Natalie du toit autobiography for kids

South African paralympic swimmer

Natalie du ToitOIGMBE (; born 29 January 1984) 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 third amputee ever to qualify for the Olympics, where she placed 16th in the 10 km swim.

Early life

Du Toit was born in Cape Town, South Africa and attended Timour Hall Primary 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. She was 17 at the time. 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, 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.

Swimming career

Du Toit first competed internationally at the age of 14, when she took part in the 1998 Commonwealth Games 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 freesty

"It doesn't matter if you look different. You're still the same as everybody else because you have the same dream" ("Natalie Du Toit"). Natalie Du Toit is an ordinary person with extraordinary potential. She began swimming in international competitions at the age of fourteen. When she woke up one morning she would have never guessed that her life would crumble and that she would never be able to swim again. Natalie is extraordinary because she persevered through an accident that would have all but ended her career. Now, she is defined as "a Paralympics and Commonwealth Games gold-medalist swimmer" ("Swimmer, Natalie Du Toit"). And when she went to London to compete in the 2012 Paralympic Games, she won three gold medals. Today Natalie is "... a motivational public speaker, inspiring the youth to reach for their dreams."("Swimmer, Natalie Du Toit"). A hero can be a brave person who is ready to go through any pain to reach their goal. A hero should be a determined person who never quits no matter how hard things are. As a brave and determined person, Natalie Du Toit, a inspirational swimmer who lost her leg in an accident, impressively used all her energy to start swimming again and works harder to get faster...impressively began to swim again and maintained motivation to continue.

Natalie Du Toit is a brave woman who never let her obstacles prevent her from achieving her goals. The moment Natalie got into the accident, she knew that even if she lost her leg, she had to keep swimming to become faster and stronger. Natalie's "...left leg was amputated at the knee. Five months later, she jumped back in the pool. Her first workout exhausted her after 25 meters, but at least she was swimming again" (Longman). With bravery, Natalie Du Toit didn't wait. Although her first workout wore her out, she still went thr

In her biography, much of it in Natalie du Toit's own words, author Tracey Hawthorne reveals a humble, earnest, and hard-working athlete, driven by faith and passion for her swimming sport.

[...] In July, a mere 124 days after Natalie du Toit's horrific accident, she got back into a pool again - this time to compete. And she made her determination crystal clear when a reporter asked her, 'When did you decide to compete again?' and she replied, 'I never stopped.' In the Western Province winter gala Natalie competed against the best swimmers in the province, all of them able-bodied. Dawid was there to watch. 'We were all a bit scared when she got onto the starting block at the Strand indoor pool for Sunday's first race,' he told Cape Argus reporter Lennie Kleintjies, 'but she coped. She was fantastic. The crowd was very encouraging and I saw men shedding a tear or two. 'She has always had one goal in mind - to swim at the Olympic Games. The accident has jolted her a bit, but her determination to reach her goal has not been dimmed.' Not long afterwards, Natalie's courage was publicly saluted when she was selected as the winner of the Sport category of the Shoprite Checkers/ SABC3 Woman of the Year Award 2001. Others in the Sport category were Anastasia Tsichlas, managing director of Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club, and athlete Dikeledi Maropane, the first black female athlete in history to hold a South African record. It's a measure of how deeply - never mind how quickly - Natalie had infiltrated the South African consciousness that she shared the winners' podium with none other than beloved diva Miriam 'Mama Africa Makeba, who was voted Woman of the Year, beating 21 finalists, and who als