By Razeen Gutta
Tatjana Smith bagged South Africa’s first gold medal of the 2024 Olympic Games in the women’s 100 metre breaststroke final on Monday.
With her preferred 200 metre breaststroke still on the horizon, Smith would have known that she was not the favourite in the shorter swim.
Her timing, however, was simply impeccable.
After starting slow and being out of the medal places for the vast majority of the race, it was only in the final 10 to 15 metres that the 27-year-old really picked up the pace.
Her win made her the 10th oldest female Olympic champion at an individual event and the first South African to win gold medals at back-to-back Games in real time.
Her 1:05:00 in the heats and semi-final were both better than her time of 1:05.28 here; but the tense feel of the race was all worth it in the end as China’s Tang Qianting only managed 1:05.54 in second while Ireland’s Mona McShary got bronze in 1:05.59.
Smith could not hold back the tears post-race as the South African national anthem filled the air at the Paris La Defense Arena with the fans cheering her on.
In the men’s 100 metre backstroke final just moments before, Pieter Coetze came in fifth place just split seconds behind bronze medallist, Ryan Murphy (52.58) and eventual winner Thomas Ceccon (52.00) of Italy.
The day was definitely a memorable one for Team SA as Alan Hatherly won bronze in cross-country mountain biking as well.
Pictured above: Tatjana Smith
Source: @worldaquatics
