Quick Tatjana lays down Olympic marker
A NEW year, a new surname and renewed hope of Olympic glory – that is where Tatjana Smith finds herself right now.
Having got married to Joel Smith – the brother of Rachel Kolisi, wife of Springbok captain Siya – last November, she has declared that she wants to be known as Tatjana Smith (née Schoenmaker), and it seems to be having the necessary positive effect on her performances.
At the start of the year, things were looking bleak for Team South Africa’s medal hopes at the Paris Olympics, but once again, Smith is stepping up as Mzansi’s leading light.
She was the sole champion at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, clinching gold in the 200m breaststroke, to which she added silver in the 100m breaststroke.
A surprise South African medallist at the Tokyo Games was surfer Bianca Buitendag, with other potential podium finishers unable to claim a top-three spot.
While Smith won the world championship title last year in the 200m breaststroke, her times over the past few years weren’t close to the thenworld record of 2min 18.95sec she set at the Tokyo Olympics.
But even though Russian Evgenia Chikunova set a new world mark of 2:17.55 last year, Smith is virtually back to her best for Paris, where the swimming competition will take place from July 24-August 1.
During this week’s SA Championships at Newton Park in Gqeberha, Smith produced an outstanding performance to register the third-fastest time in history in the 200m breaststroke.
The 26-year-old touched the wall in 2:19.01 to claim the SA title on Wednesday, which is not far off her personal best of 2:18.95 – the Olympic record and second-fastest time in history.
And just to show that it wasn’t all about endurance, she set a new personal best of 30.09sec in the non-olympic 50m breaststroke earlier in the week, while in the 100m breaststroke heat yesterday morning, she clocked the second-fastest time in the world in 2024 with 1:05.64.
So it seems like it is finally coming together for Smith ahead of the Paris Olympic Games.