South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa first participated in  the Olympic Games in 1904, and sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games until 1960.

But in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984 and 1988 they didn’t participate.

The other countries of Africa boycotted them because of South Africa had policy of Apartheid.

Apartheid was a system of racial segregation. It classified inhabitants into four racial groups: native, white, colored and Asian. The  government segregated education , medical care, beaches, and other public services, and provided black people with services inferior to those of white people. The Apartheid was finished in     1990 by Nelson Mandela.

South Africa won 20 gold medals, 24 silver medals and 26 bronze medals.

The first man to win one medal was Lawrence Stevens. He was a boxer who won the gold medal in the lightweight in 1932; but he was an athlete too.

The last person who won a medal was Mokoena. He is an athlete and obtained  the silver medal in long jump in Beijing in 2008. He won other championships too, for example the triple jump in World Junior Championships in 2004, the long jump in World Indoor Championships in 2008, and the long jump in African Championships in 2010. He has two national records: one in long jump and the other in triple jump.

www.whoswhosa.co.za/khotso-mokoena-5592en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_Khotso_Mokoena