athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics

At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, 37 events were contested in athletics. There were a total number of 1005 participating athletes from 80 countries.

The men's 50 kilometres walk competition was dropped from the Olympic athletics programme, despite its constant presence at the games since 1932. The IAAF chose to host its own world championship event instead, a month and a half after the Olympics. This foreshadowed the creation of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in the following years.