Natalie du Toit: Tumble Turn, by Tracey Hawthorne

Natalie du Toit: Tumble Turn, by Tracey Hawthorne. Oshun Books. Cape Town, South Africa 2006. ISBN 9781770200104 / ISBN 978-1-77020-010-4

Imgages from the biography Natalie du Toit: Tumble Turn, written by Tracey Hawthorne.

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 also won in the Arts and Culture category. A few months later, in October, Natalie was featured in a local trade magazines Woman of the Year feedback, where she was voted 'The Woman I Most Admire' by readers, with Mama Africa having to be content with third place. Natalie du Toit was to be associated with the Woman of the Year competition for several years to come - she presented the awards in 2003 and 2005, and was asked to be a judge in 2006, but had to turn down this request as she didn't have the time. It also speaks volumes that Natalie's award was noticed by so many people whose lives she'd touched in the previous few months - one of the letters of congratulation she received was from CKW Lake, hospital manager at Constantia Medi-Clinic. 'Your achievement and positive message is one of inspiration to all South Africans,' the admiring Lake wrote. In September, Natalie du Toit had another stint as a work-shadow, this time at the University of Stellenbosch's Genetics Department. She stayed over with the Grundlinghs, the family of one of her swimming friends, and they ferried her to her various appointments. Natalie thoroughly enjoyed her four days with plant, human, animal and fish geneticists. It was around this time that Natalie took part in a fund-raising exercise that she would repeat annually for the next four years. Although it wasn't her intention in doing it, her fund-raising efforts and endeavour in this event would bring her yet more admiration and help to significantly widen her local fan base. The event was in aid of the Vista Nova School for children with cerebral palsy and learning disabilities in Rondebosch, Cape Town - and what lay in wait for competitors was a 7 km cold-water sea-swim from Robben Island to Big Bay at Bloubergstrand. [...]

This is an excerpt from Natalie du Toit: Tumble Turn, by Tracey Hawthorne.

Title: Natalie du Toit: Tumble Turn
Author: Tracey Hawthorne
Genre: Biography
Publisher: Oshun Books
Cape Town, South Africa 2006
ISBN 9781770200104 / ISBN 978-1-77020-010-4
Softcover, 15 x 23 cm, 256 pages, numerous photos