Natalie du Toit
Encyclopedia
Natalie du Toit is a South African swimmer. She is best known for the gold medals she won at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as the Commonwealth Games
. She was one of two Paralympians to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing; the other being table tennis player Natalia Partyka
. Du Toit became the first amputee ever to qualify for the Olympics, where she placed 16th in the 10K, "Marathon", swim.
and attended Wynberg Girls' High School
. She began competing internationally in swimming at the age of 14. In February 2001 her left leg was amputated
at the knee after she was hit by a car while riding her scooter
back to school after swimming practice. Three months later, before she had started walking again, she was back in the pool with the intention of competing in the 2002 Commonwealth Games
. Du Toit swims without the aid of a prosthetic limb.
She completed her scholastic education at the Reddam House
in Cape Town after which she studied for a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Cape Town
, specializing in genetics
and physiology
. In her free time she does motivational speaking.
in Kuala Lumpur
. During the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester
, Du Toit, who was then 18 years old, won both the multi-disability 50 m freestyle and the multi-disability 100 m freestyle in world record time. She also made sporting history by qualifying for the 800 m able-bodied freestyle final - the first time that an athlete with a disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event. At the closing of the Manchester Commonwealth Games, she was presented with the first David Dixon Award
for Outstanding Athlete of the Games.
In 2003, competing against able-bodied swimmers, Du Toit won gold in the 800 metres freestyle at the All-Africa Games
as well as silver in the 800 metres freestyle and bronze in the 400 metres freestyle at the Afro-Asian Games
.
She narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics
in Athens
in 2004, but during the Paralympics that were held in the same city, she won one silver and five gold medals. In the same year, her courage and achievements were acknowledged with a nomination for the Laureus World Sportsperson
of the Year 2004 with Disability Award. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games
she repeated her previous performance by winning the same two golds as she had in Manchester. In 2006 Du Toit also won six gold medals at the fourth IPC World Swimming Championships, finishing third overall in a race which included 36 males and 20 females.
On 3 May 2008, Du Toit qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics after finishing fourth in the 10 km open water race at the Open Water World Championships in Seville, Spain. Her time was only 5.1 seconds off the winner in a race that made its first Olympic appearance in Beijing. At the Beijing Olympics women's 10 km race
, she finished in 16th place, 1:22.2 minutes behind the winner. She also took part in the 2008 Summer Paralympics
, winning 5 Gold Medals.
, making her the first athlete to carry a flag in both Olympics and Paralympics
in a single year.
said she had gone "beyond gold and swam her way into the hearts of not only South Africans but the whole world".
Du Toit was voted 48th in the Top 100 Great South Africans
in 2004 by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
In December 2009 she received the Order of Ikhamanga
in Gold "for her exceptional achievements in swimming."
On 10 March 2010, she was awarded the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability
for "breaking down the barriers between disabled and able-bodied sport".
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
. She was one of two Paralympians to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in Beijing; the other being table tennis player Natalia Partyka
Natalia Partyka
Natalia Partyka is a Polish table tennis player. Born without a right hand and forearm, she participates in competitions for able-bodied athletes as well as in competitions for athletes with disabilities....
. Du Toit became the first amputee ever to qualify for the Olympics, where she placed 16th in the 10K, "Marathon", swim.
Early life
Natalie was born in Cape Town, South AfricaCape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
and attended Wynberg Girls' High School
Wynberg Girls' High School
Wynberg Girls' High School is a public school for girls in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.Founded in 1884, Wynberg Girls High School is one of the oldest all girls schools in South Africa. The first headmistress, Miss Margaret Stewart, was supported by two teachers and catered to 27 pupils...
