Tatjana Smith Wins First Gold Medal for Africa at Paris 2024
The South African swimmer has won the women’s 100m breaststroke event and is looking to earn a second in the 200m breaststroke later this week.
Gold Medalist Tatjana Smith of Team South Africa poses following the Swimming medal ceremony after the Women’s 100m Breaststroke Final on day three of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Paris La Defense Arena on July 29, 2024 in Nanterre, France.
The first gold medal to be won by an African athlete at the ongoing Paris Olympics belongs to South African swimmer Tatjana Smith. She won the women’s 100m breaststroke final, finishing the race in 1:05.28.
Her winning mark hover around the same time — 1:05.22 — that earned the silver medal at the last Olympics in Tokyo. This is her second Olympics gold medal win, after she did the same in the women’s 200m breaststroke event in Tokyo. This time around, she will be looking to do the double, winning both 100m and 200m breaststroke events at the same Olympics, a feat that has only been achieved by the South African swimming great Penelope Heyns.
Speaking to France24, South African sports journalist Mbulelo Thinta explains that Smith's win is more remarkable because she fell out of love for swimming and wasn’t looking to compete at this summer’s Olympics. This gold medal firmly makes her one of South Africa’s greatest Olympians and she has a chance at a historic double that will vault even further into the highest echelons of greatness.
“Smith’s own Olympics tally has now grown to three, with two golds and a silver, and one more will see her equal Chad le Clos on four, the most of any South African Olympian,” the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) said in a statement published by the South African government. “The chances of her adding to that total later in the week are high, given she’s the reigning champion in the 200m.”
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