The Most Famous

SWIMMERS from South Africa

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This page contains a list of the greatest South African Swimmers. The pantheon dataset contains 709 Swimmers, 23 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 15th most number of Swimmers behind Brazil, and Sweden.

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.

Photo of Joan Harrison

1. Joan Harrison (1935 - 2025)

With an HPI of 58.43, Joan Harrison is the most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages on wikipedia.

Joan Cynthia Harrison (later Breetzke, 29 November 1935 – 20 May 2025) was a South African swimmer who won the 100 metres backstroke event at the 1952 Olympics. Harrison was born in 1935 in East London, South Africa. After setting multiple national records and winning multiple national titles at 13 years old, the year later, she won the 440-yard freestyle event at the 1950 British Empire Games. She then won gold in the 100 metres backstroke event at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, making her the first South African swimmer to win Olympic gold. Harrison then won multiple medals, including two golds, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. She retired from international competitive swimming in 1956 at 17 years old.

Photo of Roland Schoeman

2. Roland Schoeman (b. 1980)

With an HPI of 50.53, Roland Schoeman is the 2nd most famous South African Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Roland Mark Schoeman OIS (born 3 July 1980) is a South African and American former swimmer was a world record holder in multiple events, and was a member of the South African swimming team at the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. He won a gold medal representing South Africa in the 4x100 freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics and between 2000-2014 won numerous medals including seven golds in freestyle, and butterfly events at the World Championships, Pan American, and Commonwealth games.

Photo of Tatjana Schoenmaker

3. Tatjana Schoenmaker (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 47.23, Tatjana Schoenmaker is the 3rd most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 31 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.

Photo of Penelope Heyns

4. Penelope Heyns (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 42.61, Penelope Heyns is the 4th most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 25 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.

Photo of Chad le Clos

5. Chad le Clos (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 40.47, Chad le Clos is the 5th 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.

Photo of Cameron van der Burgh

6. Cameron van der Burgh (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 40.13, Cameron van der Burgh is the 6th most famous South African Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 27 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.

Photo of Natalie du Toit

7. Natalie du Toit (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 39.61, Natalie du Toit is the 7th most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 21 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 10 km swim.

Photo of Sarah Poewe

8. Sarah Poewe (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 37.58, Sarah Poewe is the 8th most famous South African Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Sarah Poewe (born 3 March 1983) is an Olympic breaststroke swimmer who has competed internationally for both South Africa and Germany. Poewe was born in Cape Town, South Africa, the daughter of Lorrain (née Stoch) and Reinhardt Poewe. She lives in Wuppertal, Germany. Her mother is from a Jewish family in South Africa, and her father is German. At the age of 14, she made her international debut at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships. Poewe was the voted the Best Female Swimmer in the 1998 Junior Olympics in Moscow. She won the Hungarian National Championships in 100-meter breaststroke 23 June 1999. When she was 17, Poewe competed for the South African swimming team in three events at the 2000 Olympic Games, and finished in fourth place in the women's 100 m breaststroke. In 2001, Poewe won the South African National Championships in the 100-meter breaststroke. At the 2001 World Championships, Poewe finished fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke. Poewe represented Germany in the 2004 Olympics, where she was part of the team that won the bronze medal in the women's 4 × 100 m medley. She also represented Germany at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. In Beijing 2008, she swam in the 100m and 200m breaststroke and the 4 × 100 m medley but didn't medal in any race. In London 2012, Poewe swam in the 100m breaststroke and the 4 × 100 m medley, and again didn't medal in either race. She placed 9th in the 4 × 100 m medleys for the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Lyndon Ferns

9. Lyndon Ferns (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 31.98, Lyndon Ferns is the 9th most famous South African Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Lyndon Ferns (born 24 September 1983 in Pietersburg, South Africa) is a retired Olympic gold-medalist and former world record swimmer from South Africa who attended the University of Arizona. He swam for South Africa at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

Photo of Tamsin Cook

10. Tamsin Cook (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 31.76, Tamsin Cook is the 10th 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.

People

Pantheon has 26 people classified as South African swimmers born between 1935 and 2004. Of these 26, 25 (96.15%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living South African swimmers include Roland Schoeman, Tatjana Schoenmaker, and Penelope Heyns. The most famous deceased South African swimmers include Joan Harrison. As of April 2024, 3 new South African swimmers have been added to Pantheon including Sarah Poewe, Lyndon Ferns, and Michelle Toro.

Living South African Swimmers

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Deceased South African Swimmers

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Newly Added South African Swimmers (2025)

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