Natalie shines in the pool

BEIJING: South African amputee Natalie du Toit snared her fifth swimming gold of the Beijing Paralympics on Sunday in an event 9,950m shorter than the race she took part in at last month’s Olympic Games.

The 24-year-old, one of only two athletes to have taken part in both Games in Beijing this year, needed a strong finish to claim a victory by 0.13 of a second in the 50m freestyle.

“I was really nervous, I knew it was going to be tight and to tell you the truth I just dived in,” she said after winning gold in 29.20 seconds, a Paralympic record. “I enjoyed the race but it is more of a relief than thinking about the five gold medals at the moment. That it was close made it a bit more special”. Du Toit, who narrowly missed out on taking part in the 2000 Sydney Olympics before having her left leg amputated at the knee after a motorcycle accident a year later, finished 16th in the 10km open water race at last month’s Olympics.

“It is a relief after the disappointment of coming 16th,” she added.
“My goal here was getting the five golds so at least I got one of the two things right.”
The South African had already proved her versatility by winning the 100m and 400m freestyle, the 200m individual medley and 100m butterfly before Sunday’s victory allowed her to match her gold tally from Athens in 2004.

“I struggle in sprinting. I have never been a sprinter,” she said.
“My normal events are the longer distance swims, so I only do the sprints once every two years. I look on it as a chance to come out and have fun.”

In the marathon Olympic race, no allowance was made for Du Toit’s disability and she had to deal with all the underwater tugs, ducks and buffeting of swimming’s most aggressive event.

At the Water Cube on Sunday, the atmosphere was no less competitive but the hearty round of congratulations between the swimmers after every race told of a different spirit.
“There’s a lot of pressure,” said Du Toit. “Everyone withstands pressure but the difference is we are all friends. The Olympics are more everyone out for themselves.
Here there is more camaraderie, and everyone encourages each other.” Du Toit has been away from home for a long time and was looking forward to getting back to Cape Town.

“It will be awesome to see my own bed again and the comforts and other things that you don’t have when you’re travelling,” she said.

She has thoroughly enjoyed her time in China, though.
“For a nation that tries to hide their disabled… They’ve really done a great job. The volunteers were even more helpful than during the Olympics, that was the most amazing part of the experience,” she said. Du Toit missed out on racing in the Water Cube at the Olympics — the 10km was held at the rowing lake  — but hopes to qualify for at least one event in the pool at the 2012 Games.“I’m going to go for both the 800m in the pool and the 10km… I’ve got four years to prepare for it,” she said. “I’m going to go home and take a couple of weeks off and then start focusing on London,” she said.