July 26, 1976

Sandra Henderson assisted Stephane Prefontaine with the lighting of the Olympic flame, the second time a woman appeared on the torchstand. Pat Putnam's account read: "Some of the pomp was dampened by politics, but the XXI Olympic Games opened last Saturday in Montreal. For more than a year there had been doubts that the Games would take place, but on a gloriously beautiful afternoon, with England's Queen Elizabeth presiding, speaking first in French, then in English, the Olympics began."

Photograph by Walter Iooss Jr.