Natalie du Toit (pronounced /dʉˈtɔɪ/;^[1] 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.^[2] Du Toit became the first amputee ever to qualify for the Olympics, where she placed 16th in the 10K, "Marathon", swim.^[3][4]

Early life[link]

Du Toit was born in Cape Town, South Africa and attended Wynberg Girls' High 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.^[5] 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 in 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[link]

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 freestyle in world record time. She also made sporting history by qualifying for the 800 m able-bodied freestyle final - the first time that an athlete with a disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event. At the closing of the Manchester Commonwealth Games, she was presented with the first David Dixon Award for Outstanding Athlete of the Games.

In 2003, competing against able-bodied swimmers, Du Toit won gold in the 800 metres freestyle at the All-Africa Games as well as silver in the 800 metres freestyle and bronze in the 400 metres freestyle at the Afro-Asian Games.

She narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics in Athens in 2004, but during the Paralympics that were held in the same city, she won one silver and five gold medals. In the same year, her courage and achievements were acknowledged with a nomination for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year 2004 with Disability Award. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games she repeated her previous performance by winning the same two golds as she had in Manchester. In 2006 Du Toit also won six gold medals at the fourth IPC World Swimming Championships, finishing third overall in a race which included 36 males and 20 females.

On 3 May 2008, Du Toit qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics after finishing fourth in the 10 km open water race at the Open Water World Championships in Seville, Spain. Her time was only 5.1 seconds off the winner in a race that made its first Olympic appearance in Beijing.^[6] At the Beijing Olympics women's 10 km race, she finished in 16th place, 1:22.2 minutes behind the winner. She also took part in the 2008 Summer Paralympics, winning 5 Gold Medals.^[7]

2008 Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremonies[link]

South Africa's Olympic Committee chose Du Toit to carry their flag at the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, making her the first athlete to carry a flag in both Olympics and Paralympics in a single year.^[8]

Major sporting achievements[link]

• 100 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Commonwealth Games (2010)
• 100 m S9 butterfly swimming gold medal - Commonwealth Games (2010)
• 50 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Commonwealth Games (2010)
• 50 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2008)
• 400 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2008)
• 200 m SM9 individual medley swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2008)
• 100 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2008)
• 100 m S9 butterfly swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2008)
• 100 m freestyle swimming EAD (multi-disability) gold – Commonwealth Games (2006)
• 50 m freestyle swimming EAD (multi-disability) gold - Commonwealth Games (2006)
• 100 m S9 backstroke swimming silver medal – Paralympics (2004)
• 100 m S9 butterfly swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2004)
• 100 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2004)
• 200 m SM9 individual medley swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2004)
• 400 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2004)
• 50 m S9 freestyle swimming gold medal - Paralympics (2004)
• 800 m freestyle swimming gold medal - All-Africa Games (2003)
• 800 m freestyle swimming silver medal - Afro-Asian Games (2003)
• 400 m freestyle swimming bronze medal - Afro-Asian Games (2003)
• David Dixon Award for outstanding athlete – Commonwealth Games (2002)
• 100 m freestyle swimming EAD (multi-disability) gold – Commonwealth Games (2002)
• 50 m freestyle swimming EAD (multi-disability) gold - Commonwealth Games (2002)

Awards and honours[link]

In August 2002 she was awarded the Western Cape Golden Cross. During the award ceremony Western Cape Premier Marthinus van Schalkwyk said she had gone "beyond gold and swam her way into the hearts of not only South Africans but the whole world".^[9]

Du Toit was voted 48th in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004 by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

In December 2009 she received the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold "for her exceptional achievements in swimming."^[10]

On 10 March 2010, she was awarded the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability for "breaking down the barriers between disabled and able-bodied sport".^[11]

See also[link]

• Athletes with most gold medals in one event at the Paralympic Games
• List of athletes who have competed in the Paralympics and Olympics
• 2008 Summer Olympics national flag bearers
• List of flag bearers for South Africa at the Olympics
• 2008 Summer Paralympics national flag bearers
• George Eyser
• Natalia Partyka

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official homepage
• "Natalie du Toit", n°100 on Time’s list of "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch"

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Valérie Grand'Maison	World Disabled Swimmer of the Year 2008	Succeeded by Mallory Weggemann
Preceded by Daniel Dias	Laureus World Sportsperson with a Disability of the Year 2010	Succeeded by Verena Bentele
Olympic Games
Preceded by Mbulaeni Mulaudzi	Flagbearer for  South Africa Beijing 2008	Succeeded by TBD

