Overall Athletics rankings at the 1976 Olympics
| Nation | Final Placing | Total | |||||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | ||
| East Germany | 11 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 49 |
| United States | 6 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 46 |
| Soviet Union | 4 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 38 |
| West Germany | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
| United Kingdom | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 15 |
| Poland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| Finland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| Italy | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Bulgaria | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Cuba | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| Romania | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Canada | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| France | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Sweden | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Belgium | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Australia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Jamaica | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Hungary | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Portugal | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Czechoslovakia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Brazil | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Mexico | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Yugoslavia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Spain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Republic of Ireland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Panama | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Israel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| India | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Norway | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Denmark | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Japan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Hasely Crawford, Trinidad and Tobago |
| 2 | Donald Quarrie, Jamaica |
| 3 | Valery Borzov, Soviet Union |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Donald Quarrie, Jamaica |
| 2 | Millard Hampton, United States |
| 3 | Dwayne Evans, United States |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Alberto Juantorena Danger, Cuba |
| 2 | Frederick Newhouse, United States |
| 3 | Herman Frazier, United States |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Alberto Juantorena Danger, Cuba |
| 2 | Ivo van Damme, Belgium |
| 3 | Richard Wohluter, United States |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | John Walker, New Zealand |
| 2 | Ivo van Damme, Belgium |
| 3 | Paul-Heinz Wellmann, West Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Lasse Viren, Finland |
| 2 | Dick Quax, New Zealand |
| 3 | Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand, West Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Lasse Viren, Finland |
| 2 | Carlos Lopes, Portugal |
| 3 | Brendan Foster, United Kingdom |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Waldemar Cierpinski, East Germany |
| 2 | Frank Shorter, United States |
| 3 | Karel Lismont, Belgium |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Guy Drut, France |
| 2 | Alejandro Casañas Ramirez, Cuba |
| 3 | Willie Davenport, United States |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Edwin Moses, United States |
| 2 | Michael Shine, United States |
| 3 | Yevgeny Gavrilenko, Soviet Union |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Anders Gärderud, Sweden |
| 2 | Bronislaw Malinowski, Poland |
| 3 | Frank Baumgartl, East Germany |
| Pos | Athletes |
| 1 | Harvey Glance, John Wesley Jones, Millard Hampton, and Steven Riddick, United States |
| 2 | Manfred Kokot, Jörg Pfeifer, Klaus-Dieter Kurrat, and Alexander Thieme, East Germany |
| 3 | Alexander Aksinin, Nikolai Kolesnikov, Juris Silovs, and Valery Borzov, Soviet Union |
| Pos | Athletes |
| 1 | Herman Frazier, Benjamin Brown, Frederick Newhouse, and Maxie Parks, United States |
| 2 | Ryszard Podlas, Jan Wener, Zbigniew Jaremski, and Jerzy Pietrzyk, Poland |
| 3 | Franz-Peter Hofmeister, Lothar Krieg, Harald Schmid, and Bernd Herrmann, West Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Daniel Bautista Rocha, Mexico |
| 2 | Hans-Georg Reimann, East Germany |
| 3 | Peter Frenkel, East Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Jacek Wszola, Poland |
| 2 | Gregory Joy, Canada |
| 3 | Dwight Stones, United States |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Tadeusz Ślusarski, Poland |
| 2 | Antti Kalliomäki, Finland |
| 3 | David Roberts, United States |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Clarence "Arnie" Robinson, United States |
| 2 | Randy Williams, United States |
| 3 | Frank Wartenberg, East Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Viktor Saneyev, Soviet Union |
| 2 | James Butts, United States |
| 3 | João Carlos de Oliveira, Brazil |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Udo Beyer, East Germany |
| 2 | Yevgeny Mironov, Soviet Union |
| 3 | Aleksandr Baryshnikov, Soviet Union |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Maurice "Mac" Wilkins, United States |
| 2 | Wolfgang Schmidt, East Germany |
| 3 | John Powell, United States |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Yuri Sedykh, Soviet Union |
| 2 | Aleksei Spiridonov, Soviet Union |
| 3 | Anatoly Bondarchuk, Soviet Union |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Miklos Németh, Hungary |
| 2 | Hannu Siitonen, Finland |
| 3 | Gheorghe Megelea, Romania |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Bruce Jenner, United States |
| 2 | Guido Kratschmer, West Germany |
| 3 | Mykola Avilov, Soviet Union |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Annegret Richter, West Germany |
| 2 | Renate Stecher, East Germany |
| 3 | Inge Helten, West Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Bärbel Eckert, East Germany |
| 2 | Annwgret Richter, West Germany |
| 3 | Renate Stecher, East Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Irena Szewińska, Poland |
| 2 | Christina Brehmer, East Germany |
| 3 | Ellen Streidt, East Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Tatyana Kazankina, Soviet Union |
| 2 | Nikolina Shtereva, Bulgaria |
| 3 | Elfi Zinn, East Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Tatyana Kazankina, Soviet Union |
| 2 | Gunhild Hoffmeister, East Germany |
| 3 | Ulrike Klapezynski, East Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Johanna Schaller, East Germany |
| 2 | Tatiana Anisimova, Soviet Union |
| 3 | Natalya Lebedeva, Soviet Union |
| Pos | Athletes |
| 1 | Marlies Oelsner, Renate Stecher, Carla Bodendorf, and Bärbel Eckert, East Germany |
| 2 | Elvira Possekel, Inge Helten, Annegret Richter, and Annegret Kroniger, West Germany |
| 3 | Tetyana Prorochenko, Lyudmila Maslakova, Nadezhda Besfamilnaya, and Vera Anisimova, Soviet Union |
| Pos | Athletes |
| 1 | Doris Maletzki, Brigitte Rohde, Ellen Streidt, and Christina Brehmer, East Germany |
| 2 | Debra Sapenter, Sheila Ingram, Pamela Jiles, and Rosalyn Bryant, United States |
| 3 | Inta Klimoviča, Lyudmyla Aksenova, Natalya Sokolova, and Nadezhda Ilyina, Soviet Union |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Rosemarie Ackermann, East Germany |
| 2 | Sara Simeoni, Italy |
| 3 | Yordanka Blagoyeva, Bulgaria |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Angela Voigt, East Germany |
| 2 | Kathy McMillan, United States |
| 3 | Lidiya Alfeyeva, Soviet Union |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Ivanka Hristova, Bulgaria |
| 2 | Nadezhda Chizhova, Soviet Union |
| 3 | Helena Fibingerová, Czechoslovakia |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Evelin Schlaak, East Germany |
| 2 | Maria Vergova, Bulgaria |
| 3 | Gabriele Hinzmann, East Germany |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Ruth Fuchs, East Germany |
| 2 | Marion Becker, West Germany |
| 3 | Kathryn Schmidt, United States |
| Pos | Athlete |
| 1 | Siegrun Siegl, East Germany |
| 2 | Christine Laser, East Germany |
| 3 | Burglinde Pollak, East Germany |