Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The main purpose of the study was to analyse how current discourses about black South African sport-persons contribUJte to the racial Othering of this group and how they serve to perpetuate neoracist notions of blacks' inferiority relative to whites. The study also aimed to examine if and how such discourses function to legitimise the exclusion or nonselection of blacks and how this in turn impacts on perceptions about equity and national unity in the South African sport context. A social constructionist framework was used to explore these questions.