31 August 1963

The first South African Cross Country Championships for women was held on the last day of August 1963 and Anne McKenzie , who earlier that year had won her first track title over 880 yards rather easily , also came out on top , on a difficult course in Pretoria . The distance was two miles and the Southern Transvaal athlete clocked 14:01 to win from two 12-year-olds , Heather Blake ( 14:21 ) and Josephine Koen ( 14:51 ). Heather ’ s older sister , Jeanette , was fourth . McKenzie would also win in 1964 , 1966 and 1967 .

Ann McKenzie

26 August 1985

Zola Budd ’ s international career produced many superb performances , among them two World Cross Country Championship titles , but on this day she scored one of her most memorable victories in London , when she came up against 5000m World Record-holder Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway . It was an invitational race at the international match between England , Poland , Hungary and Czechoslovakia , and Budd ’ s participation was kept secret for fear of antiapartheid demonstrations . Just a month earlier , the Norwegian star had become the first athlete , man or woman , to hold World Records for 5000m , 10,000m and the marathon simultaneously , while Budd had

Zola Budd- Pieterse

broken the 5000m World Record in 1984 , aged just 17 , but due to South Africa ’ s sporting isolation , that mark was never recognised by the international athletics community . On this day , the barefoot ex- South African , who was running as a British National , took the lead in the third kilometre and easily pulled away , clinching the World Record with a final kilometre in 2:55.87 . Her 14:48.07 cut more than ten seconds from Kristianson ’ s previous mark of 14:58.89 , with the Norwegian ( 14:57.43 ) also under the old record .

1 August 1992

The 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona marked the return of South Africa to international athletics after more than 30 years of isolation . On this first day of August , Colleen de Reuck became the first SA female runner ever to finish an Olympic Marathon when , in sweltering , humid conditions , she placed ninth in 2:39:03 – almost four months to the day after she had won the SA Olympic Trials race in Cape Town , on her marathon debut , in 2:31:21 . The last SA marathoner to finish an Olympic Marathon before De Reuck was Keith James in the 1960 Rome Games . Eight years after Barcelona , in Sydney , De Reuck ran more than two minutes faster on an aided course ( 2:36:48 ), but could only finish 31st . Her Olympic Marathon time has been beaten by only two South Africans in an Olympic race : Rene Kalmer with 2:30:51 in London ( 2012 ) and Gerda Steyn with 2:32:10 in Sapporo ( 2021 ).

Colleen De Reuck

7 August 1992

It remains one of the great images of African athletics , and sport in general : South Africa ’ s Elana Meyer and her Ethiopian rival , Derartu Tulu , circling the track together after their epic battle in the Olympic 10,000m . The Barcelona Games signalled the full return of South Africa to the international arena , and from about 10 laps to go , Meyer had thrown down the gauntlet to her rivals with laps of 72 and 73.5

seconds . With Tulu on her heels but never leading , Meyer tried everything to get away , but it was to no avail . Tulu sizzled the last lap in 65.9 seconds to set a new African Record of 31:06.02 , with Meyer getting the silver medal in an SA Record 31:11.75 . It was an exhilarating contest in which six national records fell , while it was the fastest race ever for positions six to 15 , and Track & Field News subsequently labelled Meyer and Tulu “ symbols of a new day in women ’ s distance running .”

Derartu Tulu and Elana Meyer

7 August 1993

The versatile Gwen Griffiths , who was to make the Olympic 1500m final in 1996 , ran one of the best races of her career on this day at the Monaco Grand Prix – the forerunner of today ’ s Diamond League – when she finished seventh in a strong field in a personal best of 4:04.73 . The race was won by Romania ’ s Violeta Beclea in a world-leading 3:59.35 , with Sonia O ’ Sullivan of Ireland , a future World Champion over 5000m , second in a national record 3:59.60 . ( These two performances were the fastest non-Chinese times during the year .) Griffiths ’ time moved her into third on the SA all-time list behind Zola Pieterse and Elana Meyer , and she finished the year ahead of Meyer on the SA performance list . The SA Champion over 10,000m in 1990 , Griffiths had won the first of her three national 1500m titles earlier in the year , and was second behind Meyer in the 5000m .

Gwen van Lingen

Images : Anthony Grote & courtesy South African Sports Achievements , Zola Budd-Pieterse Collection , Darren De Reuck , Endurocad , Olympedia