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1976 — Canada Tested by the World · Reference Chronology 1946–2026

From the IOC of 1946
to the Montreal boycott

Eighty years of relations between the Olympic Movement, apartheid South Africa and the African states, from Reginald Honey's co-optation to the IOC to the research and testimonies of the fiftieth anniversary in 2026.

Timeline PDF

100 events · Version 2

Before 1976The year 19761977 – 1992Memory (1999 – 2026)Click a dot to jump to the event
1945195019551960196519701975198019851990199520002005201020152020202520301976 : 25 ev.1946 — Sigfrid Edström is elected IOC president (1946–1952); South African Reginald Honey is co-opted to the IOC on September 4, 1946. He will remain a member until 1982, twelve years after his country's committee was expelled.1948 — The National Party formalizes apartheid; according to Ivey, apartheid laws did not apply directly to sport until 1956.1952 — Avery Brundage succeeds Edström (1952–1972).April 1955 — Bandung Conference: twenty-nine Asian and African governments meet, creating an international stage outside the institutions designed before decolonization.1956 — Brundage: “The Games are contests between individuals and not between nations.”November 1956 — Melbourne: Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq withdraw in protest against the Israeli attack on Sinai, while the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland protest the Soviet intervention in Hungary. Olympedia regards it as the first genuine boycott in modern Olympic history.1958 — Dennis Brutus and Alan Paton found the South African Sports Association (SASA) to win recognition for non-racial federations.1959 — Brundage accepts Honey's assurances that there is no discrimination in sport; the IOC Executive bars all contact with SANROC. SASA nonetheless gets the South African question placed on the agenda of the Rome Session.1959 – 1963 — France creates the “Community Games” for its colonies and Cameroon, later renamed the Friendship Games: Tananarive (1960), Abidjan (1961), Dakar (1963).1960 — “Year of Africa”: seventeen African countries gain independence, and sixteen African states are admitted to the UN that same year.March 21, 1960 — Sharpeville massacre: police kill sixty-seven Black demonstrators. South Africa nonetheless competes at the Rome Games, for the last time before 1992, with an all-white team.September 1960 — Rome: Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila wins the marathon barefoot, becoming the first Black African Olympic champion in the event, in the capital of the power that had invaded his country in 1935.1961 — Brundage and Jean de Beaumont set up a committee to assist newly independent countries; Beaumont stresses the “urgent need” for aid to the new nations of Africa and Asia. The committee will become Olympic Solidarity in 1971.1961 — The Casablanca group (Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic), which favours political union, stands opposed to the larger and more moderate Monrovia group, which includes Côte d'Ivoire.1962 — The UN General Assembly adopts Resolution 1761, calling for sanctions against Pretoria and establishing the Special Committee against Apartheid. The IOC issues an ultimatum to the South African committee: field a non-discriminatory team or face suspension.April 1963 — Dakar: the organizers of several regional competitions award the first African Games to Brazzaville.May 1963 — Thirty-two states found the Organization of African Unity (OAU), born of the rapprochement between the Casablanca and Monrovia groups.1963 — Guinea and Mali take part in preparing the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO), launched by Indonesia in opposition to the IOC.1963 — Baden-Baden Session: South Africa will be barred from the Games unless it adopts non-discriminatory policies.January 1964 — Innsbruck Session: after the South African committee refuses to change its selection policy, the IOC suspends it and withdraws its invitation to the Tokyo Games. This first exclusion rests on the Charter alone, with no boycott threat.1964 — The Group of 77 is formed at the first UNCTAD. Between Melbourne and Tokyo, the number of nations at the Games rises from 67 to 93; in eight years the IOC admits twenty-six new nations, most of them African and Caribbean.July 1965 — First African Games in Brazzaville, with Jean-Claude Ganga as secretary general of the organizing committee: 29 countries according to the IOC, 27 according to Charitas.December 1966 — Bamako: founding of the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA), mandated to secure South Africa's expulsion “by all means.” First executive: André Hombessa (president), Abraham Ordia and Badara Sow (vice-presidents), Jean-Claude Ganga (secretary general).1967 — Prime Minister John Vorster agrees to Black athletes on the Olympic team, provided separate selection trials are held.1967 — IOC fact-finding commission to South Africa, chaired by Killanin, with Ade Ademola and Reginald Alexander.February 1968 — Judging Vorster's concession sufficient, the IOC votes by mail to readmit South Africa to the Mexico City Games.February 16 – 26, 1968 — Ethiopia threatens to boycott Mexico City (February 16), followed by Algeria, Tanzania and Ghana; the OAU recommends a boycott to its thirty-eight members (February 24); the SCSA endorses it unanimously (February 26).April 1968 — Forty-six states threaten to boycott, two-thirds of them African, joined by India, Brazil, Cuba, the Scandinavian countries and the Soviet bloc. On April 21, the IOC Executive withdraws the invitation; a mail ballot confirms it (47 to 17, with 8 abstentions).1968 — The SCSA moves to Yaoundé. The UN General Assembly calls for the suspension of sporting exchanges with South Africa.October 1968 — Mexico City: Kenya wins eight medals in athletics, led by Kipchoge Keino.1969 — Abraham Ordia (Nigeria) becomes president of the SCSA, a post he will hold until 1983.November 28, 1969 — Letter from Mitchell Sharp supporting Montreal's bid: all representatives of NOCs and federations recognized by the IOC will be free to enter Canada.May 12, 1970 — Amsterdam: Montreal wins the 1976 Games over Moscow and Los Angeles.May 1970 — At the same Session, the South African Olympic Committee is expelled (35 to 28, with 3 abstentions) after pleas by Ordia and Ganga.October 1970 — Canada recognizes the People's Republic of China and breaks with Taipei.1971 — The Commonwealth adopts its Declaration of Principles in Singapore, from which the Gleneagles Agreement will later flow.August 4, 1972 — The OAU and the SCSA call for a boycott of Munich if Rhodesia takes part; Tanzania, Zambia, Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia declare their positions publicly.August 22, 1972 — Munich: Rhodesia's invitation is withdrawn four days before the opening (36 to 31, with 3 abstentions). For Andrew Novak, quoted by Ivey, “Africa, as a continent, had won.”September 6, 1972 — Brundage, at the memorial for the Israeli athletes: “We lost the Rhodesian battle against naked political blackmail.” He later apologizes.1972 — Killanin succeeds Brundage (1972–1980). Nine African members then sit on the IOC, two of them white men.January 1973 — Lagos: Ordia offers Killanin a bargain. If the views of African sports leaders are heard “with better understanding,” the SCSA will ensure that Africa will “reaffirm their loyalty to the IOC” and drop its boycott threats.1973 — New Zealand's Labour government under Norman Kirk postpones the Springbok tour. Kéba Mbaye (Senegal) joins the IOC; Mohamed Zerguini (Algeria) follows in 1974.May – July 1974 — British Lions tour South Africa. The SCSA votes a sporting boycott of the United Kingdom; according to Kenya, only 22 of its 41 members apply it. This is the first instance of a strategy aimed at “third-party offenders” (Sikes).1974 – 1975 — The Portuguese colonies gain independence, and the fight against apartheid becomes the OAU's main political objective.November 1974 — The UN General Assembly suspends the South African delegation from its proceedings (91 to 22), an unprecedented decision.1975 — The French national rugby team tours South Africa. Ganga warns Jacques Chirac and even “coaches” the French ambassador in Cameroon; the SCSA announces a break with France, to no effect. Ivey judges these campaigns “weak and uncoordinated,” lacking a “rallying moment.”May 1975 — The IOC expels Rhodesia (41 to 26), under the implicit threat of a boycott of Montreal.November 7, 1975 — Killanin circular: the Tripartite Commission condemns breaches of the rules driven by political considerations.November – December 1975 — Robert Muldoon's National Party wins after campaigning against the 1973 postponement and pledging that government will stay out of sport.January – February 1976 — New Zealand hosts a world softball championship that includes South Africa. Ordia threatens a boycott; Lance Cross dismisses the threat, and Ordia extends it to the Olympic Games.March 9 1976 — Ordia's threat makes the front page of the New Zealand Herald, following his letter to T. P. McLean: no competition with New Zealand, “including the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games.”April 27 – 29 1976 — Nairobi: the SCSA executive adopts a boycott of any competition involving New Zealand; Ganga warns that a full Olympic boycott could “isolate” Africa.May 17 1976 — Beijing warns Trudeau that it will not tolerate a Taiwanese team competing as the “Republic of China.”May 28 1976 — Mitchell Sharp informs Killanin that Taiwanese athletes may enter only if they do not represent the “Republic of China” or use its flag, anthem or name.Late May 1976 — Ordia visits New Zealand; Muldoon refuses to meet him, and he is booed during a televised debate.June 8 1976 — Killanin replies that these conditions are “in complete conflict with the Olympic rules”; the IOC would not have chosen Montreal had it known of them.June 16 1976 — The Soweto uprising begins. For Ivey, “the real issue was Soweto.”June 24 – July 3 1976 — OAU Council of Ministers in Port Louis: Resolution CM/Res.488 condemns New Zealand and invites states to “reconsider” their participation. It is adopted in the absence of Ganga, then in Gabon, and of Ordia, who intervenes only by telegram.June 25 1976 — The All Blacks leave for South Africa.June 30 1976 — The All Blacks play their first match in South Africa while the Port Louis meeting is in session.July 6 – 11 1976 — Madagascar (July 6), Tanzania (July 9) and Mauritius (July 11) announce they will not send teams. The Tanzanian daily Uhuru frames the choice as “Olympic medals or freedom and respect”; Filbert Bayi will not run.July 10 – 15 1976 — The IOC devotes its meetings of July 10, 11, 12 and 15 to the Taiwan question; on July 11, its Executive Board protests “unanimously and strongly” against Canada's decision.July 13 – 14 1976 — The IOC Session opens in Montreal; the text of the OAU resolution arrives with a delegate from New York, then as a paper copy.July 15 1976 — Ordia and Ganga convene the heads of delegation; representatives of sixteen African NOCs, including Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, write to Killanin. The IOC approves Trudeau's