Tatjana dives into action with SA Olympic history in sight
Tatjana Schoenmaker continues her countdown to local Olympic history when she unleashes her early-season firepower at the South African trials in Gqeberha this week.
The two top-placed swimmers clocking qualifying times at the national championships, which run from tomorrow to Saturday, will almost certainly win selection for the showpiece that kicks off in France on July 27.
A rare few have the opportunity to establish themselves as medal contenders.
Not only is Schoenmaker already in that category, but she has a seat at a game where the stakes are far higher.
The 200m breaststroke Olympic champion and 100m breaststroke runner-up at Tokyo 2020 could succeed where every other South African Olympic champion has failed in real time — if she can hold her position at the top of the podium.
Some of the greatest names in South African sport — from Wayde van Niekerk and Chad Le Clos to Penny Heyns and Josia Thugwane — have missed out (Caster Semenya’s 800m double was not done in real time, with her 2012 silver being upgraded to gold only after her 2016 triumph).
Schoenmaker could also join Le Clos as the country’s most decorated Olympian with four medals if she makes the top-three in both events.
Her performances this week will show how close she is to hitting the local Games history reset button.
At the 2021 trials, at the same Newton Park pool, she blasted a 2min 20.17sec 200m African mark, which preceded her sensational 2:18.95 world record in Japan. That effort in Gqeberha remains her fastest time outside of the Tokyo gala.
She went 1:05.74 in the 100m at the 2021 trials.
Schoenmaker won her 200m world championships gold in 2:20.80 in Fukuoka last year, and went 2:20.30 at a local gala in December last year, suggesting she’s on the right trajectory.
Paris will likely see her going up against teen Evgeniia Chikunova in a classic showdown of experience versus youth. The Russian, who will have to compete as an individual neutral, went 2:17.55 nearly a year ago to break the South African’s world record.
Since the Olympic qualifying window opened on March 1 last year, Schoenmaker has posted the fourth-fastest 200m time, with American Kate Douglass and Tes Schouten of Holland dipping under 2:20.
Schoenmaker’s 100m effort ranks her seventh.
The only other local swimmer inside the top 10 of the qualification rankings is Pieter Coetzé, in the 100m backstroke. He is 12th in the 200m, where he took bronze at the world championships in Doha in February.
Kaylene Corbett is 12th in the 200m breaststroke rankings, followed by Matthew Sates, 17th in the 200m individual medley.
Le Clos, who turns 32 on Friday, is targeting an historic return to the Olympic podium after an eight-year hiatus, and so far he has qualified only in the 100m butterfly, where he’s ranked 27th.
Sates and Lara van Niekerk, 28th in the 100m breaststroke, will be looking to rediscover their form from 2022, when both looked to be headed to Paris podiums. Van Niekerk, who endured illnesses last year, needs to get close to her 1:05.67 from nationals two years ago — the fastest time in South Africa — to show she’s back in the hunt.
The other Olympic qualifiers so far are Erin Gallagher, 24th in the 100m fly, and Rebecca Meder, 25th in the women’s 200m IM.
Emma Chelius (50m freestyle) and Aimee Canny (200m freestyle) have both come close with Olympic consideration times, suggesting this won’t be South Africa’s smallest Olympic team this millennium.
Eight men went to Athens 2004, where they delivered three medals, including gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Pool-side swimmers numbered 15 at Tokyo, 12 at Rio 2016, 17 at London 2012, 22 in 2008 and 14 in 2000.