Rowing at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's eight

Men's eight at the Games of the XXI Olympiad
Venue	Olympic basin at Notre Dame Island
Date	18–25 July
Competitors	100 from 11 nations
Teams	11
Winning time	5:58.29
Medalists
01 ! Bernd Baumgart Gottfried Döhn Werner Klatt Hans-Joachim Lück Dieter Wendisch Roland Kostulski Ulrich Karnatz Karl-Heinz Prudöhl Karl-Heinz Danielowski (cox)  East Germany 02 ! Richard Lester John Yallop Timothy Crooks Hugh Matheson David Maxwell James Clark Frederick Smallbone Leonard Robertson Patrick Sweeney (cox)  Great Britain 03 ! Ivan Sutherland Trevor Coker Peter Dignan Lindsay Wilson Athol Earl Dave Rodger Alec McLean Tony Hurt Simon Dickie (cox)  New Zealand
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01 !		Bernd Baumgart Gottfried Döhn Werner Klatt Hans-Joachim Lück Dieter Wendisch Roland Kostulski Ulrich Karnatz Karl-Heinz Prudöhl Karl-Heinz Danielowski (cox)	East Germany
02 !		Richard Lester John Yallop Timothy Crooks Hugh Matheson David Maxwell James Clark Frederick Smallbone Leonard Robertson Patrick Sweeney (cox)	Great Britain
03 !		Ivan Sutherland Trevor Coker Peter Dignan Lindsay Wilson Athol Earl Dave Rodger Alec McLean Tony Hurt Simon Dickie (cox)	New Zealand

The men's eight competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics, also referred to as men's coxed eight (M8+), took place at the rowing basin on Notre Dame Island in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was held from 18 to 25 July and was won by the team from East Germany.

Whilst the East German team was considered to be the favourite, the event was wide open and many teams could have won it. The United States had in the past dominated the event and up until and including the 1964 Summer Olympics, they had won nine out of ten Olympic golds. Whilst their dominance had since waned, they were still considered possible medal contenders, as they had won the 1974 World Rowing Championships. East Germany had won the 1973 European Rowing Championships (the event was discontinued after 1973), and the 1975 World Rowing Championships, and they had won bronze at the 1972 Olympics. The New Zealand team had won the event at the previous Summer Olympics, had won bronze at the last two World Rowing Championships, and four of their 1972 Olympic rowers plus their cox returned to Montreal. Other medallist at these major rowing events were Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain.

New Zealand changed seats for seven of its eight rowers. West Germany and Japan changed seats for all eight rowers. The Soviet team changed seats 1 to 7. The team from Cuba changed seats for seven rowers.

Great Britain changed five of its seats, including the stroke. Czechoslovakia changed seats 2 to 6. Canada changed seven of the eight seats.

The two finals were rowed on 25 July. The only team that did not change seats during the competition was the United States.

East Germany changed five seats for the final. After Malcolm Shaw as stroke injured his back in the elimination race, Australia replaced him with Peter Shakespear for the final.