1948 — For the first time a South African Olympic team travels to a Games by air. Most of the boxers got airsick on the trip to London, which took more than 36 hours. Sprinter Daphne Robb, the only woman in the team, slept most of the way on the Skymaster plane, much to the envy of her teammates, including weightlifters Piet Taljaard and Issy Bloomberg, and wrestlers Callie Reitz and Tony Rees who went to bed after lunch. Cyclist Dirk Binneman carried his bicycle, still with some red Cape mud stuck to the tyres, off the plane himself. The boxers recovered quickly and heavyweight John Arthur was handing out sticks of biltong to teammates after lunch. All four of South Africa’s medals came from boxers. Robb went on to win the 100m silver at the next Games in 1952.
1996 — The Cape Town city council executive committee approves the resolutions required by the International Olympic Committee of cities bidding for the Games. Cape Town lost to Athens in the battle to host the 2004 showpiece.
2013 — Anaso Jobodwana lands the World Student Games sprint double as he bags the 200m crown to add to the 100m title he won two days earlier in Kazan, Russia. That made the US-based athlete, originally from Phakamisa in King William’s Town, the first man to achieve this feat since Italian Pietro Mennea did it in Rome in 1975. Mennea, who had died of cancer a few months before, won three Olympic medals and two world championship gongs. Jobodwana went on to win the 200m bronze at the 2015 world championships.
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