Hestrie Cloete OIS (née Storbeck; born on 26 August 1978) is a former South African professional high jumper. Her foremost achievements were winning two world championships and two silver medals at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

Career

Cloete was discovered at the age of 13 by her long-time coach Martin Marx, and trained at the Lichtenburg High School early in her career. She was quickly found to have a very strong will, which had given other coaches trouble while coaching her. Hestrie Cloete had always put a great significance in maintaining a strong mind, and explained that she finds much of that strength in her faith. In 2003, she was awarded the

Order of Ikhamanga The Order of Ikhamanga is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003 and is granted by the President of South Africa for achievements in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism, and sports (which were initially recognised b ...

in Silver (OIS) by South African president

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

for excellence in her sports performances. Cloete had somewhat unusual habits, as she was known to smoke about a pack of cigarettes a day, and has also stated she loved fast food. In an attempt to focus before every jump, Cloete characteristically did spin her index fingers around each other, leaned sideways with her upper body and visualised every step of her attempt. Cloete retired after the 2004 Summer Olympics to focus on her family.

International competitions

Cloete were awarded numerous international achievements. She achieved her high jump personal best of 2.06 m on 31 August 2003, when winning the gold medal under the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Paris (African record, as of May 2011)

Personal life

Cloete grew up under her maiden name Storbeck in the small

railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporar ...

of Coligny with her mother Martie and father Willem. She divorced her first husband in 2004 and married

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

singer Jurie Els on 30 September 2005, gave birth to a daughter Chrizette on 5 October 2006 and moved to New Zealand early in 2008. Hestrie and Jurie's son Jason John Els was born in New Zealand on 23 July 2008. The couple resides in Bayview, Auckland on the North Island and Hestrie is a property manager while Jurie still pursues his music career and has a small business Retro Records which sells collectible 2nd hand Pop and Rock vinyl records.

Awards

(2003) for "exceptional performance in the field of Athletics"

References

External links