African states won new power when they demanded New Zealand withdraw because of their rugby tour of apartheid South Africa.
As the world prepares for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games , can we maintain faith in the nonpolitical ethos of the event? The Montreal Olympics Games in 1976 stands out, among others, as a clear instance of the games being used for political ends.
As a historian and researcher, I have co-edited several books and devoted a number of works to the history of the Olympic Games. I use the example of Montreal in 1976 to explain how the event has often served as a political platform – and how it bolstered Africa’s international voice in 1976. The same upheaval occurred at the United Nations , where pressure on South Africa increased following the decolonisation of African and Asian countries in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1962, for example, the International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was adopted, clearly targeting South Africa. In 1968, the UN assembly requested that all states cease cultural, educational or sporting exchanges with the “racist regime of South Africa”.
A massive boycott Against this backdrop, in 1976, the OAU orchestrated a request for the exclusion of New Zealand from the Montreal Olympics. The grounds were that New Zealand had authorised its 1976 rugby team to tour South Africa against an all-white home team. The threat of a boycott by African countries piled pressure on the International Olympic Committee.
Media wise and politically, the OAU’s actions, by using the Olympics as a platform, successfully dominated the headlines. The boycott helped force the world to confront apartheid. The global press had no choice but to focus on the issue.
2024 Paris Olympics African Diplomacy African Independence African Sport Apartheid Diplomacy June 16 Uprisings Olympic Games Politics Rhodesia
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