Natalie du toit swimmer biography of george

Incompeting against able-bodied swimmers, du Toit won gold in the metres freestyle at the All-Africa Games as well as silver in the meter freestyle and bronze in the meter freestyle at the Afro-Asian Games. She narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympic Games in Athens inbut 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 Sports Awards of the Year with Disability Award. At the Commonwealth Games she repeated her previous performance by winning the same two golds as she had in Manchester. Her time was only 5. She also took part in the Summer Paralympics, winning 5 gold medals.

Gold: Larisa Ilchenko Russia Angela Maurer Germany Ana Marcela Cunha Brazil Swann Oberson Switzerland Poliana Okimoto Brazil Martina Grimaldi Italy Marianna Lymperta Greece Teja Zupan Slovenia Du Toit again made Paralympics history when she smashed the record for the m freestyle with a stunning 4 min 28,09 seconds win that lopped an incredible 7,06 seconds off the previous world record which she had also set in Besides her truly amazing accomplishments as a swimmer, Du Toit is also an inspirational speaker, actively campaigning for the rights of disabled people in South Africa and worldwide.

She believes that "society needs to understand that we are people first, who happen to have disabilities. There is nothing wrong with us. It is a lack of reasonable accommodation that prevents us from contributing meaningfully to the economy, sport, education, housing and transport". She is considered one of the " Great South Africans. Even more astonishingly, after her leg amputation, she continued to compete in mainstream competitions against able-bodied athletes.

She attended Timour Hall Primary School, where at the young age of 14, she started participating in swimming competitions. Her coaches recognized her talent and predicted a successful career for her. Their predictions turned out to be true. Unfortunately, inNatalie's life took a dramatic turn when she was involved in a serious car accident.

While riding her scooter home from school, she was hit by a car, resulting in the amputation of her left leg above the knee. In Februaryher left leg was amputated at the knee after she was hit by a car while riding her scooter back to school after swimming practice. She was 17 at the time. Du Toit swims without the aid of a prosthetic limb.

She completed her scholastic education at the Reddam HouseCape Town after which she studied for a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Cape Townspecializing in genetics and physiology. In her free time she does motivational speaking.

Natalie du toit swimmer biography of george

During the Commonwealth Games in ManchesterDu Toit, who was then 18 years old, won both the multi-disability 50 m freestyle and the multi-disability m freestyle in world record time. She also made sporting history by qualifying for the m able-bodied freestyle final — the first time that an athlete with a disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event.

Incompeting against able-bodied swimmers, Du Toit won gold in the metres freestyle at the All-Africa Games as well as silver in the metres freestyle and bronze in the metres freestyle at the Afro-Asian Games. She narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics in Athens inbut 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 with Disability Award. At the Commonwealth Games she repeated her previous performance by winning the same two golds as she had in Manchester. In 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.

Her time was only 5. She also took part in the Summer Paralympicswinning five gold medals. On 27 Augustjust three days before the start of the Summer Paralympicsshe announced her intention to retire at the end of the event. South Africa's Olympic Committee chose Du Toit to carry their flag at the Summer Olympics opening ceremonymaking her the first athlete to carry a flag in both Olympics and Paralympics in a single year.

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