The Boycott Games

The last time the Commonwealth Games were held in Scotland was in 1986, when nearly 60 countries, mostly from Africa and the Caribbean, boycotted the event in protest at Margaret Thatcher’s policy of maintaining sporting links with apartheid-era South Africa. Eve Streeter talks to the English distance runner Jon Solly about winning the 10,000 metres at a games that was attended almost exclusively by white athletes.

(Photo: The opening of the 1986 Commonwealth Games. Credit: PA)