Natalie du Toit: ability of mind
South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, whose left leg was amputated below the knee in 2001, has gone on to compete against - and often beat - able-bodied swimmers at the highest level.
In Beijing this month, she will become the first amputee to compete in the Olympic Games.
Du Toit's achievements at international events for athletes with disability are outstanding enough. She won five gold medals and a silver at the 2004 Athens Paralympics, and followed that up with three golds at the 2005 Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.
At the 2006 International Paralympic Committee World Swimming Championships in Durban, Du Toit won six gold medals, including an incredible third place overall in the five-kilometre open water event.
Multiple world record holder
She is the owner of numerous disability world records, including the record for the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.
Her greatest achievement, however, has been bridging the gap between able-bodied and disabled athletes.
At the 2003 All-Africa Games, competing against able-bodied swimmers, Du Toit won gold in the 800 metres freestyle. At the Afro-Asian Games in the same year, up against able-bodied swimmers once more, she took silver in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 400m freestyle.
Making history
In the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, 18 years old at the time, Du Toit qualified for the 800 metres freestyle final - the first time in history that an athlete with disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event.
She also won gold in the multi-disability 50m and 100m freestyle, both in world record time.
At the closing of the Manchester Games, she was presented with the first David Dixon award for the Outstanding Athlete of the Games - a unanimous choice ahead of Australia's Ian Thorpe, despite his winning six gold medals and setting a new 400m freestyle world record.
Olympic qualification
Before she lost her leg in an accident, Du Toit narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. As an amputee, she failed to qualify for the Athens Olympics in 2004.
But she never gave up on the dream she had carried with her since she was a child, and in May 2008 she booked her place in Beijing - in the women's 10 kilometre marathon swim - by finishing fourth in the 10-kilometre race at the World Open Water Swimming Championships in Seville, Spain.
Russia's Larisa Ilchenko won the race in two hours, two minutes and 2 seconds, with Britain's Cassie Patten second and Spain's Yurema Requena third, just five seconds off the pace - and only fractionally ahead of Du Toit, who had only needed to place in the top 10 in order to qualify for the Olympics.
She was going head-to-head with the best open water swimmers in the world, despite a disadvantage that some have likened to a kayaker paddling with a single-bladed paddle. Her qualification is that amazing.
But Du Toit reckons there is no magic recipe for success; it is all down to hard work and determination.
'If this can tie a bond...'
In Manchester in 2002, Du Toit told journalists that that by swimming in both disability and open races, she felt was forming a bond. "If this can tie a bond, if it can help disabled people to believe in themselves, if it can bring them to a better understanding with able-bodied people, then that's great, if it helps."
Her courage and achievements were acknowledged with a nomination for the "Oscars of sport", the 2004 Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with Disability award, along with Canadian athlete Earle Connor, Nigerian athlete Vitalis Lanshima, Alpine skier Ronny Persson, German cyclist Michael Teuber and British Dressage World Champion Nicola Tustain.
Connor - who also had a leg amputated, though in his case when he was just three months old - was adjudged the winner.
'Swim your own race'
When Du Toit had her left leg amputated below the knee following a scooter accident in early 2001, she ended up encouraging tearful family members while recovering in hospital - and within a few months of leaving hospital was back in the swimming pool.
In an interview with William Rowland published on Disability World in early 2004, Du Toit said that her accident had only served to increase her determination. Back in the pool within four months after her operation, she spent the first week swimming by herself.
"After a week I started with the squad, but in the first lane", she told Rowland. "It was not nice seeing little babies beat you; so I just had to train harder ... get up with the guys ... get up with the seniors ... get back to the level I was swimming at before."
Du Toit switched to longer events - from 200m and 400m individual medley to 800m and 1 500m freestyle - to make up for her loss of speed with only one leg. But she made no adjustment to her mental outlook.
"There's really no line between able-bodied and disabled swimming ... I treat both of them the same. They're your opponents and you've got to race the way you train.
"It is important to swim your own race and not someone else's."
