OLYMPICS; An Era Ends, Another Begins: South Africa to Go to Olympics (original) (raw)
Sports|OLYMPICS; An Era Ends, Another Begins: South Africa to Go to Olympics
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OLYMPICS
- Nov. 7, 1991
Credit...The New York Times Archives
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November 7, 1991
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Section B, Page
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South Africa will send a racially integrated team of athletes to the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, next July, ending an absence of 32 years, sports officials announced here tonight.
But disputes remain over the flag, anthem and emblem to be used by the South African athletes.
South Africa last competed in the Olympics in 1960 before being expelled for its apartheid policies, which included sending whites, but not blacks, to represent the country at sporting events abroad. Not Just 'a Section'
"This is the first time we can say that South Africa is taking part in the Olympic Games," said Sam Ramsamy, the head of the new National Olympic Committee of South Africa, in announcing the decision to go tonight.
"South Africa has never taken part in the Olympic Games before, although a section of South Africa had," Ramsamy said, referring to the country's white minority. "And we are very pleased that we can get a South African team representing South Africa which will have the support of all South Africa at Barcelona."
On July 9, the International Olympic Committee decided at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, to readmit South Africa. But a formal invitation to the 1992 Games hinged on further progress toward the unification of South Africa's racially disparate sports bodies. The process has not been completed, but Olympic officials accept that unification is well on its way.
South Africa was expelled from Olympic competition by the I.O.C. in 1970 because of the country's policies of racial discrimination. But its Olympic exile has lasted longer. South Africa last competed in the 1960 Summer Games in Rome with an all-white team, but stayed home in 1964 and 1968 because of threats of boycotts by African nations and countries in the Soviet bloc.
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