Mexico 68.
The successful boycott threat that
eventually expelled Apartheid from the I.O.C...
Apartheid South Africa was a
member of the International Olympic Committee ever since 1911, and was
represented by teams composed of whites only, in all Olympic Games from 1912
onwards. This racist trend was tolerated by the I.O.C. until it
halfheartedly decided on suspension in 1964,
due to
increasing protest from newly liberated African Countries, supported, by
influential I.O.C. members from the former, U.S.S.R. and Brazil.
Although it was
clear from the outset that there was no change worthy of visit; the
I.O.C. again sent a fact finding mission to South Africa just a year before
the next Olympic Games in 1968. The report from the delegation composed of Lord Killanin, Reginald Alexander and Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, confirmed to the Executive Board of the I.O.C.,
that the regime's stand with regard to maintaining Apartheid as the law
of the land was unaltered, but, indicated its agreement to allow a mixed
race representation for the Mexico Games. Satisfied with this one time
permission, the I.O.C. Congress in Grenoble, France, on 15 February
1968, voted 36/27, to invite Apartheid South Africa to the 1968 Mexico
Games.
The next day,
February 16 1968, Yidnekatchew Tessema told the International press in
Addis Ababa, that Ethiopia, the country of Marathon legend Abebe Bikila
will boycott the Mexico Games if the I.O.C. is not to revoke its
provocative invitation to Apartheid South Africa. He asked "What has the I.O.C.
achieved if the status quo is to remain the same after the Games?" and
added, "African, Asian and Latin American Countries, Brazil in
particular, would also join the boycott".
Abebe Bikila, the only
consecutive Olympic Marathons Gold Medalist, finishing in Tokyo 64.
Hereon, it was
like a wild fire, Algeria, and Uganda followed; the Soviet Union
condemned the invitation as a flagrant violation of the statutes of the
International Olympic Committee, and
warned, that it might even consider boycott. The next day Ghana,
Tanzania, Mali and Egypt joined the group. Syria, Cuba, Sweden, Norway
and Finland were quick to declare solidarity. On 25 February, the
Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity also
voted in favor of a total African boycott. The Executive Committee of the Supreme Council for Sports in
Africa, chaired by its first President Andre Hombassa, waited until 26
February, to announce its late and meaningless support to an already
powerful, boycott threat.
Determined
Ethiopian Olympic Committee at the time.
President Avery
Brundage of the I.O.C., issued a number of warnings/
advices; to the initial boycotters, and when the protest continued to gain strength,
he went as far as adamantly declaring "the Mexico Games will be
held even if I have to be there with five South Africans".. But, the
hosts Mexico were no more with him, they were themselves considering
denying Visas to South Africans in order to avoid last minute
cancellation of the Games.
As days and
weeks went by, all respectable exits had closed for
the apparently,
panic-stricken I.O.C..
In a last ditch effort, to find a face saving
way-out of this self inflicted dilemma, the President traveled to South Africa
on the 13th of April 1968, and appealed to the National Olympic
Committee to
voluntarily withdraw for the sake of the I.O.C, but without success.
The only option
now, was to withdraw the invitation to Apartheid South
Africa, and swallow all ensuing international humiliation. Accordingly,
the Executive Board met in Lausanne, from 20 April 1968, and agreed unanimously
upon the wording of the following telegram to be sent to all I.O.C.
members:-
"IN VIEW OF ALL THE INFORMATION ON THE INTERNATIONAL
CLIMATE RECEIVED BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD AT THIS MEETING+ IT IS UNANIMOUSLY OF 'THE OPINION THAT IT WOULD
BE MOST UNWISE FOR A SOUTH AFRICAN TEAM TO PARTICIPATE
IN THE GAMES OF THE XIX OLYMPIAD - THEREFORE, THE
EXECUTIVE BOARD STRONGLY RECOMMENDS THAT YOU ENDORSE
THIS UNANIMOUS PROPOSAL TO WITHDRAW THE INVITATION TO
THESE GAMES STOP THIS POSTAL VOTE IS SUBMITTED UNDER
RULE NO.20 PLEASE REPLY IMMEDIATELY BY CABLE CIO
LAUSANNE=
AVERY BRUNDAGE".
On 24 April, the
the result of the postal vote was announced ;
Forty seven, in favor of withdrawing the invitation,
Sixteen against!! and Eight abstentions. The desperate contradictions
contained in the statements issued by the I.O.C. Executive Board, that accompanied the embarrassing retreat are
archived in the Los Angeles 1984 Foundation, online sports
library, at www.aafla.org
This was
the last time the I.O.C.
ventured to invite Apartheid South Africa
to the Olympic Games.
After ensuring
the expulsion in this manner, Ethiopia's largest ever Olympic contingent
traveled to Mexico. The National football team, disqualified by Nigeria
in a very controversial away match, was deservedly given the opportunity
to watch the great spectacle of the Olympic games, and play a friendly
match against well prepared hosts, Mexico, the game ended Mexico 3
Ethiopia 1, not a bad result for an African
team in those days.
Ethiopian team finally travels to Mexico 68.
Outside of the
Games, the battle with the I.O.C. continued in Mexico City. Numerous National Olympic Committees, which had
previously met in
Rome 1965 and Tehran 1967, with the objective of achieving equal representation in
the I.O.C., felt the time was appropriate to intensify their demand.
