1893 — Cyclist Laurens Meintjes becomes South Africa’s first official world champion in any sport, winning the 50-mile race at the inaugural world track championships in Chicago as he clocked 2hr 11min 6-4/5ths sec. He finished ahead of Charles Albrecht of Germany and an American listed as B Ulbricht. Meintjes’ home country was listed as Transvaal. At another competition in Springfield the next month he broke three world records in one day, going three miles in 6min 45-1/5sec, four miles in 8min 57-3/5sec and five miles in 11min 6-1/5sec. Meintjes, who was born in Aberdeen in the Eastern Cape, is no direct descendant of Louis Meintjes.
1912 — Aubrey Faulkner takes seven wickets as South Africa bowl out England for 176 at the Oval on the first day of their sixth and final Test of the triangular tournament also featuring Australia.
1933 — Legendary forward Boy Louw and winger Freddy Turner score tries as the Springboks beat the touring Australians 12-3 in the third Test at Ellis Park to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. All-time greats, fullback Gerry Brand and flyhalf Bennie Osler, added points with the boot, Brand kicking a conversion and Osler a drop.
1961 — Flyhalf Keith Oxlee scores 14 points as the Springboks beat Australia 23-11 in the second and final Test at the Boet Erasmus stadium in Port Elizabeth. Oxlee scored one of South Africa’s three tries, converted one and landed three penalties on the day. Fullback Lionel Wilson kicked a drop.
1964 — South Africa is officially barred from the Tokyo Olympics after the country’s National Olympic Committee refused to publicly renounce racial discrimination in sport. It was the beginning of the country’s stay in the Olympic wilderness, which lasted a total of seven Games until 1988. South Africa returned at Barcelona 1992.
1967 — The Springboks play to a lacklustre 6-6 draw against France in the fourth and final Test at Newlands to win the series 2-1. The visitors scored the only try of the match, while for South Africa fullback HO de Villiers slotted a penalty and flyhalf Piet Visagie put over a drop.
1979 — Double world champion Kork Ballington wraps up the 250cc world championship as he races to victory in the British motorcycle grand prix at Silverstone. He also won the 350cc event to keep his hopes alive in that class, with two more GPs to go.
1981 — Lock Hennie Bekker scores a try on debut, but the Springboks lose the opening Test against the All Blacks in Christchurch 9-14. The home side ran in three tries.
2001 — Hestrie Cloete wins the women’s high jump at the world championships in Edmonton, clearing two metres to edge Inha Babakova of Ukraine on countback. The men’s 4x100m relay team of Morne Nagel, Corne du Plessis, Lee-Roy Newton and Matthew Quinn finished second behind the victorious Americans, but their silver was later upgraded to gold after US sprinter Tim Montgomery was banned for doping.
2002 — Herschelle Gibbs scores 114 as the Proteas beat Pakistan by 54 runs in a triangular ODI tournament in Tangier. South Africa made 283/9.
2006 — Roland Schoeman becomes the first man to swim under 21 seconds in the 50m freestyle as he breaks the world short-course record going 20.98sec at a gala in Hamburg, Germany.
2009 — Bafana Bafana go down 1-3 in a friendly against Serbia at Atteridgeville, with Katlego Mphela striking late to put the home side on the board.
2014 — Dane Piedt takes four wickets as the Proteas bowl out Zimbabwe for 181 before the visiting batsmen achieve the 41 required runs to win a one-off Test in Harare by nine wickets.
2016 — Chad le Clos, four years after sharing the Olympic 100m butterfly silver in a two-way tie at the London Games, ends in a three-way tie for second place at the Rio Games. Joseph Schooling won Singapore’s first Olympic gold in a 50.39sec Olympic record, but behind him Le Clos, defending champion Michael Phelps of the US and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh finished second in 51.14.
2017 — Gift Motupa and captain Mario Booysen put Bafana Bafana 2-0 up, but Zambia fight back to draw this African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifier in East London with a stoppage-time equaliser.
2018 — A lacklustre Proteas are hammered by Sri Lanka by 178 runs in the fifth and final ODI in Colombo. Quinton de Kock was the best of South Africa’s batsmen, making 54 in an otherwise dismal innings that was over in the 25th over. The visitors won the series 3-2.
2025 — Dewald Brewis hammers an unbeaten 125 — the highest T20 score by a South African — to lift the Proteas to 218/7 on their way to a 53-run victory over Australia in the second contest to draw level at 1-1 in the three-match series. Brewis, who faced 56 balls in total, hit his first 50 off 25 deliveries and the second 50 came 19 balls later. Kwena Maphaka and Corbin Bosch took three wickets each as the visitors bowled out the Australians for 165.
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