South Africa’s original golden girl and first post apartheid Olympic gold medallist emerged from the waters of the Georgia Tech Aquatic Centre, Atlanta, USA, 25 years ago.
Penelope (Penny) Heyns achieved two gold medals in the pool for her country during the 1996 Olympic Games hosted in Atlanta, with wins in the 100 and 200m breaststroke events.
Those Atlanta gold medals made the former Amanzimtoti schoolgirl the first person ever to land a breaststroke double at an Olympic event, and she remains the only female to hold such honour.
Tatjana Schoenmaker, the country’s latest swim sensation, came close to repeating Heyns achievements at the recently completed Tokyo Games by bagging gold in the 200m breaststroke event and silver in the 100m breaststroke swim.
Schoenmaker, 24, smashed the 100m breaststroke Olympic record in the heats.
However, she was able to draw her best effort in the 200m final to not only land gold but to do it in a world record time.
Heyns, 46, who also won bronze in the 100m breaststroke event at the Sydney Olympics in 2 000, has set 14 world records in her swimming career, 11 of which came in the space of three months in 1999.
She was named “Female World Swimmer” in 1996 and 1999.
With a long list of accolades to her name, Heyns knows just what it takes to perform at the highest international levels.
“Preparing for the Olympics is a 4-year cycle. When I finished high school, I studied and trained in the US for the Olympics.”
Heyns said “training is all consuming” and on average she would swim 6.5km, nine times in the week and she had another preparation routine for the weekend.
Plus, she also had a schedule of dry-land training, which included weights and other workout sessions, numerous times a week.
“A critical aspect was the recovery between workouts and the right nutrition.
“Emotional rest too was important.
“You had to strike a balance,” Heyns advised.
Her Olympics debut came at the 1992 games in Barcelona.
South Africa was invited to participate in Barcelona, but getting there was not a shoo-in as the country was not yet a democracy and those who opposed the idea, questioned mainly whether true unity was achieved in the country’s respective sporting bodies.
“Barcelona just happened. We were not sure whether we were going and my performances were dismal,” Heyns recalled.
However, for Atlanta, her preparations went swimmingly well.
“By 1994 I realised there were a few things I could work on and improve my times by about two seconds.
“Her preparation also included being mentally ready for the games.
“I visualised the race in my mind, each stroke, a hundred times over.
“By the time I swam the race, I let my body do what it had done so many times in my mind for the 100m breaststroke swim.”
She didn’t prepare as well for the 200m event and her attitude was to first swim the 100m race and take it from there.
The tactic she employed was to go as fast as she could from the start in the 200m and not to let anyone catch her.
The plan worked.
“No one caught me.
“Going into the race, I didn’t know that nobody had done the double before. They say ignorance is bliss.”
She thought someone would have repeated her achievement of gold in both events by now, but it still stands.
“I thought Tatjana could, because it would take a South African to do it,” she teased.
Her wins in Atlanta earned Heyns instant celebrity status.
On how she handled being thrust into the limelight, Heyns said: “With confusion”
She explained that it was a bit different for Chad (Le Clos) and the more recent stars.
“No one did what Josia (Thugwane, gold for running the marathon) and I had achieved for 44 years,” referring to South Africa’s sports isolation because of its apartheid policies.
Other medallists in Atlanta were Hezekiel Sepeng who won silver in the 800m track race and swimmer Marianne Kriel’s landed bronze in the 100m backstroke event.
“When we got home after the games. I didn’t know what to expect considering all the political changes.
“I thought there would be a divide in the show of support from the fans. But the support we enjoyed from all South Africans was overwhelming.”
Being uncomfortable with her celebrity status, Heyns said it helped that she was overseas based.
“I would usually be in the country for a short while, deal with the fanfare and be gone again.”
She is grateful that her achievements were clocked in the Madiba years.
“Nelson Mandela had very good relations with me and the other athletes. I got calls from him many times. It was amazing.
“Today’s sports people wouldn’t have the opportunity that people like me, Baby Jake (Matlala, world champion boxer) and Francois (Pienaar, captain of the 1995 World Cup winning Springboks rugby team) experienced.”
While Heyns had been swimming from a young age, she attests to never having had an “Olympic dream” in her formative years.
“Others say they had the Olympic dream. When I was growing up the country was in isolation.
“I swam because I had a God given talent and I realised I had to use it to the best of my ability.”
Her interest in swimming was taken to another level when she joined a club at age 12. That marked the beginning of a long cycle of vigorous exercise and training sessions that had become second nature, all through her years of swimming competitively.
“Being a top swimmer takes a measure of sacrifice because you don’t know what it is to grow up in a regular teenage environment.”
Everything in her life revolved around the sport and she needed to have the right mindset to excel in the professional arena.
She wondered whether the present day youngsters understand fully what it takes to reach the top.
“Everything these days is about microwave results.”
