Speaking at TEDSports Indianapolis, Ramsamy explained how he worked with Nelson Mandela to lead South Africa's first post-apartheid team to the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, helping to write a new chapter for sport and society.

He began his TED Talk by quoting Mandela: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.

“Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair.

“It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.”

Ramsamy has exemplified this message throughout his career in sport administration, including 29 years serving with distinction on the World Aquatics Bureau from 1996. This led to him being recognised with the World Aquatics Order of Merit at the World Aquatics General Congress in Singapore last year.

Ramsamy delivered his TEDSports Talk in Indianapolis, a city with a rich aquatics heritage that has hosted multiple major events, including World Aquatics Swimming World Cups and US Olympic Team Trials in swimming.

Now aged 88, Ramsamy detailed his experience growing up in South Africa, where racial orientation was institutionalised.  

After joining the protest movement in South Africa pushing for equality in sport, he was forced to flee to England, where he joined the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee.

The South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee campaigned against discrimination in sport, and in 1970, the South African Olympic Committee was officially expelled from the IOC.

Ramsamy became President of the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee in 1976, and subsequently worked to create a united sports organisation in South Africa. A conference attended by representatives of all race groups was held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1990, which led to the formation of the Interim National Olympic Committee of South Africa.

Ramsamy was elected President of the Interim National Olympic Committee of South Africa, and the country was invited to participate as a non-racial body at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics.

In 1994, Mandela was elected as President of South Africa in the first multi-racial elections, and Ramsamy recalled how the 1995 Rugby World Cup then presented an opportunity to bring the nation together.

“South Africa won the championship, and there was only one black player in the team, simply because South Africa hadn’t yet totally integrated in all its forms,” he said.

“But Mandela said, let’s use this particular form to ensure and to show the white South Africans we were not against white South Africans, we were against apartheid.

“Mandela put on a South African shirt and walked into the stadium to present the cup. There were shouts for ‘Mandela, Mandela, Mandela!’ not only from the blacks but from the whites.

“Mandela said something had happened here, and this was an ideal opportunity. The international press who were there saw that this was unusual – there was segregation all along, now there was integration.  

“That helped us a lot in uniting both black and white sportspeople together.”

Concluding his TED Talk with reflections on his career campaigning for justice and equality in sport, Ramsamy quoted Roland Garros, the famous aviator after whom the French Open, the Grand Slam tennis tournament, is named.

“Victory belongs to the most tenacious, and that is why we won, because of our tenacity.

“Eventually, that is where we are now. Tenacity has brought us to where we are.

“That is something for all of us, whatever we want to do, whether at the local level, national level or international level.

“If we have tenacity, whatever particular targets we have, I believe we can succeed.”

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