Amanda Toni "Mandy" Loots (born 3 August 1978 in

Gwelo Gweru, originally known as Gwelo, is a city in central Zimbabwe. It is on the centre of Midlands Province. Originally an area known to the Ndebele as "The Steep Place" because of the Gweru River's high banks, in 1894 it became the site of a m ...

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

) is an Olympic and national-record-holding swimmer from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Swimming career

Loots swam for South Africa at the

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

. Despite being of South African nationality she won the ASA National British Championships over 100 metres butterfly and the 400 metres medley in 1999. At the

1999 All-Africa Games The 7th All-Africa Games (; ), also known as Johannesburg 1999 (), was a sport event held from 10 to 19 September 1999, in Greater Johannesburg, South Africa. 53 countries participated in eighteen sports. Netball was included as a demonstrati ...

, she was South Africa's most decorated athlete at the Games, winning 6 gold medals.(1999) All Africa Games – Day 6
by Neville Smith from ''SwimNews''. Published 1999-09-18, retrieved 2011-07-30. In November 2009, she set the African Record and South African Record in the short-course (25m) 200 fly. She has swum for South Africa at the: *Olympics:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

*Commonwealth Games:

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

*All-Africa Games:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

*African Swimming Championships:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loots, Mandy 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Gweru Afrikaner people Zimbabwean emigrants to South Africa South African people of Dutch descent Olympic swimmers for South Africa Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games swimmers for South Africa Commonwealth Games silver medallists in swimming African Games gold medalists for South Africa African Games silver medalists for South Africa Swimmers at the 2011 All-Africa Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games South African female butterfly swimmers African Games silver medalists in swimming African Games gold medalists in swimming