Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's triple jump


The Men's Triple Jump event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, had an entry list of 25 competitors, with two qualifying groups before the final took place on Friday July 30, 1976. The top twelve and ties, and all those reaching 16.30 metres advanced to the final. The qualification round was held in Thursday July 29, 1976.

Summary

Three world record holders came to compete; João Carlos de Oliveira was the current record holder at the 1975 Pan American Games; two time defending champion Viktor Saneyev and Pedro Pérez who had taken Saneyev's record and held it for a year until Saneyev took it back.
All but two finalists hit the 16.30 automatic qualifier, de Oliveira the leader in that round. In the final, Pérez took the early lead with a 16.81 in the first round, James Butts was in second at 16.69, while Saneyev and de Oliveira fouled. In the second round, Saneyev landed a 16.71 but was only third as Butts improved to 16.76. The order switched in the third round when Saneyev jumped 17.06 and de Oliveira went 16.85 to take over the top two spots. In the fourth round, Butts leaped into the lead with 17.18. Saneyev jumped the winner in the fifth round. On his final attempt, de Oliveira improved to 16.90, but couldn't improve enough to change his medal from bronze.
Saneyev became the third man to win the same event three times in a row, after John Flanagan in the hammer throw and Al Oerter in the discus.

Medalists

Abbreviations

Qautomatic qualification
qqualification by rank
DNSdid not start
NMno mark
ORolympic record
WRworld record
ARarea record
NRnational record
PBpersonal best
SBseason best

Records

Qualification

Group A

Group B

Final