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Abstract
South Africa was excluded from the 1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games over their government's apartheid policies, before being finally expelled from the Olympic Movement in 1970. In contrast, South Africa first competed in the International Stoke Mandeville Games, which in an Olympic year became known as the Paralympic Games, in 1962. South Africa continued to compete until 1985 (although they had been excluded from both the 1980 and 1984 Paralympic Games) when they were finally expelled from the movement despite having competed with a racially integrated team since 1975. This article looks at some of the events and issues, particularly the influence of international politics, which led to their exclusion and eventual expulsion from the disability sports movement, despite the claims by both the South African team and the organizers of international disability sport that the fully racially integrated team was challenging apartheid by setting an example for others to follow.
Notes
1 CitationCashmore, Making Sense of Sport.
2 CitationBeinart and Dubow, ed., Segregation and Apartheid.
3 CitationWhalley-Hammell, Perspectives on Disability.
4 CitationTatz, Sport in South Africa.
5 Whalley- Hammell, Perspectives on Disability.
6 Beinart and Dubow, ed., Segregation and Apartheid.
7 CitationTurok, Inequality as State Policy.
8 CitationSeedat, Crippling a Nation.
9 Whalley- Hammell, Perspectives on Disability.
10 CitationBrittain, ‘Elite Athletes with Disabilities’.
11 CitationBooth, Sport and Politics.
12 CitationKeech, ‘The Ties That Bind’.
13 Cashmore, Making Sense of Sport.
14 IOC Website, 2010, ‘Rome 1960: All Facts: Consequences of Apartheid’. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Summer/Rome-1960/Rome-1960/
15 CitationHoney, ‘South Africa and the Olympic Movement’.
16 Olympic Review, ‘About the South African Team’. http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1968/ore05/ore05l.pdf.
17 CitationKillanin, My Olympic Years, 46.
18 Olympic Review, ‘Olympism Against Apartheid’. http://www.la84foundation.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1988/ore249/ORE249f.pdf.
19 Booth, Sport and Politics.
20 CitationJarvie and Reid, ‘Sport in South Africa’.
21 CitationMiller, The Official History, 167.
22 Cashmore, Making Sense of Sport.
23 CitationLapchick, The Politics of Race.
24 CitationLapchick, The Politics of Race
25 Booth, Sport and Politics.
26 CitationRamsamy, ‘Apartheid’.
27 Tatz, Sport in South Africa.
28 Huddlestone in Cashmore, Making Sense of Sport.
29 Booth, Sport and Politics.
30 CitationBernstein, For Their Triumphs.
31 Seedat, Crippling a Nation
32 Seedat, Crippling a Nation
33 Seedat, Crippling a Nation
34 CitationThompson, A History of South Africa.
35 CitationLittle, African Safari Tour Journal.
36 South African Sports Association for Persons with a Disability Website, ‘Brief History of Sport for Disabled in South Africa’. http://www.sasapd.org.za/data/Sport%20structures%20and%20SASAPD%20June%202005.htm
37 Letter from Menzo Barrish to Paul Luedtke dated April 29, 1992 [International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) Archives].
38 Letter from Menzo Barrish to Paul Luedtke dated April 29, 1992 (IWAS Archives); Minutes of a meeting between the Executive Board of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation with the Dutch Olympic Committees, Mr Sam Ramsamy Chairman (and SACOS overseas representative) and Mr Stein of SAN-ROC dated July 23, 1979 (IWAS Archives).
39 Letter dated March 19, 1971 from Charles Dunham, Secretary General – International Sports Organization for the Disabled to Menzo Barrish, South African Tean Manager (IWAS Archives).
40 The South African Paraplegic Games Association Constitution, January 1968 (IWAS Archives).
41 Grieg, ‘South African Apartheid’, 57.
42 CitationCoetzee and Van Der Merwe, ‘South Africa's Participation’, 83.
43 CitationGuttmann. ‘Reflection’, 233.
44 Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Board of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation held at Stoke Mandeville, UK, Saturday July 23, 1977, 2 (IWAS Archives).
45 Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Board of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation held at Stoke Mandeville, UK, December 1, 1979, 7. (IWAS Archives).