Article last updated: August 2008
South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, whose left leg was amputated below the knee in 2001, has gone on to compete against - and often beat - able-bodied swimmers at the highest level.
In Beijing this month, she will become the first amputee to compete in the Olympic Games.
Du Toit's achievements at international events for athletes with disability are outstanding enough. She won five gold medals and a silver at the 2004 Athens Paralympics, and followed that up with three golds at the 2005 Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.
At the 2006 International Paralympic Committee World Swimming Championships in Durban, Du Toit won six gold medals, including an incredible third place overall in the five-kilometre open water event.
Multiple world record holder
She is the owner of numerous disability world records, including the record for the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.
Her greatest achievement, however, has been bridging the gap between able-bodied and disabled athletes.
At the 2003 All-Africa Games, competing against able-bodied swimmers, Du Toit won gold in the 800 metres freestyle. At the Afro-Asian Games in the same year, up against able-bodied swimmers once more, she took silver in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 400m freestyle.
Making history
In the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, 18 years old at the time, Du Toit qualified for the 800 metres freestyle final - the first time in history that an athlete with disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event.
She also won gold in the multi-disability 50m and 100m freestyle, both in world record time.
At the closing of the Manchester Games, she was presented with the first David Dixon award for the Outstanding Athlete of the Games - a unanimous choice ahead of Australia's Ian Thorpe, despite his winning six gold medals and setting a new 400m freestyle world record.
Olympic qualification
Before she lost her leg in an accident, Du Toit narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. As an amputee, she failed to qualify for the Athens Olympics in 2004.
But she never gave up on the dream she had carried with her since she was a child, and in May 2008 she booked her place in Beijing - in the women's 10 kilometre marathon swim - by finishing fourth in the 10-kilometre race at the World Open Water Swimming Championships in Seville, Spain.
Russia's Larisa Ilchenko won the race in two hours, two minutes and 2 seconds, with Britain's Cassie Patten second and Spain's Yurema Requena third, just five seconds off the pace - and only fractionally ahead of Du Toit, who had only needed to place in the top 10 in order to qualify for the Olympics.
She was going head-to-head with the best open water swimmers in the world, despite a disadvantage that some have likened to a kayaker paddling with a single-bladed paddle. Her qualification is that amazing.
But Du Toit reckons there is no magic recipe for success; it is all down to hard work and determination.
'If this can tie a bond...'
In Manchester in 2002, Du Toit told journalists that that by swimming in both disability and open races, she felt was forming a bond. "If this can tie a bond, if it can help disabled people to believe in themselves, if it can bring them to a better understanding with able-bodied people, then that's great, if it helps."
Her courage and achievements were acknowledged with a nomination for the "Oscars of sport", the 2004 Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with Disability award, along with Canadian athlete Earle Connor, Nigerian athlete Vitalis Lanshima, Alpine skier Ronny Persson, German cyclist Michael Teuber and British Dressage World Champion Nicola Tustain.
Connor - who also had a leg amputated, though in his case when he was just three months old - was adjudged the winner.
'Swim your own race'
When Du Toit had her left leg amputated below the knee following a scooter accident in early 2001, she ended up encouraging tearful family members while recovering in hospital - and within a few months of leaving hospital was back in the swimming pool.
In an interview with William Rowland published on Disability World in early 2004, Du Toit said that her accident had only served to increase her determination. Back in the pool within four months after her operation, she spent the first week swimming by herself.
"After a week I started with the squad, but in the first lane", she told Rowland. "It was not nice seeing little babies beat you; so I just had to train harder ... get up with the guys ... get up with the seniors ... get back to the level I was swimming at before."
Du Toit switched to longer events - from 200m and 400m individual medley to 800m and 1 500m freestyle - to make up for her loss of speed with only one leg. But she made no adjustment to her mental outlook.
"There's really no line between able-bodied and disabled swimming ... I treat both of them the same. They're your opponents and you've got to race the way you train.
"It is important to swim your own race and not someone else's."
Article last updated: August 2008
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