Montreal and the Olympics: Top moments and milestones for the city that will host a 2028 Q-Series event

The Olympic Q-Series is heading north.

Montreal will stage the third of four stops on the multi-sport festival – formerly known as the Olympic Qualifier Series – running 1-4 June 2028, with athletes chasing the last qualification spots for the Olympic Games LA28 across six sports: 3x3 basketball, beach volleyball, BMX freestyle, climbing, flag football and skateboarding.

"The Q-Series is an exciting global event on the road to the LA28 Olympic Games," IOC President Kirsty Coventry said. "It's one format, four stops, six sports. The goal is to boost athlete visibility and global fan engagement. We cannot wait for the series to kick off."

It is fitting territory. Few cities have a deeper Olympic history than Montreal – and the connection runs well beyond the summer of 1976.

Scroll on for a look at the moments and milestones that tie Montreal to the Games.

Canada's first Olympic host city

Montreal welcomed the world for the Olympic Games Montreal 1976, the first Olympic Games staged on Canadian soil. More than 6,000 athletes from 92 nations competed across 21 sports, with the Games opened by Queen Elizabeth II at the new Olympic Stadium on 17 July 1976.

The night the scoreboard couldn't keep up

On 18 July 1976, 14-year-old Romanian Nadia Comăneci scored the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics history on the uneven bars, and the scoreboard, which was not designed to show four figures, displayed it as "1.00". Comăneci would go on to record six more perfect 10s in Montreal, winning gold in the all-around, the uneven bars and the balance beam.

The first Canadian to win two Olympic golds was from Montreal

Born in Montreal in 1893, swimmer George Hodgson won the 400m and 1500m freestyle at the Olympic Games Stockholm 1912, setting world records in both. His 1500m mark stood for 11 years.

An Olympic stadium for the ages

Montreal's Olympic Stadium, designed by French architect Roger Taillibert, opened as a piece of organic-modern architecture and a symbol of the city. The stadium has hosted Olympic sporting events over the years, including the 2017 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

The Olympic Park lives on

The Montreal 1976 site has welcomed more than 100 million visitors since the Games and remains one of the most-visited cultural and sports complexes in Quebec. The 50th anniversary of the Games arrives in 2026.

Worlds at the Bell Centre

The 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal marked the city's first time hosting the event since 1932. Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps won pairs gold for Canada. Stellato-Dudek, at age 40, became the oldest woman to win a senior World title.

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