Politics and the Paralympic Games: Disability Sport in Rhodesia-Zimbabwe

Abstract

White settler-ruled Rhodesia had one of the most successful Paralympic teams in the history of the Games, despite intense racial and disability discrimination at home and despite Rhodesia's exclusion from international sport in the 1960s and 1970s (including expulsion from the Olympic Games). This article explains why the Paralympic team continued to compete in international competition, and particularly why the British government allowed them to compete even as the British were maneuvering Rhodesian exclusion from the Mexico City and Munich Olympics.

Keywords: Rhodesia, Paralympics, Disability, Disability Sport, Paralympic Games