Word: racial
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...grandson of slaves, John Woodruff used his determination and athleticism to break down racial barriers in sports. He was the first African-American runner to win gold at the 1936 Olympic Games, coming from behind to win the 800-m race. Woodruff's victory--along with nine other black athletes who won medals, including Jesse Owens--was the clearest form of rebuttal to racism both in Nazi Germany, where the Games were held, and at home. Nicknamed "Long John" for his 10-ft. (3 m) stride...
...scramble to stop their star players and coach from signing lucrative contracts with talent-hungry European teams, South African officials on Wednesday scrapped a long-held commitment to racial quotas for their national sports teams. That plan was one of the cornerstones of President Thabo Mbeki's push to integrate sports in a sports-crazed nation, and help close the huge racial schisms left by decades of apartheid. "Quotas are out," the sports minister Makhenkesi Stofile said in a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday attempting to explain the reversal. "We are not going to decide who must be on the team...
...game in Paris in August, the Springboks' manager Zola Yeye, the first black South African in the job in the team's 101-year history, told TIME that the team - good as it was - was an "indictment" of South African rugby's failure to integrate. He said he believed racial quotas might ultimately be the only way to create a team that reflected the country's ethnic makeup...
...government's commitment to racial quotas has unraveled rapidly since the World Cup final on October 20. Back home, the Springboks' winning coach, Jake White, bluntly told reporters that South Africa's racial politics were driving him out of the country. White is largely credited for creating a near-flawless World Cup team, and is in talks to become England's national rugby coach. In addition to White, two star Springbok players have already signed large contracts with French teams...
...coach White and some of his players, the government's decision to drop racial quotas has came too late. The sports minister Stofile said the new government plan would be to develop star black rugby players. That might require huge financial resources, however, including rugby training at poor, black-dominated high schools. Such an initiative would surely require years of investment and commitment - and in politics, that's an eternity...