Her appearance in Tokyo was the first time at an Olympics event since Sydney. While she did not make a big deal of her Olympic achievements in the past, she has a greater appreciation for it, now that she’s older.
“This was my first time back since I retired.”
She was in Tokyo doing official duty as executive member of the world swimming body Fina. Heyns chairs their “Athletes’ Commission”.
Heyns is also a member of the World Anti Doping Agency serving on their Compliance Review Committee, which has six members and she is the only athlete representative.
Since Heyns’ heyday, South Africa has not kicked on prolifically in the pool. The country has bagged 11 swimming medals in five subsequent games, excluding Schoenmaker’s Tokyo haul.
“We have to look at what others are doing to achieve consistency. Our success in the pool over the years is based on the efforts of individual swimmers and not the swimming system in the country.
“Previously me and a couple of the other swimmers emerged because of the US Collegiate system.
“Chad (Le Clos) and Terence Parkin successes came through their own efforts and not the system.”
Heyns said Schoenmaker was the first glimmer of what the local system can produce as she was based at the University of Pretoria’s high performance centre.
She also commended Schoenmaker’s coach, Rocco Meiring, for his effort.
“It gives one confidence that we have a system to bring home medals.”
Her other concern is that age group swimming needs more resources and attention.
Since her retirement in 2001, Heyns is now a successful businesswoman, guest television presenter, coach and a motivational speaker.
Golden girls Penny Heyns and Tatjana Schoenmaker
In a previous media engagement, Schoenmaker’s coach, Rocco Meiring said in his 33 years of coaching he can’t remember putting anyone through hell as he did with her.
“Many day’s I felt terrible doing it to her, but we are in a difficult sport.
“We didn’t know what to expect at the games and the standards, especially the depth of it, was high.
“Many lessons were learnt.”
Meiring said we needed to have a serious think about how we can do swimming better in this country.
“We will need financial support. I can only coach up to a point.
“She has been blessed by God, I can’t put in what he left out.”
He described Schoenmaker to be an exceptional talent with the ability to handle high pressure.
Schoenmaker previously said she tried to do her best and hoped her achievements gave people, in a country that was going through a tough time, hope. “I want to show God's love through my swimming.”
She was grateful to the many people who supported and encouraged her and never tried to compare with anyone, especially Penny Heyns.
“Her (Heyns) achievements are so amazing. I don't think I will ever be better than her.”
No response was received from Sascoc.
SA’s Olympics medal count, post isolation
Barcelona 1992
Elana Meyer, Athletics –10 000m (silver).
Pietie Norval and Wayne Ferreira, Tennis Doubles (silver).
Atlanta 1996
Penny Heyns, 100m Breaststroke (gold) and 200m Breaststroke (gold).
Marianne Kriel, 100m Backstroke (bronze).
Josia Thugwane, Marathon, (gold).
Hezekiel Sepeng, Athletics-800m, (silver).
Sydney 2000
Hestrie Cloete, Athletics-High Jump, (silver).
Terence Parkin, 200m Breaststroke, (silver).
Llewellyn Herbert, Athletics- 400m Hurdles, (bronze).
Penny Heyns, 100m Breaststroke, (bronze)
Athens 2004
Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling, 4x100m Freestyle Relay, (gold).
Roland Schoeman, 100m Freestyle, (silver) and 50m Freestyle (bronze).
Hestrie Cloete, Athletics-High Jump, (silver).
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, Athletics-800m, (silver).
Donovan Cech and Ramon Di Clemente, Rowing-coxless pairs, (bronze).
Beijing 2008
Godfrey Mokoena, Athletics-Long Jump, (silver).
London 2012
Cameron van der Burgh, 100m Breaststroke, (gold).
Chad le Clos, 200m Butterfly , (gold) and 100m Butterfly, (silver).
Sizwe Ndlovu, Matthew Brittain, John Smith and James Thompson, Rowing-coxless lightweight men’s fours, (gold).
Bridgitte Hartley, Canoeing- K1 500m, (bronze).
Caster Semenya, Athletics-800m, (silver)
Rio 2016
Wayde van Niekerk, Athletics-400m, (gold).
Caster Semenya, Athletics-800m, (gold).
Cameron van der Burgh, 100m Breaststroke, (silver).
Chad Le Clos, 200m Freestyle, (silver) and 200m Butterfly, (silver).
Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling, Rowing-Coxless Pair, (silver).
Luvo Manyonga, Athletics-Long Jump, (silver).
Sunette Viljoen, Athletics-Javelin, (silver).
SA Rugby Sevens team, (bronze).
Henri Schoeman, Triathlon, (bronze).
Tokyo 2020
Tatjana Schoenmaker, 100m Breaststroke (silver) and 200m Breaststroke (gold).
Bianca Buitendag, Surfing, (silver).
SUNDAY TRIBUNE