Athletes against apartheid
Broadcast Date: Feb. 25, 1968
Is it reasonable to expect athletes to give up a chance at Olympic glory to achieve political goals? In the face of a 1968 decision by the International Olympic Committee to allow apartheid South Africa back into the Games, many Canadian competitors are pondering the prospect of a boycott. In this clip from CBC Television, runner Bruce Kidd says he believes segregation has no place in sport and that change is possible if athletes take a stand.Athletes against apartheid
• South Africa's first missed Olympics were the 1964 Games in Tokyo, following a 1963 IOC vote barring it from competition.
• There were conditions attached to the 1968 vote to readmit South Africa. Among them: it could send only one team and it must include whites and non-whites, and all members had to stay in the same accommodations at the Olympics, wear the same uniform and travel together.
• Two months later, in April 1968, the IOC took a second vote on South Africa in the Olympics. At least 40 of the 71 members voted not to allow the country to compete.
• Following the dismantling of apartheid, South Africa was readmitted to the Olympic Games and competed in the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
• For more about apartheid, see the CBC Digital Archives topic Canada and the Fight Against Apartheid.
Athletes against apartheid
Medium: Television
Program: The Way It Is
Broadcast Date: Feb. 25, 1968
Guest(s): Bill Crothers, Abby Hoffman, Harry Jerome, Bruce Kidd, Jenny Wingerson
Host: Warren Davis, John Saywell
Duration: 8:38
Last updated:
July 24, 2008
Athletes against apartheid .
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: July 24, 2008.
[Page consulted on Feb. 13, 2012.]