South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

made its

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

début at the 1964 Summer Paralympics in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and finished 6th on the medal table. It sent nine athletes to compete in archery, athletics, swimming and weightlifting. They finished sixth on the medal table with nineteen medals, of which eight were gold. Paradoxically, South Africa began to compete at the Paralympics after being refused participation at the Olympics, held in Tokyo the same summer, after refusing to send a single, multiracial team as demanded by the IOC, following the passing of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1761 in 1962 (which condemned the country's policy of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

). The country refused to acquiesce and was, thus, absent from the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

. The winners of its eight gold medals were G.P. Marais in archery (Men's St. Nicholas Round open), I. Marinowitz in archery (Women's St. Nicholas Round open),

Daniel Erasmus Daniel Erasmus is a South African athlete who won twelve medals at the Paralympic Games. At the 1964 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, Erasmus competed in athletics and medalled in all four of his events, taking gold in the discus and shot p ...

in athletics (Men's Discus A and Men's Shot Put A), M. Forty in discus (Women's Club Throw B and Women's Discus B), A. Somerset in swimming (Women's 25 m Breaststroke incomplete class 1), and B. Humble in weightlifting (Men's Middleweight).South Africa at the Paralympics
International Paralympic Committee

References

External links

International Paralympic Committee official website
Nations at the 1964 Summer Paralympics

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

Paralympics {{1964-Paralympics-stub