Boxing 31 May – Vic Toweel defeats World Bantamweight Champion Manuel Ortiz on points over 15 rounds at Wembley Stadium and becomes the first South African world boxing champion. British Empire Games The British Empire Games (now the Commonwealth Games), after a 12-year gap, takes place in Auckland, New Zealand from 4 to 11 February. Of the 12 participating countries which include Southern Rhodesia, South Africa finishes 5th on the medals list, winning 20 medals, 8 Gold, 4 Silver and 8 Bronze. The medal winners are: Athletics Neville Price – Gold, long jump, distance 7.31 m Syd Luyt – Silver, marathon, time 2.37.03 Tom Lavery – Bronze, 120 yards hurdles, time 14.6 s Daphne Robb ; Bronze, 220 yards, time 24.7 s Boxing Johnny van Rensburg – Gold, bantamweight Theunis van Schalkwyk – Gold, middleweight Marcus Temple – Bronze, flyweight Lawn bowls Alfred Blumberg, H.Currer, Harry Atkinson and Norman Walker – Gold, fours W. Gibb and H.J. van Zyl – Silver, pairs Rowing Ian Stephen – Bronze, single sculls Swimming Graham Johnston – Silver, 440 yards freestyle Graham Johnston – Gold, 1650 yards freestyle Jackie Wild – Gold, 110 yards backstroke Joan Harrison – Bronze, 110 yards freestyle Joan Harrison – Gold, 440 yards freestyle Weightlifting Barrie Engelbrecht – Bronze, featherweight Issy Bloomberg – Silver, light-heavyweight Wrestling Patrick Morton – Gold, light-heavyweight Martin Jooste – Bronze, welterweight Carel Reitz – Bronze, middleweight Comrades Marathon Wally Hayward, at age 42 and after a twenty-year gap, wins the Comrades Marathon from Durban to Pietermaritzburg in a time of 6h 46m 25s. Twenty runners of the 29 who start finish in the allotted time. Football June–July The Australia national association football team tours South Africa and plays four games against the South Africa national football team. 24 June – South Africa wins 3–2 at Kingsmead, Durban. 1 July – South Africa wins 2–1 at Ellis Park, Johannesburg. 8 July – Australia wins 2–1 at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth. 23 July – Australia wins 2–0 at Hartley Vale, Cape Town. References History of South Africa