Team South Africa - Profile

Swimmer Natalie Du Toit won 13 gold medals and two silver medals across three editions of the Paralympic Games. She claimed five gold medals on her Paralympic debut at the 2004 Games in Athens, and added another five gold medals in Beijing four years later. She ended her Paralympic career with three gold medals in London.

Athletics has also been a strong sport for South Africa at the Paralympic Games. Fanie Lombaard represented the NPC in a number of disciplines but really excelled in throwing events. He won 12 medals [eight gold, two silver, two bronze] during his 12-year Paralympic career between 1996 and 2008, with all but one coming in shot put, discus, or javelin. His sole podium finish outside of throwing events was a gold medal in the men's P42 pentathlon at the 2000 Games in Sydney. Other notable South African competitors include Hilton Langenhoven, who won four gold medals [P12 pentathlon, T12 long jump, T12 200m] between 2008 and 2016, and three-time 800m champion Malcolm Pringle, who claimed gold in the T37 class at Atlanta 1996 and then won back-to-back titles in the T38 category in 2000 and 2004.

South African athletes who have won medals in multiple sports at the Paralympic Games include Margaret Harriman [archery, lawn bowls, and dartchery], Daniel Erasmus [athletics and lawn bowls] and Hattingh [athletics, lawn bowls, and table tennis].

The NPC won seven gold medals at Rio 2016, which included two Paralympic titles for sprinter Charl Du Toit in the T37 100m and 400m. South Africa's total medal tally of 17 in Rio was some way short of the 29 medals collected four years earlier in London.