Montreal 1976 Olympic Games – Morocco
In 1976, Morocco like many other countries issued a set of four stamps to celebrate the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games. The session held in Montreal, Canada was 21st session of the modern Olympic Games.
Montreal 1976 Olympic Games
More than six thousand athletes from 92 countries participated in the games. The Soviet Union and East Germany were among the countries with the highest medals. They obtained respectively 20% and 15% of the medals. The United States of America ranked third with 94 medals, including 34 gold.
The Boycott of Games
Twenty nine countries, mostly from Africa boycotted the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games, to protest the participation of New zealand.
Earlier in the same year, New Zealand rugby team had toured South Africa in defiance of the calls for a sporting embargo of the apartheid country, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rejected the call of the Organisation of African Unity to ban New Zealand.
South Africa had been excluded from the Olympic games since 1966, because of its government’s apartheid policy and the discrimination against black athletes.
Morocco participates for the 5th time in the Summer Olympics in 1976 in Montreal.
After 3 days, the Morocan national olympic Committee left the competition and joins the boycott organized by the African countries.
The star of the games
The star of the games was the Fourteen-year-old gymnast Nadia Comaneci of Romania. She shot to fame when, for her performance on the uneven bars, she was awarded the first-ever perfect score of 10.0. She went on to earn seven maximum marks in total.
Morocco issued a set of four stamps on the occasion of the Montreal Olympic Games. Their face values are respectively 35 centimes, 40 centimes, 50 centimes and 1 Dirham.
Catalogue Reference: Yvert & Tellier- 765 to 768.
