Bafana: promising signs in Ghana

South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius has given up on the Beijing Olympics - but not on beating the ban preventing him from competing against able-bodied athletes. The double-amputee has instead shifted his focus to London 2012.

There's plenty for sports fans to look forward to in 2008, including stiff challenges for South Africa's national teams in the country's "big three" sports - soccer, cricket and rugby - as well as a range of other world-class action that will keep the excitement going throughout the year.

It has taken more than three decades for South Africa to produce a young black international campaigner; 32 years for someone to follow in the footsteps of 1976 French Open winner Vincent Tshabalala and make it onto the European Tour circuit. For South Africans, the long wait is over.

Brad Morgan looks back on a year that produced plenty of highlights for South Africa on the world's sporting stages.

South Africa's biggest soccer derby, the clash between archrivals Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, was broadcast throughout Europe for the first time on Saturday. The players, and the fans, did not disappoint.

More Than Just A Game, a new film telling the dramatic and little-known story of organised football played among political prisoners on Robben Island over three decades ago, had its world premier in Durban as part of the 2010 Fifa World Cup draw.

Under Jake White, South Africa's rugby team have won more than a World Cup. They've won the world's respect with a disciplined, tough-as-nails approach on the field. And they've won the love of SA's people, embracing their support in an open and humble manner not always seen in the past.

South Africa's World Cup winning Springboks returned to a heroes' welcome at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. As was the case with SA's victory in 1995, it was clear that the World Cup win was a triumph for the entire country as people, regardless of their colour, shared in the joy at the airport.

It wasn't pretty – finals seldom are – but, after a committed and controlled team effort, South Africa's Springboks defeated England 15-6 at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday night to win the Rugby World Cup final, and lay claim to the William Webb Ellis Trophy for the second time.

The Dreamfields Project, brainchild of journalist John Perlman, aims to use the excitement generated by the 2010 Fifa World Cup to bring soccer fields and equipment - as well as business skills and new social partnerships - to disadvantaged communities across South Africa.