Annette Cowley-Nel (born 1967) is a retired international freestyle swimmer. She was born in South Africa to an English mother[1] and lived in Boston, Bellville.[2]
Her time in her Commonwealth trial was faster than the eventual gold medal time, and she would have been favourite to win the race.[1]
In the 1986 she moved to the UK and hoped to represent England in the 100m Freestyle at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh; however, she was disqualified, with Zola Budd,[3] on residency grounds. At the time, South Africa was subject to an international boycott in protest of the Apartheid government. The ban was upheld by the High Court, and Cowley-Nel was unable to compete.[4] She was subsequently unable to compete for South Africa after the country's readmittance to international sport, as she had previously represented England.
