Revisiting South Africa and the Olympic Movement: The correspondence of Reginald S. Alexander and the International Olympic Committee, 1961–86

Abstract

Reginald S. Alexander, an IOC member in Kenya since 1960, wrote hundreds of letters to three International Olympic Committee Presidents between the years 1961 and 1986. His correspondence with Avery Brundage, Lord Killanin and Juan Antonio Samaranch focused on the role of Africa in the Olympic Movement and later evolved into a campaign to re-examine the member status of South Africa in the Olympic Movement after its expulsion in 1970. Alexander and his written exchanges with the three presidents illustrate the primary theme discussed since the inception of the modern Games in 1896 – namely, the role of politics in sport.