Have you ever wondered what the life of an Olympian entails?
Years and years of hard work and dedication is what the general person echoes. Others believe that because you are a success in the sporting arena, you will be a success at everything and anything.

Sport and in particular swimming was my life. I say this holistically. Training at the highest level is not only about the speed and the times that one swims, but the actual time spent training, the sacrifices, the challenges faced and ultimately the lessons one learns along the way. If you had to ask any successful athlete what made them want to achieve, majority would say that it was those persons that said they ‘could not’ that drove them to excel.

I believed that to be the best at what I did, I needed to give it my all, all the time. I had no balance between friends and studies, there was no time. I had my swimming career mapped out. At 28, I was to have achieved everything possible to be able to walk away from the sport knowing I had achieved everything possible and could not achieve more, but to also know that I had given my all and given back more than I received from the sport.

The end of a sporting career often brings about depression and many sporting people have been vocal about this, but for me, it was to try and turn that energy into a new field and a new line of success. What were those things that made me successful in the pool – I have no idea – all I know is that my second career has been just as tough as being that little girl training up to be an Olympian. One thing I know for sure is: I have been given the opportunities, the correct team members and the correct circumstances to reach the Olympic dream – The correct circumstances, team and opportunities will arise to achieve my second dream.

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My Life as an Olympian by Natalie du Toit

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