Olympic flame torchbearer Yoshinori Sakai mounts the steps to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games at the National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on Oct. 10, 1964. (Photo:  Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On Aug. 18, 1964, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned South Africa from participating in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo because the country refused to condemn its racist apartheid government and its practice of segregation of Blacks in whites in sports. That ban remained in place until 1990, when the African National Congress party, led by Nelson Mandela, began negotiations with other governmental bodies to end apartheid in the country. South Africa re-emerged in competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

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