compromise on Taiwan (58 to 2, with 6 abstentions).July 16 1976 — Killanin refuses: rugby is a sport “over which the International Olympic Committee has no control whatsoever.” Nigeria withdraws on its government's instructions; Taiwan withdraws.July 16 – 17 1976 — Zambia, Kenya, Congo, the Gambia and Ethiopia follow. “As sportsmen, we have no alternative but to comply with the instructions of our government” (Zambian delegation).July 17 1976 — The opening ceremony takes place without many African delegations; the BBC reports that more than three hundred competitors will not take part.July 18 – 21 1976 — Staggered withdrawals: Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia compete for a few days before their governments recall them. Depending on the criterion used, between 22 and 32 countries boycott in all.July 22 1976 — In Montreal, the IAAF expels South Africa's athletics federation. The same day, African leaders are still seeking a compromise based on an official condemnation of sporting ties with South Africa.August 16 1976 — The IOC asks the 31 non-participating NOCs in writing to justify their absence. Zaire cites “national priority realities and needs.”September – October 1976 — Mohamed Mzali, IOC vice-president, publishes an article in the Olympic Review (nos. 107–108) calling the boycott “impoverished in its inspiration, rushed in its execution, and relatively ineffective.”October 13 – 17 1976 — Barcelona: the Executive Board and the IFs decide against sanctions, treating the African NOCs as “victims of their governments.”November 9 1976 — UN Resolution 31/6F on apartheid in sport (128-0-12) establishes an ad hoc committee to draft a convention.December 23 1976 — Killanin: membership in the Olympic Movement is not compulsory, but a member NOC must respect the Charter.January 1977 — Extraordinary meeting of the SCSA in Yaoundé; Guinea speaks of “high treason,” but the majority opts for leniency toward Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.March – April 1977 — IOC meeting with the NOCs in Abidjan: proposals from Nigeria (Rules 3 and 25) and from the Canadian Olympic Association (sanctions).June 15, 1977 — Gleneagles Agreement: Commonwealth heads of government commit to discouraging all sporting contact with South Africa, notably to protect the Edmonton Games.1977 — The SCSA becomes a specialized agency of the OAU. Zambia withdraws a seven-player badminton team because a single New Zealand player is present.1977 – 1978 — Bashir Attarabulsi (Libya), Lamine Keita (Mali) and René Essomba (Cameroon) are co-opted to the IOC; Kéba Mbaye is appointed to the Juridical Commission (1977).December 14, 1977 — UN International Declaration against Apartheid in Sports (125-0-14). Canada is the only Western member of the committee tasked with drafting the convention.1978 — Edmonton Commonwealth Games: only Nigeria and Uganda boycott; Kenya calls the initiative “unwarranted.”1979 — Rule 25 is amended so that the host country's NOC may be sanctioned if the organizing committee fails to meet the conditions of award. Ganga publishes Combats pour le sport africain (L'Harmattan).December 1979 — Yaoundé: the SCSA recommends taking part in the Moscow Games; Ganga loses the post of secretary general to Lamine Ba (24–20).December 24 – 27, 1979 — Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.January 20, 1980 — Carter's ultimatum; some sixty countries boycott the Moscow Games (64 according to Ivey, 66 according to CBC). Twenty African committees boycott, twenty-one take part.1980 — Julius Nyerere refuses to follow the American call: “when two elephants are fighting, it is the grass that suffers. Afghanistan and Tanzania are the grass.”1981 — The Springbok tour of New Zealand is marked by protests and violence. In the British House of Commons, it is noted that Gleneagles “seeks only to discourage and dissuade.”1982 – 1983 — Reginald Honey leaves the IOC (1982); Ordia steps down as SCSA president (1983).1984 — Soviet boycott of the Los Angeles Games, with no more than fourteen countries absent according to the Washington Post. Morocco leaves the OAU after the admission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.1985 — The planned New Zealand tour of South Africa is cancelled.December 10, 1985 — Adoption of the International Convention against Apartheid in Sports (in force April 3, 1988).1986 — Jean-Claude Ganga becomes an IOC member; he will chair ANOCA from 1989 to 1999.June 21, 1988 — The IOC issues a declaration against “apartheid in sport” and creates a dedicated commission.1991 – 1992 — South Africa is readmitted and returns to the Games in Barcelona.1999 — Ganga is expelled from the IOC in the wake of the Salt Lake City scandal.December 12, 1999 — Olympic Charter, Rule 31.3: “each NOC is obliged to participate in the Games of the Olympiad by sending athletes.”November 14, 2006 — Final repayment of the Olympic debt, some $1.5 billion, which anchored the memory of the Games in their cost.2013 — The SCSA is dissolved; where its archives are held has not been established.2024 — James Ivey's dissertation (UC San Diego) and Louis Brosseau's master's thesis (Université Laval) place Montreal within the history of decolonization and date the Olympic “era of crises” to 1976–1980.2026 — Fiftieth anniversary: CBC series on the boycotting athletes; La Presse quotes Jean Drapeau, “Une grande tristesse des jeux de 1976 demeure le retrait d'un continent” (“One great sadness of the 1976 Games remains the withdrawal of a continent,” July 13); Nicolas Moreau publishes the Canadian Olympic Association's correspondence (October 15).
100 / 100 events

