The 1976 Summer Paralympics were the fifth Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in Toronto, in the province of Ontario, Canada from August 3 to 11, 1976. They were originally known as the Torontolympiad.^[1]

This marked the first time that Canada hosted the Summer Paralympics, which has now been followed by Canada's first Winter Paralympics, the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver.

The 1976 Summer Olympics were also hosted by Canada, in Montreal.

Opening Ceremonies, Venues and Closing Ceremonies

The opening of the 1976 games were held at Woodbine Race Track in north Etobicoke. There was no athletes village, so the athletes were housed at York University (Keele campus), University of Toronto (Erindale?) and the CNIB (national headquarters in Toronto). Closing ceremonies and outdoor events (mainly track and field) took place at Centennial Park Stadium. Centennial Gymnasium and Centennial Park's Olympic Pool were the other venues (for indoor and swimming events respectively).

Sports

At the 1976 games, amputees and visually impaired athletes competed for the first time; previous editions of the Paralympic Games had included only wheelchair athletes. Within the sport of athletics, new wheelchair racing distances of 200 m, 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m were added. Shooting and goalball, both previously demonstration events, were included as official medal sports.^[2]

• Archery
• Athletics
• Dartchery
• Goalball
• Lawn bowls
• Shooting
• Snooker
• Swimming
• Table tennis
• Volleyball
• Weightlifting
• Wheelchair basketball
• Wheelchair fencing

Medal table

1	United States	66	44	45	155
2	Netherlands	45	25	14	84
3	Israel	40	13	16	69
4	West Germany	37	34	26	97
5	Great Britain	29	29	36	94
6	Canada	25	26	26	77
7	Poland	24	17	12	53
8	France	23	21	14	58
9	Sweden	22	27	24	73
10	Austria	17	16	17	50
11	Australia	16	18	8	42
12	Mexico	16	14	9	39
13	Finland	12	20	18	50
14	Switzerland	10	12	10	32
15	Japan	10	6	3	19
16	Norway	9	6	4	19
17	Belgium	7	7	8	22
18	New Zealand	7	1	5	13
19	South Africa	6	9	11	26
20	Egypt	5	2	1	8
21	Ireland	4	10	6	20
22	Spain	4	6	2	12
23	Argentina	3	4	7	14
24	Denmark	3	0	3	6
25	Italy	2	5	11	18
26	Indonesia	2	1	4	7
27	South Korea	1	2	1	4
28	Myanmar	1	1	1	3
29	Peru	1	0	2	3
30	Hong Kong	0	1	2	3
31	Brazil	0	1	0	1
32	Guatemala	0	0	1	1
	Total	447	378	347	1172

Participating delegations

Forty delegations took part in the Toronto Paralympics.^[3]

South Africa was competing at the Paralympics for the fourth time. Although banned from the Olympic Games due to its policy of apartheid, it was not banned from the Paralympics until 1980, and Canada, as host country, did not object to its participation. These were, however, to be its last Paralympics before the dismantling of apartheid; The Netherlands, as hosts of the 1980 Games, declared South Africa's further participation "undesirable".^{[4] [5]}

See also

• Canada at the Paralympics
• World Paralympiads in Canada
  • 1976 Summer Paralympics – Toronto
  • 2010 Winter Paralympics – Vancouver—Whistler
• 1976 Winter Paralympics
• 1976 Summer Olympics

References