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Sporting heroes

  • Zola Budd trained and raced barefoot

    © Allsport UK/Allsport/Getty Images

    Photo of Zola Budd running barefoot

  • South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup

    © Ross Selford/AP Photo/NTB scanpix

    Photo of Nelson Mandela in a rugbyshirt and the captain of Springbooks (the South African rugby team)

  • South Africa’s national hockey team, 2012

    © Mail Today/Getty Images

    Photo of South Africa’s national hockey team in 2012

Sporting heroes

Sporting heroes

South Africa was not allowed to take part in international sports competitions during the apartheid era. So in 1984 the father of one talented 17-year old from Bloemfontein decided she should move abroad. As one of her grandfathers was British, she was able to apply for British citizenship and she competed for Britain in the 1984 Olympics.

Zola Budd became famous not only for her speed, but also because she ran barefoot, like all youngsters do in rural South Africa. During the next few years she broke many records. But she was also put under tremendous pressure from the moment she landed in England. Although she was only a teenager, she was criticised all over the world for not standing up against the apartheid regime. How much had she actually known when she was living in South Africa? She told one newspaper that she hadn’t even heard of Nelson Mandela until she left the country.

Other young athletes in South Africa did not have the same opportunities as white teenagers. Mixed-race teams were not allowed during the apartheid years and only white people had good sports facilities. Also, some sports became identified with one race. Rugby was the sport of the ruling white elite and hated by black South Africans. They tended to play football, while people with a British or Indian background played cricket. This was why it was of such huge symbolic significance when President Nelson Mandela put on a rugby shirt one day in 1995.

The Springboks, the South African rugby team, had just won the World Cup. Mandela went onto the pitch to celebrate with the team. What number shirt was he wearing? Number 6, the same as the white captain. Here was a black leader celebrating the sport of the people who had oppressed black South Africans and put him in prison for 27 years. A very clever move by the ”captain” of a new South Africa.

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