Rhodesia at the Olympics
Rhodesia at the Olympics | ||
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In 1965, Prime Minister Ian Smith declared a unilateral independence that allowed the country's white minority to dominate the government. The United Kingdom pressured the Mexican state to deny Rhodesia an invitation to the 1968 Summer Olympics and supported a proposed African boycott of the Games that ultimately prevented Rhodesia from taking part. The nation was positioned to compete at the Olympics in 1972 and made it to the Olympic Village before a last-minute International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision barred its athletes from participating. The National Olympic Committee was expelled permanently in 1975 and Rhodesia never again participated under that banner. Rhodesia never took part in the Winter Olympic Games and no Rhodesian competitor ever won an Olympic medal, although it was able to continue competing at the Paralympics through 1972 and reached the podium on multiple occasions.
1928 Summer Olympics
Southern Rhodesia, under the banner of Rhodesia, first appeared at the
1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics
Southern Rhodesia did not appear at the Olympics again until 1960, although Rhodesian athletes had the option of competing internationally for South Africa.
Expulsion and aftermath
In 1965, Southern Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and his mostly white government unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom.[5] The nation was invited to send a team to the 1968 Winter Olympics, but declined in the belief that its athletes were not sufficiently competitive.[1] Despite political machinations from the United Kingdom, which expended considerable effort to exclude its former colony from gaining legitimacy by participating at the Games, Rhodesia was invited to participate at the 1968 Summer Olympics. The threat of an African boycott (supported by the British)[4] of the Games, however, added further pressure from the Mexican government on the organizing committee to withdraw its invitation.[1] Although South Africa had been barred from competing in 1964, Rhodesia's sports institutions were not de jure segregated, and thus the same rationale could not be applied. The British government also decided against adding Rhodesian Olympians to a "stop-list" of select Rhodesians who were banned entirely from international travel.[4] Thus, the organizing committee used the pretense of United Nations Security Council Resolution 253, published May 29, 1968, which called on member nations to refuse to accept Rhodesian passports, to block Rhodesian athletes from participating.[5] Although most potential participants had more than one passport, Mexico created bureaucratic delays that prevented Rhodesian athletes from attending, despite the Rhodesian government's repeated protests. Rhodesia's team had included at least nine individual athletes, a five-man yachting team, and a field hockey squad. Only two, track and field competitors Bernard Dzoma and Mathias Kanda, were not white, but both were considered medal contenders.[1]
In 1971, the IOC offered Rhodesia the opportunity to compete in the upcoming
Hoping to preempt the Rhodesian issue far in advance of the 1976 Summer Olympics, incoming IOC President Lord Killanin sought to prove Rhodesia's racial discrimination in sport in order to use it to bar the National Olympic Committee permanently from the Games. Based on the evidence the organization was able to uncover, in 1975 the IOC voted 41–26 to expel Rhodesia from the Games on a permanent basis. The nation would not return to the Games until 1980, after the white-dominated government had fallen and the country had been renamed Zimbabwe.[1] Rhodesia was still able to compete at the Paralympics in 1968 and 1972, as it had in 1960 and 1964, due to "deliberate decisions by politicians who were unwilling (for a variety of reasons) to invoke sanctions against disabled athletes."[7] Although it was shut out of the podium at the Olympics, Rhodesia did win numerous medals at the Paralympics.[7]
Medal tables
Medals by Summer Games
See alsoReferences
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