Before 1976: The IOC, Apartheid and African Assertion

1946 – 1975 · 49 entries
  1. 1946

    Sigfrid Edström is elected IOC president (1946–1952); South African Reginald Honey is co-opted to the IOC on September 4, 1946. He will remain a member until 1982, twelve years after his country's committee was expelled.

    Clastres, Outre-Terre, 2004; ISOH; Olympedia

  2. 1948Turning point

    The National Party formalizes apartheid; according to Ivey, apartheid laws did not apply directly to sport until 1956.

    Ivey, 2024

  3. 1952

    Avery Brundage succeeds Edström (1952–1972).

    Olympics.com

  4. April 1955

    Bandung Conference: twenty-nine Asian and African governments meet, creating an international stage outside the institutions designed before decolonization.

    Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State

  5. 1956

    Brundage: “The Games are contests between individuals and not between nations.”

    University of Pretoria

  6. November 1956Turning point

    Melbourne: Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq withdraw in protest against the Israeli attack on Sinai, while the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland protest the Soviet intervention in Hungary. Olympedia regards it as the first genuine boycott in modern Olympic history.

    Olympedia, “1956 Summer Olympics”

  7. 1958

    Dennis Brutus and Alan Paton found the South African Sports Association (SASA) to win recognition for non-racial federations.

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 28–29

  8. 1959

    Brundage accepts Honey's assurances that there is no discrimination in sport; the IOC Executive bars all contact with SANROC. SASA nonetheless gets the South African question placed on the agenda of the Rome Session.

    University of Pretoria; Ivey, 2024, pp. 28–29

  9. 1959 – 1963

    France creates the “Community Games” for its colonies and Cameroon, later renamed the Friendship Games: Tananarive (1960), Abidjan (1961), Dakar (1963).

    Le Monde, 1961 and 1973; Charitas, 2023

  10. 1960Turning point

    “Year of Africa”: seventeen African countries gain independence, and sixteen African states are admitted to the UN that same year.

    CBC, “1960: The year of Africa”; United Nations

  11. March 21, 1960Turning point

    Sharpeville massacre: police kill sixty-seven Black demonstrators. South Africa nonetheless competes at the Rome Games, for the last time before 1992, with an all-white team.

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 29–30; Los Angeles Times, 1991

  12. September 1960

    Rome: Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila wins the marathon barefoot, becoming the first Black African Olympic champion in the event, in the capital of the power that had invaded his country in 1935.

    World Athletics

  13. 1961

    Brundage and Jean de Beaumont set up a committee to assist newly independent countries; Beaumont stresses the “urgent need” for aid to the new nations of Africa and Asia. The committee will become Olympic Solidarity in 1971.

    Clastres, 2025; IOC Archives

  14. 1961

    The Casablanca group (Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic), which favours political union, stands opposed to the larger and more moderate Monrovia group, which includes Côte d'Ivoire.

