Tatjana Smith stormed to Team SA’s first medal in the Olympic pool in Paris on Monday night, claiming gold in the 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:05.28.
The 27-year-old was fourth at the turn but rocketed back into medal contention in the second 50m to go one better than the silver she won in the event in Tokyo three years ago.
China’s Qianting Tang, who has swum the fastest 100m breaststroke time in the world this year, had to be content with silver in 1:05.54 with Ireland’s Mona McSharry taking the bronze in 1:05.59.
“I had no idea where I was, literally most of the race,” admitted Smith afterwards. “I actually didn’t think I medalled because when I turned to my left, the two blocks next to me both had lights on and it felt like someone else on the other side touched first.
“So I actually didn’t think I was medalling.”
“My main goal was just to not do what I did in Tokyo and look around, so literally the last 15 metres, I was like, no, close your eyes, let’s just go.”
Just one race before Smith’s, Pieter Coetzé competed in his first ever Olympic final, lining up in the 100m backstroke. Having qualified joint third fastest coming into the race, Coetzé was disappointed to miss out on a medal but could nevertheless be proud of blazing to another new African record, finishing fifth in a time of 52.58 seconds.
Italian Thomas Ceccon took the gold in 52.00 with Jiayu Xu claiming silver in 52.32 and American Ryan Murphy the bronze in 52.39
“I’m definitely proud of myself and I’m just grateful for the opportunity to even be here,” said Coetzé afterwards. “So obviously it would have been nice to get a medal, but I can’t let that play in my mind too much.”
Coetzé will be back in the pool for the 200m backstroke, which is the event in which he claimed World Championship bronze earlier this year.
“[My speed] is obviously a good sign,” he said. “But I’ve just got to switch off a little bit now. I’m not going to be thinking about the 200 too much. Right now I’m feeling pretty tired but I’m confident though, I think it will be good.”
As for his Pretoria teammate claiming gold a race after his, Coetzé added: “I’m super happy for her. I was just saying she’s a great role model and I’ve gotten to know her much better on this trip. I love learning from her, so to see that was a big honour for me as well.”
Swimming action continues in Paris on Tuesday with Matthew Sates the only South African in action in the morning heats. He’ll be competing in heat 2 of the 200m butterfly at 11.03am with a potential semifinal in the evening session.
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