South Africa's most popular sports are association football, rugby union and cricket. Other sports with
significant support are swimming, athletics, golf, boxing, tennis, ringball, field hockey and netball. Although
football (soccer) commands the greatest following among the youth, other sports like basketball, judo, surfing
and skateboarding are becoming increasingly popular amongst the populace.
Association football is the most popular sport in South Africa. South Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and
FIFA president Sepp Blatter awarded South Africa a grade 9 out
of 10 for successfully hosting the event.
South Africa has won the Rugby World Cup three times, tying New Zealand for the most Rugby World Cup wins. South
Africa first won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which it hosted. They went on to win the tournament again in 2007 and
in 2019. It followed the 1995 Rugby World Cup by hosting the 1996 African Cup of Nations, with the national team
Bafana Bafana going on to win the tournament.
In 2022, the women's team also won the Women's Africa Cup of
Nations, beating Morocco 2–1 in the final. It also hosted the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the 2007 World Twenty20
Championship. South Africa's national cricket team, the Proteas, have also won the inaugural edition of the 1998
ICC KnockOut Trophy by defeating West Indies in the final. South Africa's national blind cricket team also went
on to win the inaugural edition of the Blind Cricket World Cup in 1998.
In 2004, the swimming team of Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling won the gold
medal at the Olympic Games in Athens, simultaneously breaking the world record in the 4×100 Freestyle Relay.
Penny Heyns won Olympic Gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, and more recently, swimmers Tatjana Schoenmaker
and Lara van Niekerk have both broken world records and won gold medals at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.
In 2012, Oscar Pistorius became the first double amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympic Games in London. In
golf, Gary Player is generally regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time, having won the Career Grand
Slam.