Retired Olympic Gold Medalist Tatjana Smith Returns for Short-Course Champs
Retired South African Olympic gold medalist Tatjana Smith is returning to the water for this month’s South African Short-Course Championships.
Smith, who also competed under her maiden name Tatjana Schoenmaker early in her career, retired after the Paris Olympics in which she won gold in the women’s 100 breaststroke and silver in the 200 breast. She had done the opposite – gold in a world record in the 200 breast and silver in the 100 breast – at the Tokyo Olympics three years earlier. But the 29-year-old will be back competing when the country’s top talents take the water Sept. 24-27 in Pietermaritzburg.
“We’re very excited that Tatjana is coming back to swimming,” Swimming SA Head of High Performance Dean Price said in a press release. “We know Tatjana is an excellent racer, so you can really count on her in a big event. I think she’ll be a huge addition to our team, and I think not only in the individual, but I think she can be of great value in the relays as well. … We look forward to her competing in her first event, and we feel very confident that she’s going to do very well.”
The national championships is aimed at selecting a team for the World Short Course Championships, which will be held in December in Beijing.
Smith has been training with a new group, called Lane Leader, in Stellenbosch. She adds a veteran presence to a group that includes a few remaining holdovers from that Tokyo Olympic squad.
“There’s a lot that I can say about Tatjana that we already know,” veteran male breaststroker Michael Houlie said. “She’s a phenomenal swimmer, but more importantly, she looks like a happy swimmer right now. And that could be dangerous for everyone else, so the world better watch out. She has absolutely nothing left to prove, which means she has the opportunity to race completely free and just enjoy swimming again. We were national teammates for so many years, so on a personal level, it’s just really great to have her back.”
The return comes at a complicated moment for South African swimming. Smith recently came forth with allegations that Swimming South Africa had delayed payment of prize money dating back to early in her career. Per reports out of the country, that has been paid with interest. SSA’s president and CEO have been suspended, however, while World Aquatics investigates possible violations of its ethics code relating to unspecified matters.
Houlie is coming off a successful summer in which he competed at both the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships. He will compete in the 50 and 100 breast and the 50 freestyle.
Dune Coetzee is competing in her home pool, having recently relocated to Pietermaritzburg to train at Seals Swimming Club. She’s entered in eight events. Commonwealth Games competitors like Hannah Pearse, Georgia Nel, Guy Brooks and Chris Smith are also entered in the meet, which will include paraswimming competition.