. She began competing internationally in swimming at the age of 14. In February 2001 her left leg was amputated
Amputation
Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma, prolonged constriction, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for...
at the knee after she was hit by a car while riding her scooter
Scooter (motorcycle)
A scooter is a motorcycle with step-through frame and a platform for the operator's feet. Elements of scooter design have been present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motorcycles identifiable as scooters have been made from 1914 or earlier...
back to school after swimming practice. Three months later, before she had started walking again, she was back in the pool with the intention of competing in the 2002 Commonwealth Games
2002 Commonwealth Games
The 2002 Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester, England from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The XVII Commonwealth Games was the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing London's 1948 Summer Olympics in numbers of teams and athletes participating.After the 1996 Manchester...
. Du Toit swims without the aid of a prosthetic limb.
She completed her scholastic education at the Reddam House
Reddam House
Reddam House is an independent, co-educational, non-denominational, day school, located in Woollahra and Bondi , both Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
in Cape Town after which she studied for a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
, specializing in genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
and physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
. In her free time she does motivational speaking.
Swimming career
Du Toit first competed internationally at the age of 14, when she took part in the 1998 Commonwealth Games1998 Commonwealth Games
The 1998 XVI Commonwealth Games were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 11 September to 21 September 1998 making it the first Asian country to act as host and the last Commonwealth Games for the 20th century. A record 70 nations supplied 3638 athletes...
in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
. During the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Du Toit, who was then 18 years old, won both the multi-disability 50 m freestyle and the multi-disability 100 m freestyle in world record time. She also made sporting history by qualifying for the 800 m able-bodied freestyle final - the first time that an athlete with a disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event. At the closing of the Manchester Commonwealth Games, she was presented with the first David Dixon Award
David Dixon Award
David Dixon Award is named after the former honorary secretary of the Commonwealth Games Federation for 17 years, David Dixon.It is given to the outstanding athlete of each of the Commonwealth Games based on their performance at the Commonwealth Games, fair play, and overall contribution to their...
for Outstanding Athlete of the Games.
In 2003, competing against able-bodied swimmers, Du Toit won gold in the 800 metres freestyle at the All-Africa Games
All-Africa Games
The All-Africa Games, sometimes called the African Games or the Pan African Games, are a regional multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa...
as well as silver in the 800 metres freestyle and bronze in the 400 metres freestyle at the Afro-Asian Games
Afro-Asian Games
The Afro-Asian Games are a series of inter-continental multi-sport competitions, held between athletes from Asia and Africa. These Games are one-of-a-kind, since no other sporting competition brings athletes from these two continents together for one event, excluding the Olympic Games. These Games...
.
She narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in 2004, but during the Paralympics that were held in the same city, she won one silver and five gold medals. In the same year, her courage and achievements were acknowledged with a nomination for the Laureus World Sportsperson
Laureus World Sports Awards
The Laureus World Sports Awards are awarded annually to sportspeople who have been outstanding during the previous year. The Laureus World Sports Awards were established in 1999 by Founding Patrons Daimler and Richemont and is supported by its Global Partners Mercedes-Benz, IWC Schaffhausen and...
of the Year 2004 with Disability Award. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...
she repeated her previous performance by winning the same two golds as she had in Manchester. In 2006 Du Toit also won six gold medals at the fourth IPC World Swimming Championships, finishing third overall in a race which included 36 males and 20 females.
On 3 May 2008, Du Toit qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics after finishing fourth in the 10 km open water race at the Open Water World Championships in Seville, Spain. Her time was only 5.1 seconds off the winner in a race that made its first Olympic appearance in Beijing. At the Beijing Olympics women's 10 km race
Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon 10 kilometre
The women's marathon 10 kilometre event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on August 20 at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. It was a new event on the programme at the 2008 Games. The men's and women's marathon 10 kilometre races, unlike all of the other swimming events, were held in open...
, she finished in 16th place, 1:22.2 minutes behind the winner. She also took part in the 2008 Summer Paralympics
2008 Summer Paralympics
The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games, the thirteenth Paralympics, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to September 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao....
, winning 5 Gold Medals.
2008 Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremonies
South Africa's Olympic Committee chose Du Toit to carry their flag at the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time on August 8, 2008, as 8 is considered to be a lucky number. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture...
