Bids for the 1976 Winter Olympics

The selection process for the 1976 Winter Olympics consisted of four bids, and saw Denver, United States, selected ahead of Sion, Switzerland; Tampere, Finland; and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The selection was made at the 70th IOC Session in Amsterdam on 12 May 1970. In a 1972 referendum, voters in Colorado rejected funding for the games, and for the only time a city awarded the Games rejected them. IOC then offered them to Whistler, but a change of government meant they were also no longer interested. Salt Lake City offered to host the games, but the IOC, still stinging from Denver's refusal, was reluctant to award it to another American city. The IOC finally chose Innsbruck, Austria, which ultimately hosted the games.