Despite opposition and criticism, he campaigned tirelessly against racist discrimination in sport and against the participation of South Africa's white-only teams in international sporting events.

Following the ultimate success of his campaigning and the fall of apartheid, he became President of South Africa's National Olympic Committee in 1991 before serving as Chef de Mission for the first racially integrated South African team that competed at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

But it is sometimes forgotten that the majority of Ramsamy's great campaigning took place in East London, where he worked as a lecturer in physical and health education for over a decade.

It was, therefore, no surprise in 2005 when he was recruited to join the IOC Coordination Commission for London 2012.

The appointment enabled the South African to pay ten inspection visits to East London which he holds many fond memories of, largely because it was the place that enabled him to make his anti-apartheid campaign so effective.

"This was an area I was in during a lot of my campaign," he told me as we spoke together, rather fittingly, in East London.

"In those days, the political party that supported us the most in our anti-apartheid campaign was the Labour Party.



"It wasn't the Conservative Party because the Conservatives had closer links with the apartheid regime back then.

"But this area was a Labour stronghold and that made me feel at home.

"They helped tremendously and although it has been forgotten by some, they should be complimented for the support they gave the anti-apartheid campaign.

"Without their support, perhaps we would not have been so effective.

"I will never forget that and I owe them a huge debt of gratitude."

In 1978 Ramsamy left London to become a consultant for the United Nations, working to ensure that an international convention against apartheid sport would ensure punitive measures were placed against countries that continued to engage with South Africa's white-only teams in sporting activities.

The convention was finally drawn up and signed by various countries in 1985, and played a major role in helping bring about the fall of the apartheid.

Fast-forward to the present and South Africa have a thriving, racially integrated team that will compete at London 2012 in a Games that many predict will be successful for both the African country and for the UK as they host the Olympics for a third time.

As a senior member of the London 2012 IOC Coordination Commission, Ramsamy has been given an in-depth look at preparations for the Games and admits that he could not be more impressed by the work that has been done.

"There is no doubt that Seb Coe [the London 2012 chairman], Paul Deighton [the London 2012 chief executive] and the entire London 2012 team have played a role that I have not seen in sport before," he said.

"They have taken Olympism and the Olympic Games to a new dimension.

"What I predict we will see at London 2012 is the Olympic spirit in full force, which to some extent did not exist at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.



"I think that will encourage people from all different areas to get involved in community activities.

"I can understand the reason why it didn't so much happen in Beijing because there were security concerns of a different type in China.

"But those security concerns, in my view, are not the same for London and do not exist in the same way and for that reason, the Olympic spirit will emerge.

"I think that great feeling of all communities coming together will also reach the athletes competing at the Games and that will help athletic performances reach a new height.

"As things are shaping up, London could very easily be the best Olympic Games of all time.

"Back in 2005 in Singapore, there was a strong chance that London wouldn't even host the event because Paris was the clear favourite.

"As an IOC member, I know that it came right down to a few votes in the end but I was very happy for London because it is a city I like very much.

"I am happy that their preparations have been such a huge success so far and that they have fully embraced the Olympic values."

Confident that London 2012 will be a huge success, Ramsamy speaks of a South African bid for the greatest sporting event on earth.

Such a bid was set to take place for 2020 Games but on the eve of the bidding deadline last year, following numerous discussions, South Africa's cabinet issued a statement in May 2011 saying it would not bid because it had decided "that it is better for the country to consolidate the gains of the 2010 FIFA World Cup [pictured below] for now".

It was a big blow for Ramsamy, who had been pushing to make the bid happen, but he revealed that a South Africa bid for the 2024 Olympic Games, most likely from Durban, is now set to be given the green light.


"We did discuss the issue of bidding for the Olympics with the South African Government for 2020 and the Government felt that we needed to get all the FIFA 2010 World Cup issues out the way," he said.

"But we are now looking forward to being a candidate for the 2024 Olympic Games.

"I believe that everybody is looking forward to a South African bid because Africa is the one continent that has not hosted the Games.

"Many people believe that South Africa is the ideal spot for the Games and we will work on that."

Should a South African 2024 bid go ahead, they should prove formidable for the reasons listed by Ramsamy, but with Ramsamy himself also playing a huge role in the lobbying process made stronger by his highly influential position on the IOC Executive Board.

The hosts of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are set to be announced in 2017 at the 129th IOC Session. By then, Ramsamy will be 79 and just one year away from the mandatory retirement age of the IOC, which he has been a member of since 1995.

Having shaped South African sport as we know it by helping to break the racial divide that split the country for so long and for so many dark years, what a fitting finale it would be to his time as an IOC member if Ramsamy could help bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games to a united sporting nation he himself worked so hard to create.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames