In her final Olympic appearance, Tatjana Smith added another remarkable chapter to her storied career. While she didn’t achieve the fairytale ending of retaining her 200m breaststroke gold medal, she secured a silver medal behind the USA’s Kate Douglass in a highly competitive race.
Smith gave her all in the thrilling race, ultimately finishing with a smile. Afterward, she confirmed it was her last Olympic race.
It was a fitting conclusion to an illustrious career. The determination and tenacity she displayed in defending her 200m breaststroke title highlighted her legacy as much, if not more, than her impressive haul of four Olympic medals.
Douglass won the Paris 2024 gold medal, touching the wall in 2:19.24 at La Defense Arena, 0.36 seconds ahead of Smith.
“The goal for the final was to execute the race as well as possible,” Smith said afterward. “In the semifinal, which I narrowly lost to Douglass, I tried to rush my stroke in the last 20 meters because of the intense battle we were fighting, and I lost my stroke there.
“The primary goal for the final was to remain calm, maintain my stroke, and trust that the results would follow.
“The final was an incredible contest, and it’s exciting to see new competitors emerging. I had never raced against Kate in an Olympic final before. I love the thrill of competition.
“I couldn’t have imagined a better way to conclude my career, facing such a challenging and intense race.”
For Smith, Paris 2024 marked a reversal from her success in Tokyo, where she won gold in the 200m breaststroke and silver in the 100m breaststroke. This year, she claimed a remarkable gold in the 100m but fell short in her preferred event, with Douglass, a bronze medalist in the 200m individual medley at Tokyo, emerging victorious.
Douglass secured the gold, partly due to her exceptional performance off the wall, gaining about half a body length on Smith during each of the three turns.
Despite Smith’s valiant efforts to close the gap each time, she was unable to overcome Douglass, who pulled ahead in the final moments. If the race had been just 10 meters longer, the outcome might have been different, highlighting the narrow margins in elite competition.
After completing the 100m at a world record pace, both favorites eased up a bit in the latter half of the race but remained comfortably ahead of the competition. Bronze medalist Tes Schouten was 1.81 seconds behind Douglass.
South Africa’s Kaylene Corbett finished in seventh place, while Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Lilly King came in eighth.
Earlier, South Africa’s Pieter Coetze placed seventh in the men’s 200m backstroke final.
Kate Douglass of Team USA, Tatjana Smith of Team South Africa, and Tes Schouten of Team Netherlands celebrate after securing gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively
Best SA Olympian
Smith’s silver medal brought her tally to four Olympic medals — two gold and two silver — which makes her South Africa’s most successful Olympian of all time.
Fellow swimmer Chad le Clos also has four Olympic medals — one gold and three silver — while swimmer Penny Heyns and athlete Caster Semenya won two golds apiece.
Le Clos, who will compete in the 100m butterfly on Friday, still has an outside chance of adding to his medal tally.
Although Smith was her usual smiling self at the end of the race, and congratulated Douglass warmly, this defeat will sting because she was favourite to win. It was also her last chance to become the first South African to win three Olympic gold medals in a career.
She also fell short of her own Olympic record, set in Tokyo three years ago. But when she does sit back and reflect, it will be with massive satisfaction.
Smith has won more than half of South Africa’s medals — four out of seven — at the last two Olympics. That might change in the coming days if other South African athletes win medals, but it underlines her greatness that she has almost single-handedly carried the burden of winning medals for South Africa.
“It’s never been about that [medals],” said Smith. “Achievements fall away but you want to be remembered for who you are. I hope I’m remembered for bringing people joy.
“Swimming is just a season in my life. There is so much more than swimming and I’m excited to live life.”
