Dennis Brutus by Craig Ellenport

Author:Craig Ellenport
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2021-05-04T00:00:00+00:00

The interest of fairness was not the only factor that eventually led the IOC to take action against South Africa. By threatening to boycott, countries around the world were shedding a light on the evils of apartheid, but they were also creating a situation that put the host country of the 1968 Olympics, Mexico, in a particularly challenging situation.

Mexico had spent nearly one hundred million dollars to build a new stadium for use in the Olympics. Maybe Brundage didn’t care if he were the only person in that stadium, but Mexico would lose massive amounts of money if the stadium weren’t filled—which was exactly what would happen if fans were not able to watch their countrymen competing.

Brundage called a meeting of the IOC’s executive board on April 21, 1968, after which the IOC recommended that South Africa should not participate in the 1968 Olympics.

Thus, South Africa was banned from the 1968 Summer Olympics. And if the South Africans had any intention of going to the next Olympics, held four years later, they would be disappointed.

The decision to exclude South Africa from the Olympics in 1968 was a result of pressure from what it called the “international climate.” After the 1968 ban, the IOC appointed a committee to further investigate the South African Olympic Committee. The IOC’s report detailed several allegations of racial discrimination, which was a violation of the Olympic Charter. At its annual conference in 1970, the IOC officially voted to expel South Africa from the Olympics until further notice.

This was a major victory for Dennis. But while the Olympic ban raised international awareness and further isolated South Africa from the world, the apartheid regime continued and Dennis was still an exile.

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