swept off her feet by a prince and
she is to become a princess. But for
one young lady from South Africa, it is
no longer a dream but a fully-fledged
1978 Charlene's family moved to Benoni in
South Africa when she was merely a child.
She then attended school in the Gauteng
based town and this is where she developed
a real talent for swimming a love and
passion that would follow her through her life
and bring her to the arms of her husband.
from being a princess she is also an
Olympic swimmer, a love for which was
fostered in the small east rand town of
Europe and finally Monaco.
was a sales manager, Charlene's mother
Lynette was a former competitive diver as well
as a swimming coach.
a marvel to her peers and she was scooped
up in 2000 to swim for her country in
the 4x100m medley at the Summer
Olympics where her team came fifth
overall. Shortly after this Charlene found
herself finishing sixth in the 2002 FINA
Short Course World Championships in
the 200m breaststroke event.
and while she never officially joined the
university nor did she enrol for classes, she
was sponsored by the club, which then gave
and accommodations.
Natal where she once more met up with the
previous Pretoria-based swimming coach
Brannislav Ivkovic and once more took to the
water under his direction.
50m backstroke champion when she came
third at the Telkom SA National Aquatic
Championships, her time of 30:16 seconds
was topped only by an Australian and a
Brazilian swimmer at the 2007 event.
clinched numerous titles and missed out on
others, but her trophy cabinet was never
bare as she managed to place a number
of national titles on its shelves. A shoulder
injury put her out of the pool for 18 months,
which then placed a damper on what was to
be her swansong, a place carrying a flag for
South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics
in China.
what she saw as her final year in competitive
swimming, would change.