Sidney Kiel

Sidney "Sid" Kiel (18 July 1916 – 19 July 2007) was a South African doctor better known for his sporting career. Both a track and field athlete and a cricketer, he represented South Africa as a hurdler at the 1938 British Empire Games (now the Commonwealth Games), having earlier boycotted the 1936 Summer Olympics. His cricket career as an opening batsman for Western Province spanned from 1939 to his retirement in 1947.

Kiel was born to a Jewish family in Vrede, Orange Free State, but moved to Cape Town at the age of seven following his father's death. He was educated at South African College Schools (SACS) in Newlands, where he was head boy, captain of the cricket and athletics teams, and vice-captain of the rugby team. Kiel first ran for his country at the age of 16, while still at school. Following a 1935 race where he set a South African record for the 110 metres (or 120 yards) hurdles (and was timed within 0.5 seconds of the world record), he was included in the South African delegation for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, but withdrew in opposition to the German regime's antisemitism. At an October 1937 meet in Cape Town, Kiel recorded a personal best, 14.4 seconds, for the 110 metre hurdles. In that event at the 1938 Empire Games in Sydney, he placed fifth with a time of 14.7 seconds, with the gold medallist being another South African, Tom Lavery.

Finishing his athletics career, Kiel made his first-class cricket debut for Western Province during the 1939–40 season. With the Currie Cup suspended at the time, Western Province's season consisted of two sets of three games, played at home in December 1939 and in the coastal cities of Durban, East London, and Port Elizabeth in March 1940. Opening with Pieter van der Bijl on debut against Griqualand West, Kiel recorded a golden duck, bowled by Alfred Waddington. This however was followed by 36 in the second innings, with his next match, against North Eastern Transvaal, yielding a maiden first-class century, 139 not out. Kiel finished his inaugural season for Western Province with 524 runs from six matches, with a second century, 120, coming against Eastern Province in the last game of the season.