Natalie du Toit

In 2001 Natalie du Toit was on her way back from swimming practice before going to school when a car drove into her and knocked her off her scooter. Natalie had already been competing since the age of 14 before the accident happened.

Natalie’s left leg had to be amputated at the knee. You would think now being an amputee below the knee this would be the end of the young swimmer’s career, but within six months Natalie was learning how to walk again with a prosthetic limb and was back in the swimming pool. She had to learn to swim without the prosthetic limb attached because these are the rules at the big Swimming Championships. Swimming is one of the amputee sports of the games. She also had the plan to participate in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester she took part in the 50m and 100m freestyle disability events and made world records. She also was the first disabled athlete ever to qualify for a final of the able-bodied event.

In 2004 Natalie missed qualifying for the Athens Olympics Games by the narrowest of margins. However, at the Paralympics she managed she to pick up one silver medal and five gold medals for her wins. Later in the year she was nominated with the Laureus Award for the Sports person with a disability

Natalie continued to add to her tally, pulling in medals from Championships all over the world for her swimming. She was constantly training, learning and adapting to her new style of swimming that she had to accommodate for.

Natalie was now training a lot of the time in the open waters, concentrating on distance. Previously she had been a swimmer who swam short sprints

She qualified for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and was due to swim a 10km able-bodied event.

In 2010 she was awarded the Laureus Award for breaking the barriers between able-bodied and disabled sport, an amazing achievement.

Natalie is an inspiring motivational speaker and gives talks to companies, churches and schools all over South Africa in the little free time that she has. She also swims the icy waters from Cape Town to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela stayed for many years. This 7,5 km swim is for the sole purpose of charity

Everyone else thinks Natalie is an inspiration and a role model, but what does the athlete herself have to say. Natalie says she doesn’t think of herself as being disabled or able-bodied. “I just want to be myself and go for my own dreams and goals”

This is a person with immense courage who show that nothing is impossible.