Thursday, December 5, 2013

‘One team, one country’ & ‘I am a Yankee’: How Nelson Mandela used sports to …

<p>"You helped to unite our nation as only sport can do by winning the Rugby World Cup in 1995. You made us all proud of being South Africans. Citizens of the new, non-racial democratic South Africa." - Nelson Mandela, speaking in 2011</p><p>Nelson Mandela's strength in producing reconciliation during his term as president in South Africa after 27 years in prison was as remarkable as his will to persevere during his incarceration.</p><p>Mandela's crowning moment of bringing his racially-torn nation together came in the 1995 World Cup Rugby championships, which was dramatized in the 2009 Matt Damon/Clint Eastwood collaboration "Invictus."</p><p>Mandela fought to bring the tournament to his country and the home team - the Springboks - shocked the defending world champions from Australia in the first round. This was the first major international sporting event held in the country after the end of apartheid.</p><p><a href="http://www.boston.com/sports/blogs/obnoxiousbostonfan/2013/12/how_mandela_rugby_unified_south_africa.html">Keep reading...</a></p>

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