Tatjana sets sights on historic double
UNIQUE YEAR: WORLD CHAMPS AND OLYMPIC MEDALS ARE BOTH UP FOR GRABS
If ever there was a time for swimmers to make sports history, it is 2024. For the first time this year, it will be possible to win a World Championship and Olympic medal in the same year.
The World Championship is next month in Doha, while the Paris Olympic Games start in July.
In the history of competitive swimming, the two events have never occurred in the same year and ironically, it is a leap year.
Tatjana Smith (Schoenmaker) is one South African swimmer capable of achieving this unique feat.
She certainly has the big match temperament (BMT) and mental toughness to do so. Her results are proof. Since 2018, she has medalled at every major event she has competed in.
Her medal heroics include winning gold during the Tokyo Olympic Games, the 2022 World Championships, the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2019 World University Games.
She also set a world record during the Tokyo Games. Last year, she became the first South African female swimmer to win a world-long course swimming title.
It is incredible how Smith is capable of stepping up when it matters. In December last year, a mere few weeks after getting married, she won the 200m breaststroke during the World Aquatics Championships trials in Durban in a time of 2:20.30.
It is her fastest time since breaking the world record to claim Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021. Her time was the third -fastest last year. Only Russia’s Eugenia Chikunova was faster, with a record swim of 2:17.55.
Afterwards, Smith admitted to having surprised herself.
“Sometimes, you feel good, and the results aren’t the same. I’m just glad that the results and how I felt matched.”
Smith’s coach, Rocco Meiring, forever a realist and not one to get ahead of himself, emphasised that no swimming races had ever been won by speculating what could happen.
So, it is not fair to speculate as to what Smith might achieve at the World Champs or the Games.
According to him, all her breakthrough moments have been achieved by hard work.
Meiring firmly believes any swimmer is only as good as their last race. That is why Smith’s golden heroics at the 2021 Olympics and the 2023 World Champs now count for nothing.
“It has been a while since the rivalry in the women’s 100 and 200 metres breaststroke has been this intense. Only two swimmers in the 2021 Games 200m-breaststroke final were in action during last year’s World Champs final in Japan. They were Tatjana and Lilly King (USA),” said Meiring.