The Order of Ikhamanga in Silver

Penelope Heyns (1974 - ) Awarded for:

Outstanding and unparalleled achievement in the field of swimming.

Profile of Penelope Heyns

Penelope ‘Penny’ Heyns was born in 1974 in Springs. In 1992, Penny was the youngest member of South Africa’s Olympic team to Barcelona. In that year, Penny became the only woman in the history of the Olympic Games to win both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events.

In 1999, Penny broke a total of four individual world records in one event, on two separate occasions.

In that same year, she broke eleven new world records within three months. Both these performance records are achievements unparalleled in the history of swimming.

To date, Penny has broken 14 world records, which places her in the same category as other swimming icons such as Mark Spitz, Lenny Krazelburg and Ian Thorpe.

Penny Heyns’s achievements crown her as arguably the best breaststroke swimmer ever. It is an undisputed fact that she is the greatest female breaststroke swimmer of all time.