SPORTS FEATURE
In July 1996, Penny Heyns swam herself into South African sporting history. At the Atlanta Olympic Games, she won gold in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke, becoming one of the defining figures of South Africa’ s return to the global sporting stage.
Three decades later, Heyns is still moving forward – just not in lanes anymore. These days, it’ s less about medals and more about meaning, balance, and helping the next generation find their own rhythm in and out of the water.
For Heyns, this isn’ t accidental. It was always the point.“ I always felt I swam because I quite simply wanted to retire someday, knowing I did the absolute best I could with my talent,” she says.
Even at the height of her Olympic success, she saw swimming as part of a larger journey.“ The whole driving force was to use the talents that God had given me. And I saw my swimming career as part of the journey to prepare me to use the platform to make a difference in the lives of others.”
FROM STRUCTURE TO SLOW MORNINGS Retirement in 2001 brought freedom, but also an unexpected challenge. After years of training and competing, Heyns suddenly had to build a life without the structure elite sport provides.
“ As an athlete, you have a very set routine, and life is quite easy and simple. But outside of sport, it really isn’ t.” The adjustment wasn’ t about missing training, but missing the order that came with it. Life after sport required a different kind of discipline.
Some anchors remained. Faith was one of them.“ Part of my faith walk is spending time in the Bible and prayer. That has remained the same throughout my swimming career and now into life beyond swimming.”
So did early mornings.“ I like to wake up early. It’ s the quietest time of the day, and it sets the tone and gives one clarity.” There are no crowds in that routine, no medals and no scoreboards. Just stillness. coffee and the steady work of building a life beyond competition before the world wakes up.
WHEN FAME ISN’ T THE FUN PART Two Olympic gold medals may have landed her firmly on the world stage, but Heyns never really bought into the spotlight version of success.“ Fame, I hate that word. It was never really something I was comfortable with.”
During her competitive years, Heyns managed to stay largely out of the public eye while she focused on training abroad.
“ I was lucky to be training in the US and Canada, so to a large degree, I escaped the attention while I was still an active athlete,” she explains.
Coming back to South Africa after retirement changed that.“ It became a little more challenging once I retired and moved back to South Africa.”
Over time, though, her relationship with public attention softened.“ As you get older, you care less about what other people think,” she says.“ And I kind of came out of my hibernation and started enjoying life outside the pool.”
She still jokes that she doesn’ t always notice the attention anyway.“ Unless someone comes to me and talks to me, I’ m pretty oblivious to it.”
JULY 2026 / INBOUND SA 81