South Affrica’s Return to the Olympics : Important Dates in South Africa Sports History

1956--The International Table Tennis Federation expels the all-white South African Table Tennis Union. 1960--South Africa fields a team in the Olympics for what turns out to be the last time. The team is all-white. 1962--South Africa is invited to the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. 1964 South Africa’s Olympic invitation is withdrawn because the government refuses to send an integrated team. 1968--Several countries threaten to boycott the Mexico City Olympics if South Africa is present. 1970--South Africa is expelled from the International Olympic Committee. 1972--African nations threaten to boycott the Munich Olympics if white-ruled Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) is allowed to compete. Rhodesian athletes, already in the Olympic village, are sent home. 1973--After twice being denied a visa, tennis player Arthur Ashe is given government permission to visit South Africa. 1976--Twenty-seven African nations boycott the Montreal Olympics because a New Zealand rugby team competed in South Africa. 1976--Acting upon a resolution proposed by the Soviet Union, the International Amateur Athletic Federation votes to expel South Africa, a founding member. 1977--Leaders of the Commonwealth of Nations meet and adopt the Gleneagles Agreement, in which member countries vow to discourage sporting contact with South Africa. 1981--The United Nations Centre Against Apartheid begins publication of a “blacklist” of athletes who compete in South Africa. The first list contains the names of 165 athletes from 16 countries. 1986--The World Boxing Assn. suspends South Africa’s membership. July 1986--British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s refusal to impose economic sanctions against South Africa results in 32 nations boycotting the Commonwealth Games at Edinburgh. 1988--The IOC establishes a Committee on Apartheid in Olympism. August 1989--The IOC rules at a session in Puerto Rico that any athlete who competes in South Africa will be stripped of Olympic eligibility. September 1989--IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch meets with representatives of the South African National Olympic Committee (SANOC). October 1989--IOC Vice President Keba Mbaye of Kenya meets with representatives of the SANOC. January 1990--Nigeria warns of a boycott of the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, because of a rebel British cricket tour of South Africa. February 1990--The IOC hears a report on the status of change in South African sports. November1990--South African Olympic officials meet with Olympic officials from other African nations in Harare, Zimbabwe. February 1991--South African President Frederik W. de Klerk open Parliment and vows to strike down all remaining apartheid laws. March 1991--The International Olympic Committee gives conditional recognition to a restructured and integrated Interim National Olympic Committee of South Africa. April 1991--The British government calls for the lifting of sports bans on South Africa. May 1991--de Klerk send a letter to the International Amateur Athletic Federation expressing his wish that South Africa take part in the World Championships at Tokyo in August. May 1991--An IOC delegation visits South Africa for the first time since 1967. June 1991--The South African Parliment votes down the last of the nation’s apartheid laws. June 1991--Kenya becomes the first Africn nation to end its sporting ban on South Africa. June 1991--The IOC Congress give its 11-member Executive Board the authority to readmit South Africa without consulting the full body.