‘Pommel Horse Rebels and Apartheid’s Friends’ – American Gymnasts and the International Anti-Apartheid Sports Boycott Against South Africa, 1970–1990

Abstract

Following the global rejection of apartheid, from 1970–1990, South Africa was both expelled and suspended from membership from a significant number of international sports federations, including the International Gymnastics Federation. Confronted with isolation from the international arena, the South African Gymnastics Union initiated a series of unsanctioned ‘rebel tours’ involving both leading and emerging countries. The United States of America (USA) proved to be one of South Africa’s most loyal friends and allies over the period in question. Unfazed by their listing on the blacklist of the United Nations Centre against Apartheid and the unsavoury title of being a collaborator of apartheid, this relationship survived until two years after the passing of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 by the USA Congress. The extent, form, implications, and interlinkages of this relationship are part of both countries’ hidden history and deserve to be foregrounded with a view to its insertion into a larger transnational narrative.