1976 Summer Olympics - Non-participating NOCs

Non-participating NOCs

Twenty-eight countries boycotted the Games due to the refusal of the IOC to ban New Zealand, after the New Zealand national rugby union team had toured South Africa earlier in 1976. The boycott was led by Congo's official Jean Claude Ganga. Some of the boycotting nations (including Morocco, Cameroon and Egypt) had already participated, however, the teams withdrew after the first day. Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire were the only sovereign countries in Africa that did not boycott the event. Elsewhere, both Iraq and Guyana also opted to join the Congolese-led boycott. South Africa had been banned from the Olympics since 1964 due to its apartheid policies.

A separate boycott of the Montreal games took place as a result of an identity designation dispute involving two teams. The Republic of China (Taiwan) team withdrew after Canada's Liberal government, under Pierre Elliott Trudeau, informed it that it could not compete under the name "Republic of China". This was done because Canada officially recognized the People's Republic of China. Canada did try to compromise by saying that the people of the Republic of China could retain their national flag and anthem, but they refused. In November 1976, the International Olympic Committee recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole legal representative. This would lead to 1979's Nagoya Resolution, where the People's Republic and Taiwan agreed that Taiwan would compete in the Olympics and other international sporting events as Chinese Taipei with a custom flag. This would eventually lead to the Republic of China boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympics outside of the US-led boycott that year.