Natalie Steward

World Record holder and double medallist at the 1960 Olympic Games.

Natalie Steward was born in Pretoria on 30 April 1943. Although she swam for Rhodesia in the 1958 Empire Games, she represented Great Britain in the 1960 Rome Olympics.

With English parents, and her father working in Pretoria when she was born, she lived in Bulawayo and was thus eligible to be selected by Rhodesia. She and her family lived in Hornchurch, Essex, when Natalie was selected to represent Great Britain. Natalie was coached by her mother - a non-swimmer.

Considered to be Rhodesia's greatest-ever swimmer before Kirsty Coventry, Natalie competed in her first Rhodesian Championships in 1956 when she won the Girls' and Women's 220 yards Freestyle and Women's 100 yards Butterfly. She made her Rhodesian debut the same year, being selected for the Durban Currie Cup. The following year she took the Girls' 100 yards, 220 yards, Women's100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards Freestyle titles and silver and two bronze medals at the S.A. Championships In the same events. Also in 1957 she broke the South African Junior 100 yards Freestyle and Butterfly records and set 23 Rhodesian Senior and Junior records. In 1958 she took the Rhodesian Women's 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres Freestyle, 100 metres Backstroke and 100 metres Butterfly titles and was placed 2nd in the S.A. 100 Freestyle and Backstroke and 3rd In the 220 yards Freestyle and 100 yards Butterfly. During the season she set 5 South African and 17 Rhodesian records and was selected to represent Rhodesia in the Empire Games at Cardiff.

 The following year she took 6 Rhodesian and 4 South African titles. Her S.A. titles were 100 yards Freestyle, Backstroke, Butterfly and 400 yards Medley indicating her tremendous versatility. After the 1959 Johannesburg Currie Cup, she left Rhodesia for a spell in Britain, where she represented England on several occasions and set a new British record of 1 min. 5,5 sees, for the 110 yards Freestyle. The highlight of her career came in 1960 when she was selected for the British Olympic Team and took a Silver Medal in the Women's 100 metres Backstroke and a Bronze in the 100 metres Freestyle and then again in 1961 when she set a new World Record for the 110 yards Backstroke. In all, Natalie's short career included 21 Rhodesian titles, 57 Rhodesian records, 4 S.A. titles and 11 South African records in the space of 4 years.

Natalie Stewart on the podium at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, with Dawn Frazer and Chris von Saltza (USA), who won the silver medal.