Weightlifter who played a key role in apartheid South Africa's expulsion from the Olympics
Chris de Broglio, who has died aged 84, contributed substantially to South Africa's expulsion from the Olympic movement in 1970, a pivotal moment in the demise of apartheid.
A champion weightlifter, De Broglio was dedicated to fighting racism in sport and was, with Dennis Brutus, a founder member of the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (San-Roc). As Nelson Mandela subsequently told me, the success of the sports boycott campaign was vital. It boosted the freedom struggle at a critical time in the early 1970s when internal resistance had been crushed.
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