South Africa (RSA)

At the IOC Session in The Hague on 23 May 1907 the British delegation proposed that “The four British Colonies, the Cape Province, Natal, the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal should be invited to take part in the Fourth Olympiad as South Africa”. The National Olympic Committee was formed on 3 January 1908. On 31 May 1910 the Union of South Africa became independent, but South Africa had already competed at the Olympics before, with the exception of the Intercalated Games of 1906, South Africa’s participation at the Olympic Games was continuous from 1904 through 1960. From 1964 to 1988, however, it was not allowed to compete at the Olympics. This was due to the country’s policy of apartheid and, in particular, its use of the policy in choosing its athletic teams, which is forbidden by International Olympic Committee (IOC) policy. It is ironic that the first South African Olympians were two Tswana tribesmen who ran in the 1904 marathon; named Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani, they were both black men.

The story of South Africa’s banishment from the Olympics is one of the most complex issues which has ever faced the IOC. South Africa did not always practice apartheid as a sporting policy. In the 1930s, there was frequent inter-racial competition, but in June 1956, a South African law was passed requiring an end to inter-racial sport. In 1958, IOC Member Olaf Ditlev-Simonsen of Norway informed IOC President Avery Brundage that his country would exclude an all-white South African team, if his nation were awarded the Olympics. In 1959, the Indians, Egyptians, and Soviets pressed the IOC for South Africa’s ouster from the Olympics, but the IOC was content with the promise that its 1960 Olympic team would be a multi-racial one. It was not.

In 1962, South Africa Interior Minister Jan de Klerk commented publicly that, “Government policy is that no mixed teams should take part in sports inside or outside the country.” The IOC could scarcely ignore this message. At the 60th IOC Session in Moscow in 1962, the IOC voted to suspend the South African National Olympic Committee (SANOC) “… if the policy of racial discrimination practiced by the government … does not change before our Session in Nairobi which takes place in October 1963.” (this session was later moved from Nairobi to Baden-Baden after the Kenyan government refused to grant a visa to the South African delegate) SANOC was eventually suspended at the 62th IOC session in Innsbruck in January 1964.

Further problems arose in December 1966 in Bamako, Mali, when 32 African nations formed the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA). The SCSA’s stated purpose was to coordinate and promote sport, but its true objective was to attack South Africa’s apartheid policies in sport. At its founding conference, the SCSA resolved: “… to use every means to obtain the expulsion of South African sports organizations from the Olympic Movement and from International Federations should South Africa fail to comply fully with the IOC rules.”

In mid-September 1967, an ad hoc IOC Commission visited South Africa to inspect the sporting facilities and see if the South Africa sporting groups were in violation of Olympic principles. The commission consisted of three IOC Members: future IOC President Lord Killanin (Ireland), Reggie Alexander (Kenya – a white man), and Sir Adetokunbo Ademola (Nigeria – a Black man). They presented their report to the IOC on 30 January 1968, and it was felt to be generally positive. By a mail ballot, the IOC voted to restore recognition to SANOC, allowing a multi-racial South African team to compete at the 1968 Olympics.

This prompted mass boycott demands from the African nations, which vehemently opposed this decision. The IOC Executive Board subsequently met in Lausanne, Switzerland on 20 April 1968, and decided to poll the IOC members. By a postal ballot of 47-17 (with eight abstentions), the IOC reversed its course and withdrew its recognition of SANOC, preventing a huge boycott of the 1968 Olympics. In May 1970, at the 70th IOC session in Amsterdam, the South African Olympic Committee was expelled from the IOC by a vote of 35-28, with three abstentions.

In 1976, the South African question again became prominent when several African nations boycotted in protest of a New Zealand rugby team’s having played several games on tour in South Africa. Ironically, rugby had not been an Olympic sport since 1924 and the New Zealand rugby team was named the All-Blacks.

In 1990, South Africa began to take steps to eliminate apartheid. In April 1991, the IOC, anticipating apartheid’s elimination, gave provisional recognition to the South African Olympic Committee. On 9 July 1991, the International Olympic Committee granted full recognition to the South African Olympic Committee and lifted its 21-year ban on its participation in the Olympics. In 1992 at Barcelona, South Africa competed on the Olympic stage for the first time in 32 years. The nation’s return to the Olympics was celebrated fittingly when Elana Meyer, a white 10,000 metre runner, won the first medal since 1960, and celebrated it by running her victory lap hand-in-hand with the Black winner, Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia.

South Africa has competed at all Olympics since Barcelona. It has won a total of 89 medals (27 golds), all at the Summer Olympics, of which 38 (11 golds) were won in the post-apartheid era. Three South Africans have won two Olympic titles: tennis player Charles Winslow (1912) (1912), swimmer Penny Heyns (1996) (1996), and 800-metre runner Caster Semenya (2012 and 2016). The South African with the most medals overall is swimmer Chad le Clos, with four medals and one gold (2012 and 2016).

South Africa competed at the 1960 Olympic Winter Games in Palisades Tahoe/Olympic Valley (then Squaw Valley), and has competed at the Olympic Winter Games since 1994, missing only 2014 in Sochi and 2022 in Beijing. Far from a winter sports powerhouse, South Africa has had 12 Winter Olympians (seven men and five women), with their best finish in their very first appearance, a 13th place in 1960 by pairs figure skaters Marcelle Matthews and Gwyn Jones. South Africans have competed in five disciplines at the Olympic Winter Games – Alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, short-track speedskating, and skeleton.

South Africa bid for the 2004 Olympics to be held in Cape Town, but was eliminated in the third voting round. In 2010 it successfully hosted the FIFA World Cup, and it is considering another Olympic bid. In 2011 the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee was awarded with the Olympic Cup.