    African Union, OAU60

  15. 1962

    The UN General Assembly adopts Resolution 1761, calling for sanctions against Pretoria and establishing the Special Committee against Apartheid. The IOC issues an ultimatum to the South African committee: field a non-discriminatory team or face suspension.

    African Activist Archive; Ivey, 2024, pp. 31–33

  16. April 1963

    Dakar: the organizers of several regional competitions award the first African Games to Brazzaville.

    Charitas, 2023

  17. May 1963Turning point

    Thirty-two states found the Organization of African Unity (OAU), born of the rapprochement between the Casablanca and Monrovia groups.

    Bancel, The Conversation, 2024

  18. 1963

    Guinea and Mali take part in preparing the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO), launched by Indonesia in opposition to the IOC.

    International Journal of Culture and History

  19. 1963

    Baden-Baden Session: South Africa will be barred from the Games unless it adopts non-discriminatory policies.

    Wikipedia – Avery Brundage

  20. January 1964Turning point

    Innsbruck Session: after the South African committee refuses to change its selection policy, the IOC suspends it and withdraws its invitation to the Tokyo Games. This first exclusion rests on the Charter alone, with no boycott threat.

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 31–33; Olympedia

  21. 1964

    The Group of 77 is formed at the first UNCTAD. Between Melbourne and Tokyo, the number of nations at the Games rises from 67 to 93; in eight years the IOC admits twenty-six new nations, most of them African and Caribbean.

    Group of 77; Ivey, 2024, p. 30

  22. July 1965

    First African Games in Brazzaville, with Jean-Claude Ganga as secretary general of the organizing committee: 29 countries according to the IOC, 27 according to Charitas.

    Clastres, 2025; Charitas, 2023

  23. December 1966Turning point

    Bamako: founding of the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA), mandated to secure South Africa's expulsion “by all means.” First executive: André Hombessa (president), Abraham Ordia and Badara Sow (vice-presidents), Jean-Claude Ganga (secretary general).

    Charitas, 2023; Ivey, 2024

  24. 1967

    Prime Minister John Vorster agrees to Black athletes on the Olympic team, provided separate selection trials are held.

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 36–37

  25. 1967

    IOC fact-finding commission to South Africa, chaired by Killanin, with Ade Ademola and Reginald Alexander.

    Wikipedia – Apartheid-era South Africa

  26. February 1968

    Judging Vorster's concession sufficient, the IOC votes by mail to readmit South Africa to the Mexico City Games.

    Wikipedia; Ivey, 2024, pp. 36–37

  27. February 16 – 26, 1968

    Ethiopia threatens to boycott Mexico City (February 16), followed by Algeria, Tanzania and Ghana; the OAU recommends a boycott to its thirty-eight members (February 24); the SCSA endorses it unanimously (February 26).

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 37–38

  28. April 1968Turning point

    Forty-six states threaten to boycott, two-thirds of them African, joined by India, Brazil, Cuba, the Scandinavian countries and the Soviet bloc. On April 21, the IOC Executive withdraws the invitation; a mail ballot confirms it (47 to 17, with 8 abstentions).

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 37–38; Olympedia

  29. 1968

    The SCSA moves to Yaoundé. The UN General Assembly calls for the suspension of sporting exchanges with South Africa.

    Charitas, 2023; Bancel, The Conversation, 2024

  30. October 1968

    Mexico City: Kenya wins eight medals in athletics, led by Kipchoge Keino.

    Olympedia, “Kenya”

  31. 1969

    Abraham Ordia (Nigeria) becomes president of the SCSA, a post he will hold until 1983.

    Commonwealth Oral Histories

  32. November 28, 1969

    Letter from Mitchell Sharp supporting Montreal's bid: all representatives of NOCs and federations recognized by the IOC will be free to enter Canada.

    Pound, 2012, p. 18

  33. May 12, 1970Turning point

    Amsterdam: Montreal wins the 1976 Games over Moscow and Los Angeles.

    New York Times, May 13, 1970

  34. May 1970Turning point

    At the same Session, the South African Olympic Committee is expelled (35 to 28, with 3 abstentions) after pleas by Ordia and Ganga.

    Olympedia; Ivey, 2024, pp. 38–39

  35. October 1970

    Canada recognizes the People's Republic of China and breaks with Taipei.

    IOC, “Diplomatic controversies”

  36. 1971

    The Commonwealth adopts its Declaration of Principles in Singapore, from which the Gleneagles Agreement will later flow.