46 Letter dated June 17, 1982 from F. Don Miller, Executive Director – United States Olympic Committee to B. Dale Wiley, Chairman National Wheelchair Athletic Association (IWAS Archives).
47 CitationCantelon and McDermott, ‘Charisma and the Rational’.
48 CitationNovak, ‘Politics and the Paralympic Games’.
49 CitationNovak, ‘Politics and the Paralympic Games’
50 Cantelon and McDermott, ‘Charisma and the Rational’.
51 Miller, The Official History, 167.
52 CitationBrittain, ‘The Evolution of the Paralympic Games’.
53 Letter dated November 6, 1975 from Sir Ludwig Guttmann to Madame Berlioux, Secretary General – International Olympic Committee (IOC Archives).
54 For example, letter dated February 27, 1978 from Sir Ludwig Guttmann to the Tri-Partite Council Special Committee Against Apartheid, United Nations (IWAS Archives).
55 Minutes of the Council Meeting of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation held on Wednesday August 11, 1976 at Toronto, Canada, 5. (IWAS Archives).
56 Minutes of the Council Meeting of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation held on July 28, 1979 at Stoke Mandeville, UK, 3. (IWAS Archives).
57 CitationGoodman, Spirit of Stoke Mandeville.
58 Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation held at Stoke Mandeville, UK, Saturday July 31, 1982 (IWAS Archives).
59 Cashmore, Making Sense of Sport.
60 Cashmore, Making Sense of Sport
61 CitationUnion of Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS), Fundamental Principles of Disability.
62 Minutes of the eighth General Assembly of the International Sports Organization for the Disabled held at Stoke Mandeville, UK, September 1 and 2, 1979, 16 (IWAS Archives).
63 CitationUPIAS, ‘Disabled People Against Apartheid’ (IWAS Archives).
64 CitationScruton, Stoke Mandeville, 188.
65 For example, ‘Soaked Protesters Fail to Dampen Wheelchair Games’, The Daily Telegraph July 25, 1983, 11.
66 Cashmore, Making Sense of Sport.
67 Novak, ‘Politics and the Paralympic Games’.
68 CitationWallechinsky, The Complete Book of the Olympics, X.
69 Minutes of a meeting between the Executive Board of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation with the Dutch Olympic Committees, Mr Sam Ramsamy (Chairman (and SACOS overseas representative) and Mr Stein of SAN-ROC dated July 23, 1979 (IWAS Archives).
70 Ramsamy, S., personal communication, e-mail dated June 28, 2009.
71 Minutes of the eighth General Assembly of the International Sports Organization for the Disabled held at Stoke Mandeville, UK, September 1 and 2, 1979, 16 (IWAS Archives).
72 Novak, ‘Politics and the Paralympic Games’.
73 Torontolympiad Daily News, ‘Politics Interfere – Again’, Saturday August 7, 1976, 1. (IWAS Archives).
74 Minutes of the eighth General Assembly of the International Sports Organization for the Disabled held at Stoke Mandeville, UK, September 1 and 2, 1979, 8 (IWAS Archives).
75 Reddy, Sports and the Liberation. http://www.anc.org.za/un/reddy/sam-ram.html
76 Review by the National Chairman (Menzo Barrish) of the activities of the South African Sports Association for Paraplegics and Other Physically Disabled: Annual General Meeting to be held on March 26, 1978 in Cape Town (IWAS Archives).
77 Letter dated November 18, 1977 from Sir Ludwig Guttman to Dr Kurt Waldheim, Secretary General, United Nations (IWAS Archives).
78 Letter dated February 27, 1978 from Sir Ludwig Guttmann to the Tri-Partite Council Special Committee Against Apartheid, United Nations, 1–2. (IWAS Archives).
79 Jones, personal communication, e-mail dated August 30, 2007.
80 British Paraplegic Sports Society Limited, 1979, Seventh Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended March 31, 1979, 16. British Paraplegic Sports Society Limited, 1980, Eighth Annual Report and Accounts for the Year Ended March 31, 1980, 15.
81 CitationBailey, Athlete First, 37.
82 Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation held at Stoke Mandeville, UK, Friday July 26, 1985 (IWAS Archives).
83 Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation held at Stoke Mandeville, UK, Monday July 29, 1985 (IWAS Archives).
84 Booth, Sport and Politics.