Blast from the past: Player wins the claret jug for second and third time

Today in SA sports history: July 13

1908 — The first Olympics to feature a SA team kicks off in London. With only 13 athletes, SA has the second-smallest team behind Austria, with  nine. UK has 226 athletes, ahead of Denmark (126), Sweden (111), US (68), Finland (64) and Germany (61). In total there are only 18 nations. Still, SA 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.

1948 — SA’s boxers at the 1948 Olympics make it rain medals at the Games in London, which is hosting the showpiece for the second time. Four of them make the podium to place the country first in the Games boxing competition, above Argentina (two golds and a bronze) and Hungary (two golds). Teenager Gerald Dreyer, a clerk at Iscor, wins lightweight gold and 21-year-old boilermaker George Hunter triumphs in the light-heavyweight division, also collecting the Val Barker trophy for most outstanding boxer of the Olympics. Denis Shepherd had to settle for silver after losing narrowly on points in the featherweight final, while Johnny Arthur collected bronze in the heavyweight contest after his opponent withdrew because both his hands were injured. Welterweight Duggie du Preez was permitted to fight despite having a patch over his left eye and suffering from a hurt right hand, but he was unable to prevail in his match for the bronze medal. That’s the last time SA has won boxing gold at the Olympics. 

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, while Wallaby scrumhalf Ken McMullen scored an unconverted try.

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 SA 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 SA 3-2 in the pool clash earlier in the tournament, but this time they couldn’t get through. The score was goalless after regulation time and extra time. Not only did Richter save a goal flick by Paul Lisske 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 SA’s single short corner. At the end of the match German coach Klaus Kleiter wept. In the semifinals SA 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.

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 SA’s only try.

1997 — Cape Town stages the fencing world championships, though no locals make the podium in the weeklong 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. 

2013 — Cape Town paddler Sean Rice wins the men’s crown and Michele Eray the women’s title to underline SA’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, SA 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).