Dream come true for Natalie

Du Toit, an amputee, who finished fourth in the 10km marathon swim in Seville, Spain on Saturday, spoke of her emotions at finally having realised her dream. She joins 24 other swimmers recently named by Sascoc to represent South Africa in Aquatics at the Olympic Games in August.

"I burst into tears at the end and one of the referees came over to ask me if I was all right," Du Toit admitted after the swimmers had to remain in the water until all the athletes had completed the race.

She finished the distance in 2 hours 02 minutes 07.8 secs, just missing out on the bronze medal by 0.6 seconds.

After arriving in Seville late on Friday, without her luggage, Du Toit tested the waters in the evening to familiarise herself with the course. Before the 10am start on Saturday, she had to register, have her nails checked, strap on her two transponders and be present for the pre-race briefing.

During the race, she remained on the outside of the pack for the first 5km to try and avoid most of the jostling and then worked her way in as the faster swimmers started to pull away.

Only aiming for a top ten finish, Du Toit was surprised to find herself near the front of the chain with 3km to go. Because she has only one leg, she is unable to burst into a sprint, as is required towards the end of a long distance swim, but she made sure she kept up with the two swimmers, Larisa Ilchenko of Russia and Cassandra Patten of Britain, within her immediate vision.

'Just tried to keep up with them'

"I was aware of the Russian girl on one side of me and the British girl on the other and just tried to keep up with them. I saw the Spanish girl coming up (Yurema Requena) but didn't worry about her as I just needed a top ten finish," said Du Toit who had not given any thought to challenging for a medal position.

Ilchenko went on to win the race in 2:2:2.7. Patten was second and Requena third with only five seconds separating the top four places.

Finishing with bad cramp in her hamstring muscle, a tearful Du Toit was overwhelmed by the response of those around her.

"I had to wait for someone to bring me my leg before I could get out of the water. Once I was out, everyone came up to hug me. I couldn't name them all but so many people, from every swimming federation, came over to congratulate me. It was an incredible feeling and I couldn't believe it."

Changed her focus

Du Toit lost her left leg in an accident when she was just 17-years-old. She was knocked off her scooter by a motorist on her way home from training and her leg took the brunt of the damage while the scooter remained barely dented.

She was persuaded to change her focus and concentrate on marathon swimming as it contains less starts and turns, although she has to withstand the rough treatment and jostling for position in the water. Her coaches have adapted her training programme accordingly and she has received incredible support from her technical team including the four swimmers who train with her.

This is the first time open water swimming will included as an Olympic event. Du Toit said it was a dream come true to be part of the Olympic team.

"It will be an awesome experience just to be in Beijing and to be part of the team. Of course, there is also the race, but just to be there means everything to me."

Although the next three months will be a lot of hard work, she said she will keep telling herself to "remember the dream."