Rhodesia is expelled by the IOC for its racist policies.

Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, became increasingly isolated from international sport during the 1960s and 1970s because of the racial policies of its white-minority government. After declaring independence from Britain in 1965 under Prime Minister Ian Smith, the Rhodesian government maintained a political system in which the white minority held most political and economic power despite making up only a small proportion of the population. These policies brought international condemnation, economic sanctions, and growing pressure to exclude Rhodesia from major sporting competitions.

The controversy reached a critical point before the **1972 Munich Olympic Games**. Rhodesia had originally been permitted to compete under special conditions, including using the British flag and the anthem “God Save the Queen.” However, numerous African countries threatened to boycott the Games if Rhodesia was allowed to participate. Faced with the possibility of a major international boycott, the International Olympic Committee voted **36–31, with three abstentions, to withdraw Rhodesia’s invitation** just days before the Games began. The decision reflected the growing determination of African nations to use international sport as a means of opposing racial discrimination and white-minority rule in southern Africa.

Rhodesia’s exclusion from Munich was followed by an investigation into racial discrimination within Rhodesian sport. An IOC commission examined the country’s sporting system and found evidence of significant racial inequalities and discrimination. In **1975, the IOC voted 41–26 to expel the Rhodesian Olympic Committee permanently from the Olympic Movement**. The decision placed Rhodesia alongside apartheid-era South Africa as an international sporting outcast and demonstrated that racial policies could carry consequences far beyond politics. Rhodesia remained outside the Olympics until white-minority rule ended and the country became independent **Zimbabwe in 1980**, when it returned to Olympic competition at the Moscow Games.