1908 — The first Olympics to feature a South African team kicks off in London. With only 13 athletes, South Africa has the second-smallest team ahead of only Austria, with nine. The UK has 226 athletes, ahead of Denmark (126), Sweden (111), the US (68), Finland (64) and Germany (61). In total there are only 18 nations. Still, South Africa will win a gold and a silver.
1924 — Cecil McMaster takes bronze in the 10km walk at the Paris Olympics, to become the only South African to have made the podium in a walking event at a Games to date.
1957 — Sandra Reynolds beats Sheila Armstrong of Britain 4-6 6-4 6-0 to win the women’s singles title at the Irish Open in Dublin.
1963 — Debutants Tommy Bedford and Gert Cilliers score tries as the Springboks beat Australia 14-3 at Loftus Versfeld in the opening match of their four-Test series. Flyhalf Keith Oxlee converted one try and added two penalties to become the highest-scoring South African player of all time, overhauling the 55 points mark held by Gerry Brand since 1938.
1968 — Gary Player wins his second British Open title — and his fifth major crown overall — as he shoots a one-over-par 289 at Carnoustie to beat American legend Jack Nicklaus and New Zealander Bob Charles, both former champions, by two strokes. Player’s eagle on the par-five 14th on the last day was a talking point. He used a three wood for his approach into a heavy wind and got his ball to end two feet from the hole.
1968 — The Springboks clinch the series against the British and Irish Lions as they win the penultimate third Test at Newlands 11-6. They had been 1-0 up after winning the first match and drawing the second. With both sides kicking two penalties, the difference came from the only try of the match, scored by flanker Thys Lourens and converted by flyhalf Piet Visagie.
1974 — Gary Player wins his third British Open, firing a two-under-par 282 at Royal Lytham & St Annes to win by four shots, his second major crown in a calendar year along with the US Masters.
1974 — Goalkeeper Ian Richter delivers a defiant performance as the South African hockey team edges Olympic champions West Germany 3-2 on penalties in the eight-nation tournament final at the Wanderers club. The visitors had beaten South Africa 3-2 in the pool clash earlier in the tournament, but this time they couldn’t get through. The score was goalless after regulation and extra time. Not only did Richter save a goal flick by Paul Lissek in the deciding shoot-out to clinch the victory, but he and defenders Mike Madsen and Brian Kelly were superb in open play. In the second half of regulation time the Germans were awarded 12 short corners and nine long corners to South Africa’s single short corner. At the end of the match German coach Klaus Kleiter wept. In the semifinals South Africa beat Rhodesia and Germany downed Spain. The other teams that competed were Ireland, Switzerland, Austria and Malawi.
1974 — The British and Irish Lions secure their first series win of the 20th century against the Springboks, beating them 26-9 in the third Test in Port Elizabeth for an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match series. Winger JJ Williams scored two of the visitors’ three tries. Among the six debutants for the Springboks that day was scrumhalf Gerrie Sonnekus.
1984 — Running barefoot, Zola Budd broke the women’s 2,000m world record at the Crystal Palace stadium in London, clocking 5 min 33.15 sec, though the time was not ratified.
1996 — The Springboks face Australia for the first time since they were crowned world champions, but they are beaten 16-21 in Sydney to end an unbeaten stretch of 16 matches over nearly two years. Centres Tim Horan and Joe Roff scored one try each for the Wallabies, and wing Pieter Hendricks scored South Africa’s only try.
1997 — Cape Town stages the fencing world championships, though no locals make the podium in the week-long event at the newly built centre on the Foreshore that later become the International Convention Centre. In total, representatives from 12 countries won medals, nine of them from Europe and one each from Cuba, South Korea and China.
2005 — Bongani Nkosi equalises late in the first half to secure a 1-1 draw against Guatemala in South Africa’s last group match of the Concacaf Gold Cup in Houston.
2008 — Overnight batsmen Graeme Smith scores 107 and Neil McKenzie an unbeaten 102 in South Africa’s follow-on innings in the first Test against England at Lord’s.
2013 — Cape Town paddler Sean Rice wins the men’s crown and Michele Eray the women’s title to underline South Africa’s dominance at the inaugural ICF Canoe ocean racing world championships in Vila do Conde, Portugal. Across 17 divisions from under-18 to 65-to-69, South Africa paddlers won 10, including Rice’s younger brother Kenny (u18) and the Chalupsky brothers Oscar (men’s 50-54) and Herman (men’s 45-49).
2013 — Jabulani Shongwe and Hlompho Kekana score in the second half to give Bafana Bafana a 2-1 win over Namibia in a Cosafa Cup quarterfinal match in Lusaka.
2018 — Kevin Anderson beats American John Isner in the second-longest match in Wimbledon history, winning their men’s singles semifinal after six hours and 36 minutes. The South African won 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 26-24. Isner set the record against Nicolas Mahut at the 2010 edition, winning 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68 in 11 hours and five minutes.
2019 — Lenize Potgieter scores 33 points and Sigi Burger 32 as the Proteas trounce Fiji 90-35 in a Netball World Cup group match in Liverpool.
2021 — Janneman Malan scores 84 as the Proteas are bowled out for 247 to lose the second ODI against Ireland in Dublin by 43 runs. The home led the three-match series 1-0, with the first match washed out by rain.
2021 — Sepana Letsoalo scores a hat-trick as Bafana Bafana beat Lesotho 4-0 in a Cosafa Cup group match at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. Sphelele Mkhulise scored South Africa’s fourth.
2024 — Handré Pollard slots eight penalties, but the Springboks lose the second and final Test against Ireland at Kings Park in Durban 24-25, thanks to a last-gasp drop goal by substitute Ciarán Frawley. Scrumhalf Conor Murray scored the only try of the match to help the visitors share the series 1-1.
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