Charles Dutoit
Background information
Birth name	Charles Édouard Dutoit
Born	(1936-10-07) 7 October 1936 (age 75) Lausanne, Switzerland
Genres	Classical
Occupations	Conductor, pedagogue
Associated acts	Gothenburg Symphony Montreal Symphony NHK Symphony Orchestre National de France Philadelphia Orchestra Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Charles Édouard Dutoit, (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl e.dwaːʁ dy.twa]) OC GOQ (born 7 October 1936) is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music. He has made influential modern recordings of Hector Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette and Maurice Ravel's ballets Daphnis et Chloé and Ma mère l'oye. He currently serves as the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Biography[link]

Dutoit was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, studied there and graduated from the Geneva Conservatory where he won first prize in conducting, then he went to the Music Academy in Siena by the invitation of Alceo Galliera. In his younger days, he frequently attended Ernest Ansermet's rehearsals and had a personal acquaintance with him. He also worked with Herbert von Karajan at Lucerne as a member of the festival youth orchestra and studied with Charles Munch at Tanglewood. Dutoit began his professional music career in 1957 as a viola player with various orchestras across Europe and South America. In January 1959, he made his debut as a professional conductor with an orchestra of Radio Lausanne and Martha Argerich. From 1959 he was a guest conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. After this, he was the conductor for Radio Zurich until 1967, when he took over the Bern Symphony Orchestra from Paul Kletzki, where he stayed for eleven years.

While head of the Bern Symphony, he also conducted the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico from 1973 to 1975, and Sweden's Gothenburg Symphony from 1975 to 1978. Dutoit was principal guest conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra in the early 1980s.

In 1977, Dutoit became the Artistic Director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM). During his tenure, the recording profile and reputation of the OSM increased.^[1][2] He has earned more than 40 international awards and distinctions, including two Grammy Awards (USA), several Juno Awards (Canada), the Grand Prix du Président de la République (France), the Prix mondial du disque de Montreux (Switzerland), the Amsterdam Edison Award, the Japan Record Academy Award, and the German Music Critics' Award. He and the OSM made many recordings for the Decca/London label.

Although a pre-eminent cultural figure in a city proud of its Old World pedigree, Dutoit was impopular among his own musicians in Montreal for his harsh management style, apparently using fear and insults as motivation, to the point where some members broke down in tears after rehearsals. By April 2002 dissonance was festering, and after initiating dismissal procedures against two musicians who had stood up to him some players called in the Québec Musicians Guild. The union went public; its president saying that Dutoit had harassed his musicians for at least 10 years, treating them with derision and condescension. Upon hearing this Dutoit abruptly resigned, never to conduct in Montreal again.^[3]

1984

Dutoit first conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1980. From 1990 to 1999, he was music director of the orchestra's summer concerts at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Since 1990, he has been the artistic director and principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra's summer festival in Saratoga Springs, New York, a post he will relinquish in August 2010. In 1991, he was made an Honorary Citizen of the city of Philadelphia.

Since 1990, Dutoit has directed the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. From 1991 to 2001, Dutoit was Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, with whom he made a number of critically lauded recordings and toured extensively. In 1996, he was appointed principal conductor of Tokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra. In 1997, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is also one of a handful of non-Canadian citizens to be a Grand Officer of the Ordre national du Québec.

In February 2007, he was named chief conductor and artistic adviser of The Philadelphia Orchestra, for a contract of four years, effective September 2008.^[4] In April 2007, Dutoit was named principal conductor and artistic director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as of 2009.^[5] Since July 2009 Dutoit has also served as the music director of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Dutoit shuns publicity and protects his private life from the media. He has been married four times, including a marriage to the world-renowned concert pianist Martha Argerich, to the economist Marie-Josée Drouin, and to Canadian violinist Chantal Juillet.^[7] His first marriage was to Ruth Cury, by whom he has a son, Ivan, who lives in Santa Monica, California with his family. He also has a daughter, Anne-Catherine, by his marriage to Argerich.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Charles Dutoit at Allmusic
• Charles Dutoit biography at EMI Classics
• Charles Dutoit interview by Bruce Duffie
• Journal d'une création – Film directed by James Dormeyer with Chantal Juillet, Charles Dutoit and André Prévost