About Penelope Heyns
Penelope ("Penny") Heyns OIS is a South African former swimmer, who is best known for being the only woman in the history of the Olympic Games to have won both the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events – at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games – making her South Africa's first post-apartheid Olympic gold medallist following South Africa's re-admission to the Games in 1992. Along with Australian champion Leisel Jones, Heyns is regarded as one of the greatest breaststroke swimmers. Heyns was the youngest member of the South African Olympic team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Heyns broke her first world record, the 100 m breaststroke, in Durban in March 1996. During the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York, Heyns set the 50 m breaststroke world record. She was also a member of the South African squad at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, where she won a bronze medal in the 200 m breaststroke event.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.