South Africa first participated at the Olympic Games in 1904, and sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games until 1960. After the passage of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1761 in 1962 in response to South Africa's policy of racial segregation, known as apartheid, the nation was barred from the Games. After the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa commenced in 1990, the nation re-joined the Olympic movement. The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee was created in 1991, and South Africa returned to the Games at the 1992 Summer Olympics (and the 1992 Summer Paralympics). South Africa also participated in the Winter Olympic Games in 1960, and since 1994. South African athletes have won a total of 95 medals, with athletics, boxing and swimming as the top medal-producing sports.

Timeline of participation

Olympic Year/s Teams 1904–1908 South Africa (ZAF) 1912–1924 South Africa (ZAF) 1928–1956 South Africa (ZAF) 1960 South Africa (SAF) 1964–1992 W 1992 S 1994 1996–present

History

South African athletes first participated in the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, when few foreign athletes arrived and the organisers invited participants of the adjacent 1904 World's Fair to compete. General Piet Cronjé, Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani, all Boer War veterans who had been taken prisoner by the British at St. Helena after the Battle of Paardeberg and had reenacted battle scenes at the fair, participated in the men's marathon. Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani were the first black people to participate in the Olympics, and the only black people to represent South Africa in the Olympics until the end of apartheid.

Although the four British colonies of Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Transvaal and Orange River did not form the Union of South Africa until 1910, they fielded a combined South Africa team at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, where Reggie Walker won its first gold medal. The first South African woman in the Olympics was swimmer Barbara Nash in 1920, and the first women to win medals were the 1928 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay quartet, who came third. The South African Olympic and Empire Games Association was awarded the 1934 British Empire Games in Johannesburg but backed out when it became evident that they would have to allow a team from India to compete.

South Africa first entered the Winter Olympics in 1960, and that summer's games in Rome would be its last till the end of apartheid. It was not invited to the 1964 Games, and its 1968 invitation was withdrawn when other teams threatened to withdraw. The South African Olympic and National Games Association was expelled from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1970.

The non-racial Interim National Olympic Committee of South Africa (now South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee) was founded in 1991 during the transition to racial equality and affiliated to the IOC months later. The country returned at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Medal tables

Medals by Summer Games

Source:

Art competitions (1912–1948) are not included in the medal table above, as they were non-sports events formerly part of the Olympic Games. won a total of two art competition medals (1 silver, and 1 bronze), both at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Medals by Winter Games

Source:

Medals by summer sport

List of medalists Medalists in sports Medal Name GamesSportEvent Athletics Men's 100m Athletics Men's Marathon Athletics Men's Marathon Cycling Men's Individual Time Trial Tennis Men's Doubles Outdoor Tennis Men's Singles Outdoor Athletics Men's Marathon Tennis Men's Singles Outdoor Athletics Men's 400m Boxing Men's Bantamweight Tennis Men's Singles Athletics Men's 4 × 400m Relay Cycling Men's Individual Time Trial Cycling Men's Tandem Shooting Men's Team 600m Military Rifle Athletics Men's 800m Cycling Team Pursuit Tennis Men's Singles Boxing Men's Bantamweight Athletics Men's 110m Hurdles Athletics Men's 10 km Walk Athletics Men's 110m Hurdles Boxing Men's Bantamweight Swimming Women's 4 × 100m Freestyle Relay Boxing Men's lightweight Boxing Men's light-heavyweight Athletics Women's 80m hurdles Boxing Men's middleweight Swimming Women's 400m freestyle Boxing Men's featherweight Boxing Men's lightweight Boxing Men's light-heavyweight Boxing Men's featherweight Boxing Men's heavyweight Athletics Women's high jump Swimming Women's 100m backstroke Athletics Women's 100m Boxing Men's light-middleweight Thomas Shardelow Cycling (Track) Men's 2000m tandem Robert FowlerThomas ShardelowAlfred Swift Cycling (Track) Men's team pursuit (4000m) Boxing Men's flyweight Boxing Men's featherweight Boxing Men's heavyweight Cycling (Track) Men's 1 km time trial /Stockholm Boxing Men's heavyweight /Stockholm Boxing Men's light-welterweight /Stockholm Cycling (Track) Men's 1 km time trial Jeanette MyburghNatalie MyburghSusan Elizabeth Roberts /Stockholm Swimming Women's 4 × 100m freestyle relay Boxing Men's heavyweight Athletics Men's 400m Boxing Men's featherweight Athletics Women's 10,000m Piet Norval Tennis Men's Doubles Athletics Men's marathon Swimming Women's 100m breaststroke Swimming Women's 200m breaststroke Athletics Men's 800m Swimming Women's 100m backstroke Athletics Women's high jump Swimming Men's 200m breaststroke Athletics Men's 400m hurdles Athletics Men's discus throw Swimming Women's 100m breaststroke Ryk NeethlingRoland Mark SchoemanDarian Townsend Swimming Men's 4 × 100m freestyle relay Athletics Men's 800m Athletics Women's high jump Swimming Men's 100m freestyle Ramon di Clemente Rowing Men's coxless pair Swimming Men's 50m freestyle Athletics Men's long jump Rowing Men's Lightweight Four Swimming Men's 100m breaststroke Swimming Men's 200m butterfly Athletics Women's 800m Swimming Men's 100m butterfly Canoeing Women's K-1 500m Athletics Men's 400m Athletics Women's 800m Swimming Men's 200m freestyle Rowing Men's coxless pair Swimming Men's 100m butterfly Swimming Men's 100m breaststroke Athletics Men's long jump Athletics Women's javelin throw Rugby Sevens Men's tournament Triathlon Men's Triathlon Swimming Women's 200m breaststroke Swimming Women's 100m breaststroke Surfing Women's Shortboard2024 ParisSwimmingWomen's 100m breaststroke2024 ParisSwimmingWomen's 200m breaststrokeJo-Ann Van Dyk2024 ParisAthleticsWomen's javelin throwBayanda WalazaShaun MaswanganyiBradley NkoanaAkani Simbine2024 ParisAthleticsMen's 4 × 100m relayAlan Hatherly2024 Paris CyclingMen's cross-countryChristie GrobbelaarRyan OosthuizenImpi VisserZain DavidsQuewin NortjeTiaan PretoriusTristan LeydsSelvyn DavidsShaun WilliamsRosko SpecmanSiviwe SoyizwapiShilton van WykRonald Brown2024 ParisRugby sevensMen's tournament

Medalists in art competitions

In addition to its accomplishments in sport, South Africa has also earned recognition in Olympic art competitions—one of the three non-sports events once included in the Olympic Games. The country won a total of two art competition medals (1 silver, and 1 bronze), both at the 1948 Summer Olympics. These events were part of the official Olympic program in seven Summer Games, from 1912 to 1948. In 1952, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) formally discontinued all non-sport events (including art competitions), as well as awards for feats (such as alpinism and aeronautics). These were subsequently removed from official national medal counts.

Medal Name Games Event Piece Ernst van Heerden Literature, Lyric works "Six Poems" Walter Battiss Painting, Graphic Arts "Seaside Sport"

See also List of flag bearers for South Africa at the Olympics :Category:Olympic competitors for South Africa South Africa at the Paralympics

Notes

References

External links