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Voices from the Free State: Episode ten – featuring Louzanne Coetzee

15 November 2021 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath | Photo Supplied

2021_10_Louzanne_FB_Social media IA VOICES copy

“Running provides me with a platform to reach others, to bring hope, to make people realise that anything is possible if you are prepared to work hard for it,” says Louzanne Coetzee, our very own home-grown all-round achiever, who is fun-loving, relatable, and inspiring. A South African para-athlete, Coetzee was born blind as a result of a hereditary condition called Leber congenital amaurosis, and competes in the T11 disability class for athletes with the highest level of visual impairment. Coetzee enjoys an integrated life, with an interest in baking, watching movies, walking and hiking, cycling, being part of a church band, public speaking, coupled with some artistic hobbies.

Our podcast guest

Coetzee competed at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games this year, where she won a silver medal in the 1 500 m final alongside her guide Erasmus Badenshorst, setting a new African record of 4:40.96. She also competed in the women’s mixed class marathon (T11 and T12 for the visually impaired) with her guide Claus Kempen, improving the world record by 1 min 42 sec and her personal best from 3:13:41 to 3:11:13.

In 2018, Coetzee competed in three events at the Para Athletics event in Berlin, Germany – the 800 m, 1 500 m, and 5 000 m. She set a new African record in the T11 800 m race, taking the silver medal, as well as a bronze for the 1 500 m race. In 2018, Coetzee also broke the 5 000 m (women) world record in her disability class, while in the same year she became the first visually impaired athlete to compete at the World University Cross Country Championships in Switzerland.

Coetzee set a new world record in the 5 000 m T11 category for the first time at the Nedbank National Championships for the Physically Disabled in March 2016. Moreover, with her performance of 19:17.06, Coetzee shattered the Lithuanian athlete Sigita Markeviciene’s 16-year record of 20:05.81, set at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney. Coetzee became the first totally blind female to clock sub-20 minutes in the 5 000 m.

Her involvement in her society stretches beyond sports, and as a student, she formed part of the University of the Free State Student Representative Council. She was also an athlete representative on the Free State Academy of Sport’s executive committee.

In 2014, she became the first visually impaired student to be elected to the UFS Student Representative Council (SRC), with the portfolio Student Accessibility. From 2015 to 2017, she was a research assistant in the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice at the UFS, and in 2016 she also acted as junior lecturer in a computer module for students with visual impairments. From 2017 to 2018, she was Residence Head of Arista Ladies City Residence, and she is currently the Residence Head of Akasia Residence at the UFS.

Coetzee boasts several accolades from the UFS. She was named the 2014 Senior Sportswoman of the Year by the Free State Sport Association for the Physically Disabled (FSSAPD). In 2017, she and her guide Khothatso Mokone received a Special Award for Disabled Sport at the KovsieSport Awards. In 2018, she won the Free State Sports Star Award, and was named Sports Star of the Year (period June 2018 to April 2019) by the Free State Sport Association for the Physically Disabled.

Coetzee’s academic qualifications include a BA and BAHons in Integrated and Corporative Marketing Communication, and an MA in Social Cohesion and Reconciliation – all from the University of the Free State.

Listen to the podcast below

François van Schalkwyk and Keenan Carelse, UFS alumni leading the university’s United Kingdom Alumni Chapter, have put their voices together to produce and direct the podcast series. Intended to reconnect alumni with the university and their university experience, the podcasts will be featured on the first Monday of every month, ending in November 2021. Our featured alumni share and reflect on their experiences at the UFS, how it has shaped their lives, and relate why their ongoing association with the UFS is still relevant and important. The podcasts are authentic conversations – they provide an opportunity for the university to understand and learn about the experiences of its alumni and to celebrate the diversity and touchpoints that unite them.

For further information regarding the podcast series, or to propose other alumni guests, please email us at alumnipodcast@ufs.ac.za

For all Voices from the Free State podcasts, click here

News Archive

OSM opening concert 2012

2012-03-02

The OSM Camerata is going to shine in the very first annual OSM opening concert.
1 March 2012

OSM opening concert 2012 with the OSM Camerata
Conductor: Nicholas Nikolaidis
Date: 1 March 2012
Venue: Odeion
Time: 19:30

The OSM opening concert 2012 with the OSM CAMERATA will be streamed live on the internet with the generous support of OSM partner, LA MUSE AUDIO & LIGHTING (www.ufs.ac.za/ufslivestreaming) in collaboration with the UFS LIVE STREAMING UNIT.

The OSM Camerata is going to shine in the very first annual OSM opening concert. The ensemble will be conducted by Nicholas Nikolaidis. The programme includes excerpts from Stabat Mater (Pergolesi), Romanian Folk Dances (Bartók), Pelimannit (Rautavaara), Elegy (Grové) and Purple Haze (Hendrix). since 2011, the Odeion School of Music has embarked on a new, innovative strategy striving towards uncompromising excellence and internationalisation, which includes the A-List scholarship programme and a new flagship chamber ensemble, the OSM Camerata. Talented South African, conductor/tenor Nicholas Nicolaidis, (runner-up in the First National Len van Zyl Orchestral Conducting Competition) will take the stage for the inaugural concert of the OSM.

Nicholas started his conducting career at an early age while still in the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School. Professionally his first conducting post was as choirmaster and conductor of the choir and band at Pridwin Preparatory School (Melrose, Johannesburg) in 1996.

Following his appointment in April 1997 as the Musical Director of Côr Meibion Cymru de Affrig (The Welsh Male Voice Choir of South Africa), he conducted the choir for seven years, producing three albums. One of the highlights was the performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London in October 2000 for the Millennium Festival of Male Voice Choirs.

His orchestral conducting debut was in 1998 at the Johannesburg City Hall where he conducted the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra and the Symphony Choir of Johannesburg in a few items of ‘Last Night of the Proms’. Selected conducting performances include the Chanticleer Singers in a performance of Schubert’s Mass in G at the Holy Trinity Church (Braamfontein, Johannesburg) in 2002, and the Johannesburg Camerata, a chamber orchestra consisting of talented young performers, during their winter season in 2005.

In 2006, Nicholas enrolled at Stellenbosch University for a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting under the direction of the Norwegian pedagogue, Kåre Hanken. During this time, he also conducted the Johannesburg-based chamber choir, Collegium Vocale. He conducted the Johannesburg Chamber Wind Ensemble from 2006 to 2008.

In 2009, he conducted the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra in a programme of music by Leroy Anderson, the vocal ensemble, In Verse, and the Chanticleer Singers during their Christmas season. Nicholas was also the winner of the inaugural Young Choral Conductors Competition held during the Stellenbosch International Choral Conducting Symposium in March 2009.

In February 2010, he was awarded the Silver Medal in the inaugural Len van Zyl Conducting Competition held in conjunction with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. During the Easter period of 2010 he conducted Cantamus Corde in a performance of JS Bach’s St John’s Passion, whilst also singing the role of the Evangelist.

Nicholas has also appeared as guest conductor of the Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town in a concert with music by Ramirez and Klatzow. In that year he also conducted the gala Concert of the Brooklyn Theatre (Pretoria).

Refreshments will be on sale before and after the concert.

Admission:
R60 (adults)
R40 (pensioners, students and learners)
Tickets available at Computicket.

Enquiries:
Ninette Pretorius (Tel: +27(0)51 401 2504)

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