SWIMMERS from South Africa

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary South African Swimmers of all time. This list of famous South African Swimmers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of South African Swimmers.

1. Joan Harrison (b. 1935)

With an HPI of 41.75, Joan Harrison is the most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages on wikipedia.

Joan Cynthia Harrison (later Breetzke, born 29 November 1935) is a retired South African swimmer who won the 100 m backstroke event at the 1952 Olympics. Harrison's mother was a swimmer and her father played rugby. Joan went to Clarendon High School for Girls in East London. At age 13, she held three junior and two senior national records, and two national senior swimming titles. In 1950, aged 14, she won the 440 yd freestyle at the British Empire Games, beating the previous games record by 13 seconds and finishing 7 seconds ahead of other competitors, and was declared the outstanding woman swimmer of the games. She won two more gold medals at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. In 1982 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

2. Chad le Clos (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 31.77, Chad le Clos is the 2nd most famous South African Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos, OIS (born 12 April 1992) is a South African competitive swimmer who is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion. He is the African record, Commonwealth record, and South African record holder in the short course and long course 200-metre butterfly and the short course 100-metre butterfly. He also holds African and South African records in the long course 200-metre freestyle and 100-metre butterfly, as well as the short course 100-metre freestyle. Formerly, he was a world record holder in the short course 100-metre butterfly and 200-metre butterfly. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly and a silver medal in the 100-metre butterfly, as well as silver medals in the 200-metre freestyle and 100-metre butterfly at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He won five total medals at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. Le Clos has won the Swimming World Cup overall male winner title four times: 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2017. Across the 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games, he has won a total of 18 medals, including seven gold medals, four silver medals, and seven bronze medals. He has won a total of 19 medals, 12 gold medals, 5 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals, in individual events at Short Course World Championships. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, he tied the record set by Ian Thorpe for the most number of medals won at a single Commonwealth Games with seven medals. He became South Africa's most decorated Olympian when he won his fourth Olympic medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. In 2017, he became the first male to win the overall title in the Swimming World Cup four times. Upon his completion of the 2018 Swimming World Cup, he won the Guinness World Record for "most gold medals won in the FINA Swimming World Cup by a male swimmer" for the 143 gold medals he won between 2009 and 2018, inclusive. In the same year, he became the most decorated Commonwealth Games swimmer, with 17 total medals, and the first man to win the Commonwealth Games title in the 200-metre butterfly three times in a row. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, he became the third person to win 18 medals at the Commonwealth Games and tied for the title of the most decorated competitor.

3. Penelope Heyns (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 31.52, Penelope Heyns is the 3rd most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Penelope ("Penny") Heyns OIS (born 8 November 1974) is a South African former swimmer, who is best known for being the only woman in the history of the Olympic Games to have won both the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events – at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games – making her South Africa's first post-apartheid Olympic gold medallist following South Africa's re-admission to the Games in 1992. Along with Australian champion Leisel Jones, Heyns is regarded as one of the greatest breaststroke swimmers.

4. Cameron van der Burgh (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 30.84, Cameron van der Burgh is the 4th most famous South African Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Cameron van der Burgh OIS (born 25 May 1988) is a retired South African competitive swimmer and hedge fund analyst. He is Africa's first home-trained world record holder and individual male Olympic champion. He is married to longtime partner Nefeli Valakelis.

5. Natalie du Toit (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 30.56, Natalie du Toit is the 5th most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Natalie du Toit OIG MBE (; 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. Du Toit became the third amputee ever to qualify for the Olympics, where she placed 16th in the 10km swim.

6. Roland Schoeman (b. 1980)

With an HPI of 29.99, Roland Schoeman is the 6th most famous South African Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Roland Mark Schoeman OIS (born 4 July 1980) is a South African American swimmer and was a member of the South African swimming team at the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. In May 2022, he officially became a citizen of the United States.

7. Tatjana Schoenmaker (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 25.18, Tatjana Schoenmaker is the 7th most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Tatjana Smith (née Schoenmaker; born 9 July 1997) is a South African retired swimmer who specialised in breaststroke events. She is a two-time Olympic champion and the most decorated South African Olympian in history. Smith won the gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke and the silver medal in the 100-metre breaststroke at the 2020 Olympic Games, setting Olympic records in both events and the world record in the former, and the gold medal in the 100-metre breaststroke and the silver medal in the 200-metre breaststroke at the 2024 Olympic Games. She is also a World Championships gold medalist (2023) and two-time silver medalist (2019, 2023). Smith is the former world record holder in the long course 200-metre breaststroke and is the African record holder in the long course and short course 100-metre breaststroke, as well as the short course 200-metre breaststroke.

8. Tamsin Cook (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 16.30, Tamsin Cook is the 8th most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Tamsin Cook (born 25 December 1998) is an Australian swimmer and the former junior world champion in the 400-meter freestyle. After a neck injury in 2018 she retired from swimming, but returned in 2020 and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

9. Keri-anne Payne (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 15.15, Keri-anne Payne is the 9th most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Keri-Anne Payne (born 9 December 1987), is a South African-born British swimmer, specialising in marathon open water swimming, and long-distance freestyle swimming in the pool. She is a two-time 10-kilometre open water world champion, and an Olympic silver medallist.

10. Duné Coetzee (b. 2002)

With an HPI of 0.00, Duné Coetzee is the 10th most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Duné Coetzee (born 14 May 2002) is a South African swimmer. She competed in the women's 400 metre freestyle at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. She also competed in the women's 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In May 2022, Coetzee qualified for the 2022 World Aquatics Championships at the 2022 South Africa National Swimming Championships in the 200 metre freestyle, 400 metre freestyle, and 200 metre butterfly. The following month, she was named as one of the female swimmers representing South Africa for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. For the 100 metre butterfly, with preliminaries on day one of swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, Coetzee was one of three South Africans to qualify for the semifinals, along with Erin Gallagher and Trinity Hearne. In the semifinals, she finished in 1:00.51 and placed fifteenth overall. Two days later, she contributed a split time of 1:59.49 to the 4×200 metre freestyle relay, helping finish fourth in 8:02.28. On 2 August, she placed tenth in the 200 metre butterfly with a time of 2:12.40. On the final day, 3 August, she ranked eighth in the preliminaries of the 400 metre freestyle, qualifying for the final with a time of 4:14.92. She swam a 4:15.53 in the final and placed eighth.