Celebrating the rise of women in Sport who have flown and continue to fly the South African flag high both on domestic and international stages! featured here is Natalie du Toit.
When it comes to revolutionising sports in South Africa, Natalie du Toit certainly has played her part – setting 10 world records across several events, including freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley races.
Born on the 29h of January 1984 in Cape Town, Natalie began swimming competitively at an early age, and went on to become a Western Province provincial swimmer from Wynberg Girls High School where she trained under coach Karoly von Törrös at the Vineyard SC in Cape Town.
At the age of 14, Natalie’s international career would explode after she had set a South African National record in the 400m IM at the nationals in Durban, where she also finished second in the 200m butterfly.
Incredible story of Natalie Du Toit who fulfilled her dreams despite losing one leg.#nataliedutoit #bloggers #lbloggers #fbloggers #bbloggershttps://t.co/OkhLewEVPR
— Raj Sharma (@Raj_Sharma_SX) June 28, 2023
Later that year, she took part in the ‘98 Commonwealth Games held in Malaysia where she proudly represented South Africa in these two events.
A setback suffered three years later would change her life forever as Natalie’s left leg had to be amputated at the knee after she was hit by a car while riding her scooter back to school after swimming practice.
Incredibly, she was back in the swimming pool just three months later!
By the time the Commonwealth Games came around in 2002, 18-year-old Du Toit was being touted as a medal hopeful, and basically shattered those expectations as she burst onto the scene in the most dominant way possible.
Du Toit won both the multi-disability 50m freestyle and the multi-disability 100m freestyle in world record time.
#EWNSPORTINGMOMENTS: Natalie du Toit announces herself to the world https://t.co/R5R5Vdw2R9 pic.twitter.com/gM8XbikAjq
— Eyewitness News (@ewnupdates) April 8, 2020
But that would only be the beginning of her dominance on the world stage, as she went on to make sporting history by qualifying for the 800m able-bodied freestyle final, the first time that an athlete with a disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event.
From 2003 to 2006, du Toit won several medals in the African, Afro-Asian, Paralympic, and Commonwealth games, including claiming five Paralympic gold medals in Athens in the 2004 games.
In 2008 du Toit came in fourth in the 10-kilometer open-water swim at the world championships in Spain – a remarkable performance that qualified her for the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China in that same year.
She attended the global competition (carrying the South African flag on her back) as the only disabled para swimmer to compete and came in 16th in the 10-kilometer race.
🇿🇦 Natalie Du Toit was flag-bearer for South Africa at the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
— #ParaSwimming #Manchester2023 (@Para_swimming) June 23, 2020
🥳 Today is the #OlympicDay and we want to celebrate it by remembering her remarkable career.#ParaSwimming @Olympics @olympicchannel @Paralympics @Natsdutoit pic.twitter.com/mK70MPIeoT
In December 2009, Du Toit was presented with the Order of Ikhamanga in gold by President Jacob Zuma. The award is made to South Africans who have excelled in the fields of arts, culture, literature, music, journalism, and sport. Gold is the highest level, followed by silver and bronze.
Du Toit became one of the most successful swimmers of all time, racking up a total of 37 gold medals across a professional career that spanned over 10 years.
After retiring from swimming in 2012, Natalie became a spokesperson for keeping illegal drugs out of sports.
The former Olympic and Paralympic swimmer Natalie du Toit says as the chairperson of the Athletes Commission, she attended the “Women and Sport Breakfast” event to inform sports women that they could approach them with concerns and challenges. #WomandlaInSport #WomanInSport pic.twitter.com/bOcMJuB5ji
— Percivale Young (@Percyoung) August 23, 2018