    Commonwealth Secretariat

  37. August 4, 1972

    The OAU and the SCSA call for a boycott of Munich if Rhodesia takes part; Tanzania, Zambia, Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia declare their positions publicly.

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 39–40

  38. August 22, 1972Turning point

    Munich: Rhodesia's invitation is withdrawn four days before the opening (36 to 31, with 3 abstentions). For Andrew Novak, quoted by Ivey, “Africa, as a continent, had won.”

    BBC; Ivey, 2024, p. 42

  39. September 6, 1972

    Brundage, at the memorial for the Israeli athletes: “We lost the Rhodesian battle against naked political blackmail.” He later apologizes.

    WNYC; Los Angeles Times, 2002

  40. 1972

    Killanin succeeds Brundage (1972–1980). Nine African members then sit on the IOC, two of them white men.

    Monnin, 2008; Olympedia

  41. January 1973

    Lagos: Ordia offers Killanin a bargain. If the views of African sports leaders are heard “with better understanding,” the SCSA will ensure that Africa will “reaffirm their loyalty to the IOC” and drop its boycott threats.

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 40–41

  42. 1973

    New Zealand's Labour government under Norman Kirk postpones the Springbok tour. Kéba Mbaye (Senegal) joins the IOC; Mohamed Zerguini (Algeria) follows in 1974.

    Ivey, 2024; NZHistory; Olympedia

  43. May – July 1974

    British Lions tour South Africa. The SCSA votes a sporting boycott of the United Kingdom; according to Kenya, only 22 of its 41 members apply it. This is the first instance of a strategy aimed at “third-party offenders” (Sikes).

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 48–49

  44. 1974 – 1975

    The Portuguese colonies gain independence, and the fight against apartheid becomes the OAU's main political objective.

    Bancel, The Conversation, 2024

  45. November 1974

    The UN General Assembly suspends the South African delegation from its proceedings (91 to 22), an unprecedented decision.

    New York Times, November 13, 1974

  46. 1975

    The French national rugby team tours South Africa. Ganga warns Jacques Chirac and even “coaches” the French ambassador in Cameroon; the SCSA announces a break with France, to no effect. Ivey judges these campaigns “weak and uncoordinated,” lacking a “rallying moment.”

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 50–52

  47. May 1975

    The IOC expels Rhodesia (41 to 26), under the implicit threat of a boycott of Montreal.

    Ivey, 2024; New York Times

  48. November 7, 1975

    Killanin circular: the Tripartite Commission condemns breaches of the rules driven by political considerations.

    Monnin, 2008

  49. November – December 1975Turning point

    Robert Muldoon's National Party wins after campaigning against the 1973 postponement and pledging that government will stay out of sport.

    Ivey, 2024; NZHistory

1976, Week by Week

January – December 1976 · 25 entries
  1. January – February 1976

    New Zealand hosts a world softball championship that includes South Africa. Ordia threatens a boycott; Lance Cross dismisses the threat, and Ordia extends it to the Olympic Games.

    Ivey, 2024, p. 53

  2. March 9 1976

    Ordia's threat makes the front page of the New Zealand Herald, following his letter to T. P. McLean: no competition with New Zealand, “including the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games.”

    Ivey, 2024; The Spinoff

  3. April 27 – 29 1976Turning point

    Nairobi: the SCSA executive adopts a boycott of any competition involving New Zealand; Ganga warns that a full Olympic boycott could “isolate” Africa.

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 56–57

  4. May 17 1976

    Beijing warns Trudeau that it will not tolerate a Taiwanese team competing as the “Republic of China.”

    Monnin, 2008

  5. May 28 1976

    Mitchell Sharp informs Killanin that Taiwanese athletes may enter only if they do not represent the “Republic of China” or use its flag, anthem or name.

    Pound, 2012, pp. 20–21

  6. Late May 1976

    Ordia visits New Zealand; Muldoon refuses to meet him, and he is booed during a televised debate.

    Ivey, 2024

  7. June 8 1976

    Killanin replies that these conditions are “in complete conflict with the Olympic rules”; the IOC would not have chosen Montreal had it known of them.

    Pound, 2012, p. 21

  8. June 16 1976Turning point

    The Soweto uprising begins. For Ivey, “the real issue was Soweto.”

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 59–62

  9. June 24 – July 3 1976

    OAU Council of Ministers in Port Louis: Resolution CM/Res.488 condemns New Zealand and invites states to “reconsider” their participation. It is adopted in the absence of Ganga, then in Gabon, and of Ordia, who intervenes only by telegram.

    OAU, CM/Res.488; Ivey, 2024

  10. June 25 1976

    The All Blacks leave for South Africa.

