Hestrie Cloete

Cloete was discovered at an 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 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 in Silver (OIS) by South African president Thabo Mbeki for excellence in her sports performances.[1]

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.[1]

Cloete retired after the 2004 Summer Olympics to focus on her family.[1]

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 in Paris (African record, as of May 2011)[2]

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing  South Africa
1995	All-Africa Games	Harare, Zimbabwe	1st	1.85 m
1996	World Junior Championships	Sydney	6th	1.85 m
1998	IAAF World Cup	Johannesburg, South Africa	2nd	1.96 m
	African Championships	Dakar, Senegal	1st	1.92 m
1999	All-Africa Games	Johannesburg, South Africa	1st	1.96 m
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney	2nd	2.01 m
2001	World Championships	Edmonton, Canada	1st	2.00 m
2002	IAAF World Cup	Madrid, Spain	1st	2.02 m
	Commonwealth Games	Manchester, England	1st	1.96 m
	African Championships	Radès, Tunisia	1st	1.95 m
2003	World Championships	Paris, France	1st	2.06 m
2004	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	2nd	2.02 m
	African Championships	Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo	1st	1.95 m

Cloete grew up under her maiden name Storbeck in the small railway town of Coligny with her mother Martie and father Willem. She divorced her first husband in 2004 and married Afrikaans 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.[3]

• Order of Ikhamanga (2003) for "exceptional performance in the field of Athletics"[4]