Much to the dislike of President Brundage, they formed what was then
called a "Permanent General Assembly", on 01 October,1968. The
P.G.A. immediately sent a
proposal to the I.O.C., suggesting the creation of a tripartite
commission; composed of the International Federations, the National
Olympic Committees and the International Olympic Committee.
The I.O.C. was not in a position to refuse. The
proposal was accepted with a promise for an all inclusive meeting soon
after Mexico 68.
The Ethiopian
team returned home,with Gold in the Marathon and Silver in the 10,000
meters by legendary Mamo Wolde.
Accordingly, when the activists of this new
Assembly met the Executive Board of the I.O.C,
in Dubrovnik, in October,1969;
the question of expelling Apartheid was top on their agenda.
The Executive which was by now, was expected to recommend immediate
expulsion, inexplicably backtracked and decided to send a circular to all National Olympic Committees
asking them to draw up a list of charges which would be sent to the
South African Olympic Committee in sufficient time for them to be able to
defend Apartheid!!
Yidnekatchew
Tessema, was an active member of the "Permanent General Assembly"
from the outset; and a founding Executive
Committee member of the Association of National Olympic
Committees, now better known with the abbreviation
A.N.O.C..
Eager to bring
this very controversial issue to an end, the I.O.C. General meeting
withdrew the recognition to South Africa, during its Congress in
Amsterdam 1970. [It is important to note here, that the African Football
Confederation, had expelled Apartheid in 1958, a long twelve years
earlier than the I.O.C.].
After the compromise on the issue
of Apartheid, the I.O.C., demanded and obtained reassurances from the
members of the Permanent General Assembly, that they would not challenge its supremacy.
The successive uneventful, Congresses of the P.G.A.; In Munich-71,
Varna-73, Rome-75, Abidjan-77, were thus held under the close
supervision of the I.O.C., which ensured gradual, but effective transfer
of the Constituency to the founding Congress of today's well-behaved
A.N.O.C., in San Juan Puerto Rico, June 1979.
A.N.O.C. founders;
San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1979.
Although,
Yidnekatchew Tessema did not see any purpose in being a member of the
I.O.C., at the time; Sudanese Dr. Abdel Halim
Mohammed, his colleague in the African Football Confederation, and
already a member of the I.O.C., convinced him to join and fight from
within. It was on the recommendation of Dr. Halim, that Yidnekatchew was co-opted
a member of the International Olympic Committee, at the
Congress in Luxembourg, September 13-18 1971. He remained a member until
he passed away on August 19 1987.
Labeled 1 is
President Brundage, 2 is President Killanin, 3 is President Samaranch
and 4 is new member Yidnekatchew Tessema. The three Presidents have led
the Olympic movement for a total of 49 years.
Why, President
Brundage accepted Yidnekatchew Tessema as a member of the International
Olympic Committee, only three years after he led the successful boycott
threat of Mexico 68, and actively Participated in the formation of the
revolutionary "Permanent General Assembly, as
well as just a year after forcing
the expulsion of Apartheid South Africa from the Olympic movement; had
puzzled many observers. Moreover,
Yidnekatchew Tessema had expelled Ian Smith's Rhodesia from the African
Football Confederation in 1965, from F.I.F.A. in 1970 and was working on
its expulsion from the I.O.C. at the time he was elected
member of the I.O.C.. In view of all
these, Yidnekatchew had correctly assumed that President Brundage had
some hidden agenda.
As can be seen
in the historic letter below, President Brundidge made his intent
clear, only a month later.
Nevertheless,
the plan did not work; Yidnekatchew was again in the forefront of the
effort which achieved the 1972 suspension of Rhodesia from the Munich
Olympic Games.
The history of
the struggle against Apartheid in sports is a very important component
of the histories of all major sports organizations; to the extent, that
it is simply impossible to discuss or write the recent histories of the
African Football Confederation, F.I.F.A. and the I.O.C. without going
into Apartheid related lengthy controversies, that had immensely
affected these organizations.
The full detail
of the two months long intense global controversy and International
lobby, subsequent to the provocative invitation extended to Apartheid
South Africa to participate in the Games of Mexico 68, is simply too
important to disregard.
The I.O.C. ought
to share all the material in its hand, that constitute the true history
of this episode. Highlights of issues, starting from the racist
treatment suffered by the Black I.O.C. member during his visit to South
Africa, for the so-called fact finding mission, to the important minutes
of meetings of the Executive, that made all the crucial blunders until
the final resolve on April 24 1968, are worthy of a comprehensive
educative book; if not a documentary film.
The boycott
threat of Mexico 68 was just, and had prevailed with unprecedented
effort. The final outcome of this battle was the
historic expulsion
of Apartheid from the Olympic Games. Apartheid was
never invited to any Olympic Games, after Mexico 68.
Yidnekatchew Tessema, acknowledged that boycott was an undesirable
and delicate instrument that could also be misused for self-interests, as in
the case of Montreal 1976, but, he profoundly believed that the very
excluding nature of the I.O.C., was to blame for making it the only
resort to correct injustices by this organization.
His last
I.O.C. session, October 1986
Brief chronology
of events, on this important milestone in the history of the I.O.C., are available in the books:-
-
"Africa at the
Olympics", by Ramadhan Ali, published by Africa Books; 1976.
-
"Not the Triumph
but the Struggle, The 1968 Olympic Games and the making of the Black
Athlete", by Assitant Professor, Amy Bass, Published by the University of Minnesota press,
2002.
The I.O.C.
sponsored, 1988, declaration against Apartheid in sports.
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