Alfred James Swift (25 June 1931 – 13 April 2009) was a South African Olympic athlete and cyclist. Swift was born in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on 25 June 1931. He was awarded provincial colours for Natal (Kwazulu Natal) and then later for Transvaal (Gauteng). He was awarded his springbok colours in 1952 and competed at two Olympic games, 1952 in Helsinki and 1956 in Melbourne. He also captained the South African Team to the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

in Rome. He won a silver (4,000m Team Pursuit Men 1952) and bronze medal (1,000m Time Trial Men 1956) at the games. He went to two British Empire & Commonwealth Games,

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

in Vancouver, Canada, and

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

in Cardiff, Wales. He won gold (Time Trial) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. He was one of only three athletes (of all types) to win South Africa's highest honour, the Shield of Jove. He gave back to his sport by serving and being president of South African Cycling Federation and was one of the creators of the Rapport Tour (South Africa's Tour de France). Swift died on 13 April 2009 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

References

1931 births 2009 deaths Sportspeople from Durban Olympic medalists in cycling Olympic silver medalists for South Africa South African male cyclists Cyclists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for South Africa Cyclists at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Olympic bronze medalists for South Africa Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling Medallists at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games {{SouthAfrica-cycling-bio-stub