Sam Ramsamy

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Sam Ramsamy , OIS (born January 27, 1938 in Magazine Barracks, Durban ) is a South African sports official. He is a physical education teacher, a member of the International Olympic Committee and a campaigner against apartheid in South African sports .

Life

The son of a trade unionist of Indian descent, Ramsamy attended not only Depot Road Primary School , but also Sastri College , the first high school for Indians in South Africa. Due to an injury, he was unable to continue his career as a track and field athlete and shifted his interest to sports administration and the fight against racial discrimination. He attended Springfield College of Education in Durban and qualified as a primary school teacher . In addition, he worked as a trainer and as a lecturer at Springfield College. In 1972 his departure for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich was approved in order to be able to present a colored sports official from the apartheid country as a symbol.

However, Ramsamy did not return to South Africa, but received a scholarship at the German University of Physical Culture in Leipzig for a year before going to England. There he studied at Carnegie College of Physical Education in Leeds ( graduate sports teacher) and eventually became deputy headmaster of the Gwyn Jones School in Leytonstone . In 1973 he was a founding member of the South African Council on Sport , initially illegal under South African law , then in 1976 (-1990) a founding member and chairman of the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SAN-ROC). In 1978 he gave up the secure position in London and initially worked as a full-time employee of the UN for three months, helping to formulate the UN resolution against apartheid in sport. He then became full-time president of the SAN-ROC and had to keep looking for new sources of funding. The UN resolution he developed was ready in 1978, but it was not until 1985 that it was finally adopted by a majority of the UN. In 1980, at his instigation, the UN Special Committee against Apartheid initiated the Register of Sports Contacts with South Africa , for which he freelanced South African newspapers to show which athletes avoided the boycott of South Africa. At times he also lived in Sweden in order to be able to finance himself better.

With the end of apartheid, he was the 1991 to 2005 President South African Olympic Committee , President of the Schwimmverbanders South Africa (1991-1997, since 2004 honorary president), chief-de-mission of the South African team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona Since 2003, he Vice-President of the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA), President of the African Swimming Association since 2012. In 1995 he became a member of the IOC and from 2006 to 2010 he was a member of the IOC's Executive Committee.

As the culmination of his life's work, Ramsamy tried to get the Summer Olympics to South Africa and was disappointed when South Africa withdrew its application. He then endeavored to organize the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2024 Summer Olympics in his hometown of Durban.

Honors

  • Honorary Doctorates from the University of Toronto (Canada)
  • University of Surrey
  • Leeds Metropolitan University
  • Honorary Fellow - Roehampton College, University of Surrey
  • National Order of Ikhamanga (Silver)
  • Diplomat status (Ambassador of Tourism)

Publications

  • Sam Ramsamy: Apartheid: the real hurdle: sport in South Africa & the international boycott. London: International Defense and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, 1982.
  • Sam Ramsamy with Edward Griffiths: Reflections on a life in sport. Cape Town: Greenhouse, 2004.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=7840
  2. ^ Grant Jarvie & Irene Ried: Sport in Africa. James Riordan , Arnd Krüger (Ed.): The International Politics of Sport in the 20th Century. London: Routledge 1999, ISBN 0-419-21160-8 , pp. 234-245; https://books.google.de/books?id=AgN6AgAAQBAJ&pg=PR5&dq=%22James+Riordan%22+%22Arnd+Kr%C3%BCger%22&hl=de&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22James%20Riordan % 22% 20% 22Arnd% 20Kr% C3% BCger% 22 & f = false ; up August 8, 2016
  3. ↑ http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/tribute-sam-ramsamy-and-others-who-fought-apartheid-sport-es-reddy ; up August 8, 2016
  4. ↑ http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv15n1/JOHv15n1za.pdf ; up August 8, 2016
  5. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics--barcelona-1992-ramsamy-rejoices-1539572.html
  6. ↑ https://www.olympic.org/mr-sam-ramsamy http://www.sascoc.co.za/dr-sam-ramsamy-ioc-member/  ; up August 8, 2016
  7. ↑ http://www.herald.co.zw/sa-readying-for-olympic-games-bid/ ; up August 8, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Ramsamy, Sam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African sports official and anti-apartheid fighter
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Magazine Barracks, Durban , South Africa