Penny Heyns did not know she had just made history. Before her triumph, South Africa’s last gold was also won in the pool: Joan Harrison’s backstroke struck gold in Helsinki in 1952.Like Heyns, Harrison was the prodigy of her day. Standing on the podium at the Atlanta Olympic Games with the gold medal around her neck, she had no idea she had won South Africa’s first Olympic gold medal in 44 years. The surname Heyns was first found in Westphalia, where the name emerged in mediaeval times as one of the notable families in the western region.From the 13th century onwards the surname was identified with the great social and economic evolution which made this territory a landmark contributor to the development of the nation. At school Heyns was sporty but swimming was her first choice. Do the absolute best you can on the day and remember to enjoy the moments.”Heyns grew up in Springs on Gauteng’s East Rand, and was swimming by the age of two. Penelope Heyns Family, Childhood, Life Achievements, Facts, Wiki and Bio of 2017. It was 23 July 1996. Johannesburg - For many South Africans the highlight of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta was Penny Heyns’s success in the pool. Penny Heyns, South African swimming star, is born. Her deeply held beliefs also influenced which sporting heroes she wanted to emulate.

At the 1950 Commonwealth Games – aged 14 – she smashed the 440-yard freestyle record by an unbelievable 13 seconds. Born into a sporting family – her mother swam competitively and her father played rugby – she was a national record holder by the age of 13. As an international swimmer, Penny Heyns established herself as the world’s greatest female breaststroker of the 20th Century by becoming the only woman in Olympic history to win both the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke events in Atlanta 1996, bronze in Sydney 2000 and by breaking a total of 14 individual world records during her career. Over her career she broke 14 world records, including an astonishing run of 11 new records in three months in 1999.

“I am a very private person so I try to avoid the attention, but I do still get recognised and with that comes the autograph and photo requests.”Heyns retired as the best female breast stroke swimmer of the 20th century. This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Heyns research.

8 November 1974.

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She picked up a bronze in that race.Heyns doubled her medal haul two days later in the 200m race, becoming the first female swimmer to win both Olympic titles.
Penny Heyns, Pretoria, South Africa.

Complete Penelope Heyns 2017 Biography. At school Heyns was sporty but swimming was her first choice. Penelope Heyns was born on November 8, 1974, in Springs, in what is now the Gauteng province of South Africa. You are viewing page 4.

Penny Heyns was born on 8 November 1974 to a deeply religious family in Springs, Gauteng Province. Samen met Jill Brukman, Jeanine Steenkamp en Marianne Kriel werd ze …

Heyns had already broken the 100m breast stroke world record in her quest to reach the final. With an opportunity of lucrative contracts should she represent the USA in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Heyns followed her conscious and represented South Africa instead. She attended the local primary school and later Amanzimtoti High School in Kwa Zulu Natal where she matriculated in 1992. Her parents were deeply religious and moved from Springs to the Natal South Coast. She won no medal but made enough impression to be offered a position with a swimming coach in Nebraska, United States America (USA). “I respected, and tried to emulate, athletes who displayed good sportsmanship, both in victory and defeat. With her in the starting blocks was Australian Samantha Riley, her biggest competition.

She became known as the only woman to win the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events at the same Olympic Games . Standing on the podium at the Atlanta Olympic Games with the gold medal around her neck, she had no idea she  had won South Africa’s first Olympic gold medal in 44 years.It was 23 July 1996.

Today the pool where Heyns learnt to swim is called the Penny Heyns Swimming Pool, and it makes the publicity-shy hero self-conscious. She won those events at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta , Georgia , in the United States .

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