Today in SA sports history: March 1

1966 — In a race billed as the “Olympic final that never was”, Karen Muir breaks the 100.5 metres (110-yards) backstroke world record at Durban’s beach baths, beating local rival Ann Fairlie, France’s Kiki Caron and American Cathy Ferguson. Ferguson and Caron were the gold and silver medallists in this event at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, from which SA had been barred. Muir’s time was 68 seconds, which translated into 67.5 sec over the shorter but official 100 metres, 0.1 sec quicker than Ferguson’s world record.

1975 — More than 100,000 racing fans packed into Kyalami to watch Jody Scheckter become the first South African to win the South African Grand Prix, out-duelling Argentina’s Carlos Reutemann, the defending champion. Scheckter’s Tyrrell-Ford had an untested engine after his car had been wrecked in Friday’s practice and then his engine had blown up during pre-race practice. It was the 21st edition of the SA GP, which kicked off in East London in 1934. Scheckter remains the only SA driver to have won the event, which was last staged in 1993...