BLAST FROM THE PAST | Mokoena the silver lining for South Africa at Beijing Games

1928 — The Springboks score three tries to two as they beat New Zealand 11-6 in the third Test at Crusader’s in Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) to lead the four-match series 2-1.

1951 — South Africa, needing to win the fifth and final Test at the Oval to draw the series, fail to defend 162 as England win by four wickets to take the series 3-1.

1956 — The Springboks go down 10-17 to the All Blacks in the third Test in Christchurch to trail 1-2 in the four-match series. The home side scores three tries to two, and their star fullback Don Clarke slotted one conversion and two penalties. Flank Butch Lochner and centre Wilf Rosenberg scored South Africa’s tries.

1966 — Karen Muir breaks her own 200m backstroke world record at the United States championships in Lincoln, Nebraska, clocking 2min 26.4sec to become the first woman to dip under 2:27.0. The 13-year-old had posted her previous 2:27.1 mark less than a month earlier.

1970 — Mike Procter scores an unbeaten nine as the World XI beat England by four wickets in the fifth and final five-day match at the Oval to win the series 4-1.

1995 — Okkert Brits powers to a 6.03m career best to win the pole vault at a meet in Cologne, Germany, becoming the second-highest jumper at the time behind then world record-holder Sergey Bubka.

1998 — Pat Symcox scores 51 from 39 balls and then takes 2/31 as the Proteas, on 244/7, beat England by 14 runs in an ODI in Birmingham. Daryll Cullinan was the top-scoring batsman for the visitors, making 70 from 73 balls. The win, however, wasn’t enough to get South Africa into the final of the triangular tournament, where Sri Lanka beat England.

2000 — Andrew Hall bowls a great final over as South Africa and Australia play to a tie in their second ODI in Melbourne. Defending a total of 226/8, South Africa seemed out of it as the hosts strolled to 146/2. And that’s when their bowlers struck, taking turns dismissing the Australian batsmen until Hall bowled the final deliveries of the match. Shane Warne hit two runs off the penultimate ball and then scored a single to get the tie.

2000 — Llewellyn Herbert claims his second Golden League triumph of the season, winning the 400m hurdles at the Herculis meet in Monaco in 48.18.

2001 — Lock Mark Andrews scores a try as the Springboks play to a 14-14 Tri-Nations draw against Australia in Perth.

2002 — Allan Donald takes four wickets as the Proteas beat Pakistan by eight runs in Tangier to secure their spot in the final of a triangular tournament also featuring Sri Lanka. Mark Boucher scored 57 and Boeta Dippenaar 55 to help South Africa to 196/8. Donald took the key scalp of Shahid Afridi, who had made 62 off 40 deliveries.

2003 — Mark Boucher top-scores with 52 as the Proteas are bowled out for 131 in Nottingham to lose the third Test against England by 70 runs, with the home side drawing level at 1-1 in the five-match series.

2004 — Roland Schoeman picks up his second Olympic medal of the Athens Games as he finishes second in the men’s 100m freestyle behind world record-holder and defending champion Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands. Schoeman had led for most of the race, but was overhauled on the final quarter. Countryman Ryk Neethling had been in medal contention as well, but he was pipped at the wall by Australian Ian Thorpe by seven hundredths of a second.

2004 — Benni McCarthy and Tyren Arendse score as Bafana Bafana beat Tunisia 2-0 in a friendly in Tunis.

2006 — Mbulaeni Mulaudzi finishes first in the 800m at the Golden League meet in Zurich in 1min 43.38sec.

2008 — Khotso Mokoena wins South Africa’s only medal of the Beijing Games, taking silver in the long jump. He had been lying fourth when he leaped to 8.24m in the fourth round of competition to end second behind Irving Saladino of Panama on 8.34m.

2012 — The Springboks score three tries as they beat Argentina 27-6 in a Rugby Championship match at Newlands. Fullback Zane Kirchner, flank Marcell Coetzee and wing Bryan Habana dotted down.

2013 — Johan Cronje wins South Africa’s only medal of the world championships in Moscow, taking the 1,500m bronze on the final day of the showpiece. He produced a strong final lap before storming into third place in a sprint finish, clocking 3min 36.83sec behind Kenyan Asbel Kiprop (3:36.28) and American Matthew Centrowitz (3:36.78).

2016 — Unheralded Henri Schoeman claims South Africa’s first-ever Olympic triathlon medal as he takes bronze behind the English Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan. Compatriot Richard Murray, who had broken his collarbone earlier in the year, ended fourth seven seconds behind. That night Sunette Viljoen buried the ghost of her fourth place in London four years earlier, winning the javelin silver behind Croatian Sara Kolak. She also had the satisfaction of beating long-time rival Barbora Špotáková of Czech Republic, the bronze medallist.

2018 — Wings Aphiwe Dyantyi and Makazole Mapimpi scores two tries each as the Springboks beat Argentina 34-21 in a Rugby Championship match in Durban. Centre Lukhanyo Am and scrumhalf Faf de Klerk also got on the scoresheet, with flyhalf Handre Pollard landing two conversions.

2023 — The Springboks run in seven tries as they down Wales 52-16 in a World Cup warm-up match in Cardiff. Canan Moodie and Jessie Kriel scored twice each.

2024 — Dricus du Plessis defends his UFC middleweight crown when he beats Nigeria-born New Zealander Israel Adesanya by submission in the fourth round at the RAC arena in Perth.

2025 — Bafana Bafana blow a 3-1 over Uganda, conceding two late penalties — one in the 88th minute and the other six minutes into optional time — to draw 3-3 with hosts Uganda in their final African Nations Championship group match in Kampala, a result that saw the South Africans exit the tournament. Ramahlwe Mphahlele, Thabiso Kutumela and Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo scored Bafana’s goals in the second half.