    Ivey, 2024

  11. June 30 1976

    The All Blacks play their first match in South Africa while the Port Louis meeting is in session.

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 59–62

  12. July 6 – 11 1976

    Madagascar (July 6), Tanzania (July 9) and Mauritius (July 11) announce they will not send teams. The Tanzanian daily Uhuru frames the choice as “Olympic medals or freedom and respect”; Filbert Bayi will not run.

    Ivey, 2024; The Spinoff

  13. July 10 – 15 1976

    The IOC devotes its meetings of July 10, 11, 12 and 15 to the Taiwan question; on July 11, its Executive Board protests “unanimously and strongly” against Canada's decision.

    Ivey, 2024, p. 84; Pound, 2012, pp. 25–26

  14. July 13 – 14 1976

    The IOC Session opens in Montreal; the text of the OAU resolution arrives with a delegate from New York, then as a paper copy.

    IOC Library; The Spinoff; Ivey, 2024

  15. July 15 1976

    Ordia and Ganga convene the heads of delegation; representatives of sixteen African NOCs, including Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, write to Killanin. The IOC approves Trudeau's compromise on Taiwan (58 to 2, with 6 abstentions).

    Monnin, 2008; IOC Library; New York Times, July 16, 1976

  16. July 16 1976Turning point

    Killanin refuses: rugby is a sport “over which the International Olympic Committee has no control whatsoever.” Nigeria withdraws on its government's instructions; Taiwan withdraws.

    The Spinoff; Ivey, 2024, p. 83; IOC Library

  17. July 16 – 17 1976

    Zambia, Kenya, Congo, the Gambia and Ethiopia follow. “As sportsmen, we have no alternative but to comply with the instructions of our government” (Zambian delegation).

    Ivey, 2024

  18. July 17 1976Turning point

    The opening ceremony takes place without many African delegations; the BBC reports that more than three hundred competitors will not take part.

    Ivey, 2024; BBC, July 17, 1976

  19. July 18 – 21 1976

    Staggered withdrawals: Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia compete for a few days before their governments recall them. Depending on the criterion used, between 22 and 32 countries boycott in all.

    Monnin, 2008; Olympedia; IOC; CBC

  20. July 22 1976Turning point

    In Montreal, the IAAF expels South Africa's athletics federation. The same day, African leaders are still seeking a compromise based on an official condemnation of sporting ties with South Africa.

    New York Times, July 22 and 23, 1976

  21. August 16 1976

    The IOC asks the 31 non-participating NOCs in writing to justify their absence. Zaire cites “national priority realities and needs.”

    Monnin, 2008; Ivey, 2024

  22. September – October 1976

    Mohamed Mzali, IOC vice-president, publishes an article in the Olympic Review (nos. 107–108) calling the boycott “impoverished in its inspiration, rushed in its execution, and relatively ineffective.”

    Mzali, Olympic Review, 1976, p. 464; Ivey, 2024, p. 173

  23. October 13 – 17 1976

    Barcelona: the Executive Board and the IFs decide against sanctions, treating the African NOCs as “victims of their governments.”

    Monnin, 2008; Ivey, 2024

  24. November 9 1976

    UN Resolution 31/6F on apartheid in sport (128-0-12) establishes an ad hoc committee to draft a convention.

    Ivey, 2024

  25. December 23 1976

    Killanin: membership in the Olympic Movement is not compulsory, but a member NOC must respect the Charter.

    Monnin, 2008

Aftermath: From Gleneagles to Readmission

1977 – 1992 · 20 entries
  1. January 1977

    Extraordinary meeting of the SCSA in Yaoundé; Guinea speaks of “high treason,” but the majority opts for leniency toward Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

    Monnin, 2008; Ivey, 2024

  2. March – April 1977

    IOC meeting with the NOCs in Abidjan: proposals from Nigeria (Rules 3 and 25) and from the Canadian Olympic Association (sanctions).

    Ivey, 2024; Monnin, 2008

  3. June 15, 1977Turning point

    Gleneagles Agreement: Commonwealth heads of government commit to discouraging all sporting contact with South Africa, notably to protect the Edmonton Games.

    Commonwealth Secretariat; CBC, 2026

  4. 1977

    The SCSA becomes a specialized agency of the OAU. Zambia withdraws a seven-player badminton team because a single New Zealand player is present.

    Charitas, 2023; Ivey, 2024, pp. 186–197

  5. 1977 – 1978

    Bashir Attarabulsi (Libya), Lamine Keita (Mali) and René Essomba (Cameroon) are co-opted to the IOC; Kéba Mbaye is appointed to the Juridical Commission (1977).