, making her the first athlete to carry a flag in both Olympics and Paralympics
2008 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony
The 2008 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium on September 6, 2008 just two weeks after the end of the 2008 Summer Olympics. The event was themed "One World, One Dream" and "Transcendence, Integration, Equality." The show was attended by about 91,000 to...
in a single year.
Major sporting achievements
- 100 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Commonwealth Games (2010)
- 100 m S9 butterfly swimming gold medal - Commonwealth Games (2010)
- 50 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Commonwealth Games (2010)
- 50 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2008)
- 400 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2008)
- 200 m SM9 individual medley swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2008)
- 100 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2008)
- 100 m S9 butterfly swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2008)
- 100 m freestyle swimming EAD (multi-disability) gold – Commonwealth Games (2006)
- 50 m freestyle swimming EAD (multi-disability) gold - Commonwealth Games (2006)
- 100 m S9 backstroke swimming silver medal – Paralympics (2004)
- 100 m S9 butterfly swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2004)
- 100 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2004)
- 200 m SM9 individual medley swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2004)
- 400 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2004)
- 50 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2004)
- 800 m freestyle swimming gold medal - All-Africa Games (2003)
- 800 m freestyle swimming silver medal - Afro-Asian Games (2003)
- 400 m freestyle swimming bronze medal - Afro-Asian Games (2003)
- David Dixon AwardDavid Dixon AwardDavid Dixon Award is named after the former honorary secretary of the Commonwealth Games Federation for 17 years, David Dixon.It is given to the outstanding athlete of each of the Commonwealth Games based on their performance at the Commonwealth Games, fair play, and overall contribution to their...
for outstanding athlete – Commonwealth Games (2002) - 100 m freestyle swimming EAD (multi-disability) gold – Commonwealth Games (2002)
- 50 m freestyle swimming EAD (multi-disability) gold - Commonwealth Games (2002)
Awards and honours
In August 2002 she was awarded the Western Cape Golden Cross. During the award ceremony Western Cape Premier Marthinus van SchalkwykMarthinus van Schalkwyk
Marthinus Christoffel Johannes van Schalkwyk is the Minister of Tourism in the Cabinet of South Africa. Formerly both Premier of the Western Cape and Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of South Africa, he was the leader of the New National Party from its inception on 8 September 1997 until...
said she had gone "beyond gold and swam her way into the hearts of not only South Africans but the whole world".
Du Toit was voted 48th in the Top 100 Great South Africans
SABC3's Great South Africans
Great South Africans was a South African television series that aired on SABC3 and hosted by Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu and Denis Beckett. In September 2004, thousands of South Africans took part in an informal nationwide poll to determine the "100 Greatest South Africans" of all time...
in 2004 by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
In December 2009 she received the Order of Ikhamanga
Order of Ikhamanga
The Order of Ikhamanga is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003 and is granted by the President of South Africa for achievements in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism, and sports...
in Gold "for her exceptional achievements in swimming."
On 10 March 2010, she was awarded the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability
Laureus World Sports Awards
The Laureus World Sports Awards are awarded annually to sportspeople who have been outstanding during the previous year. The Laureus World Sports Awards were established in 1999 by Founding Patrons Daimler and Richemont and is supported by its Global Partners Mercedes-Benz, IWC Schaffhausen and...
for "breaking down the barriers between disabled and able-bodied sport".
See also
- George EyserGeorge EyserGeorge Eyser was a German-American gymnast who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics, earning six medals in one day, including three gold and two silver medals. Eyser competed with a wooden prosthesis for a left leg, having lost his real leg after being run over by a train...
- Natalia PartykaNatalia PartykaNatalia Partyka is a Polish table tennis player. Born without a right hand and forearm, she participates in competitions for able-bodied athletes as well as in competitions for athletes with disabilities....
- Athletes with most gold medals in one event at the Paralympic Games
- List of paralympic athletes that have competed in the Paralympics and Olympics]]
External links
- Official homepage
- "Natalie du Toit", n°100 on TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
’s list of "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch"