ 34th place) Alan Goodrope — did not finish (→ no ranking) Peter Kesting — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Team time trial
Ian Chandler
Remo Sansonetti
Sal Sansonetti
Clyde Sefton
Sprint
Ron Boyle — 20th place
1000m time trial
Stephen Goodall — 1:08.610 (→ 12th place)
Individual pursuit
Gary Sutton — 6th place
Team pursuit
Stephen Goodall
Kevin Nichols
Geoff Skaines
John Thorsen
Diving
Equestrian
Fencing
Three fencers, two men and one woman, represented Australia in 1976.
Men's foil
Greg Benko
Ernest Simon
Men's épée
Greg Benko
Women's foil
Helen Smith
Gymnastics
Hockey
Men's competition
Preliminary round (Group A) Defeated Malaysia (2-0) Defeated Canada (3-0) Defeated India (6-1) Lost to the Netherlands (1-2) Lost to Argentina (2-3) Replay: Defeated India (1-1, 5-4 after penalty strokes) Semi-finals Defeated Pakistan (1-2) Final Lost to New Zealand (0-1) → Silver Medal Team Roster ( 1.) Robert Haigh ( 2.) Ric Charlesworth ( 3.) David Bell ( 4.) Greg Browning ( 5.) Ian Cooke ( 6.) Barry Dancer ( 7.) Douglas Golder ( 8.) Wayne Hammond ( 9.) Jim Irvine (10.) Stephan Marshall (11.) Malcolm Poole (12.) Robert Proctor (13.) Graeme Reid (14.) Ronald Riley (15.) Trevor Smith (16.) Terry Walsh Head coach: Mervyn Adams
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Two male pentathletes represented Australia in 1976.