    Clastres, 2025; Krieger, 2025

  6. December 14, 1977

    UN International Declaration against Apartheid in Sports (125-0-14). Canada is the only Western member of the committee tasked with drafting the convention.

    United Nations, A/RES/32/105 M; Ivey, 2024, p. 227

  7. 1978

    Edmonton Commonwealth Games: only Nigeria and Uganda boycott; Kenya calls the initiative “unwarranted.”

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 200–202

  8. 1979

    Rule 25 is amended so that the host country's NOC may be sanctioned if the organizing committee fails to meet the conditions of award. Ganga publishes Combats pour le sport africain (L'Harmattan).

    Krieger, 2025; L'Harmattan

  9. December 1979

    Yaoundé: the SCSA recommends taking part in the Moscow Games; Ganga loses the post of secretary general to Lamine Ba (24–20).

    Ivey, 2024

  10. December 24 – 27, 1979

    Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

    Ivey, 2024

  11. January 20, 1980Turning point

    Carter's ultimatum; some sixty countries boycott the Moscow Games (64 according to Ivey, 66 according to CBC). Twenty African committees boycott, twenty-one take part.

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 157–161 and 218–219; CBC, 2026

  12. 1980

    Julius Nyerere refuses to follow the American call: “when two elephants are fighting, it is the grass that suffers. Afghanistan and Tanzania are the grass.”

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 328 and 332

  13. 1981

    The Springbok tour of New Zealand is marked by protests and violence. In the British House of Commons, it is noted that Gleneagles “seeks only to discourage and dissuade.”

    Hansard, July 31, 1981; Ivey, 2024, p. 302

  14. 1982 – 1983

    Reginald Honey leaves the IOC (1982); Ordia steps down as SCSA president (1983).

    Olympedia; Commonwealth Oral Histories

  15. 1984

    Soviet boycott of the Los Angeles Games, with no more than fourteen countries absent according to the Washington Post. Morocco leaves the OAU after the admission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

    Ivey, 2024; Washington Post, June 5, 1984; Encyclopædia Universalis

  16. 1985

    The planned New Zealand tour of South Africa is cancelled.

    Ivey, 2024, p. 302

  17. December 10, 1985Turning point

    Adoption of the International Convention against Apartheid in Sports (in force April 3, 1988).

    United Nations, Treaty Series; OAS

  18. 1986

    Jean-Claude Ganga becomes an IOC member; he will chair ANOCA from 1989 to 1999.

    Charitas, 2023; Olympedia

  19. June 21, 1988

    The IOC issues a declaration against “apartheid in sport” and creates a dedicated commission.

    Wikipedia; UN Yearbook 1988

  20. 1991 – 1992Turning point

    South Africa is readmitted and returns to the Games in Barcelona.

    Wikipedia – Apartheid-era South Africa

Memory and Legacies

1999 – 2026 · 6 entries
  1. 1999

    Ganga is expelled from the IOC in the wake of the Salt Lake City scandal.

    Le Monde, March 17, 1999; RFI, March 28, 2020

  2. December 12, 1999Turning point

    Olympic Charter, Rule 31.3: “each NOC is obliged to participate in the Games of the Olympiad by sending athletes.”

    IOC, amendments of the 110th Session

  3. November 14, 2006

    Final repayment of the Olympic debt, some $1.5 billion, which anchored the memory of the Games in their cost.

    The Globe and Mail

  4. 2013

    The SCSA is dissolved; where its archives are held has not been established.

    Camara, A divided house

  5. 2024

    James Ivey's dissertation (UC San Diego) and Louis Brosseau's master's thesis (Université Laval) place Montreal within the history of decolonization and date the Olympic “era of crises” to 1976–1980.

    Ivey, 2024, pp. 5–6, 11 and 120

  6. 2026Turning point

    Fiftieth anniversary: CBC series on the boycotting athletes; La Presse quotes Jean Drapeau, “Une grande tristesse des jeux de 1976 demeure le retrait d'un continent” (“One great sadness of the 1976 Games remains the withdrawal of a continent,” July 13); Nicolas Moreau publishes the Canadian Olympic Association's correspondence (October 15).

    CBC, 2026; La Presse, July 13, 2026; The Conversation, October 15, 2026

Timeline produced by IDÉES-AFRIQUE as part of the project “1976 — Canada Tested by the World.” Sources are given under each entry; main references: Ivey (2024), Monnin (2008), Clastres (2004, 2025), Charitas (2023), Bancel (2024), Pound (2012), MacLean (2024), Krieger (2025), Olympedia, IOC Library, United Nations, OAU. Version 2, October 2026.