Mcelwa Nchabeleng

Mcelwa Nchabeleng

BEIJING - In one word: phenomenal.

This is how one can fittingly describe South African swimming queen Natalie du Toit after swimming  to a gold medal in the 100m butterfly S9 with a world record time of 1 minute 06,74 secs at the National Aquatics Centre last night.

Du Toit won gold in the same event in the 2004 Athens Games with a time of 1:06,78.

She won five golds and one silver in Athens, but she will not have an opportunity to challenge for the same number of medals this time.

This is after authorities back in South Africa could not to register her for the 100m backstroke. Du Toit tried to play down the issue of her omission in the backstroke when asked to comment last night.

"I don't see this as a big issue because my omission in the backstroke will give me ample time to concentrate on the other events," Tu Toit said.

When pressed to comment further, the media friendly swimmer admitted that she was keen to compete in all the six events.

Du Toit thanked all South Africans who have been rallying behind her and promised to continue to give her best in the other events to further make the country proud in Beijing.

Du Toit was an obvious choice to claim gold in the final, which she did with sheer dynamism.

Australians Ellie Cole and Annabelle Williams claimed silver and bronze with times of 1:10,92 and 1:1098, respectively.

South Africa's Carl Bouwer failed to grab a medal when he finished seventh on 1: 01,72 in the final of the men's 100m butterfly S13 yesterday.

     (Mcelwa Nchabeleng is in Beijing as a guest of Sasol)