‘Tough’ Tatjana Smith has hope and intent for Paris Olympics
When you’ve set a world record and won an Olympic gold medal in the same race, you have reached the pinnacle of your sport.
That is what happened to South Africa’s swimming superstar Tatjana Smith – who was Schoenmaker then – at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Sprinter Wayde van Niekerk achieved the same incredible heights at the 2016 Rio Olympics as well.
While both were celebrated across Mzansi, fans always want more success. But how exactly do such athletes reach those heights again?
It is something that Smith has had to contend with over the last few years, and while it hasn’t been an easy journey, she will be banking on her immense work ethic and preparation to carry her through once more at the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Her long-time mentor, Rocco Meiring – who is the coach at the University of Pretoria’s famous Tuks Swimming Club – did not want to venture into predictions of what South Africa can expect from Smith when she jumps into the pool at the La Defense Arena in Paris.
It would take a remarkable effort from Smith – who claimed the gold medal in the 200m breaststroke with a then-world record time of 2:18.95 and a silver in the 100m breaststroke in Tokyo in 2021 – to repeat her heroics from three years ago, but never count out the 27-year-old.
She displayed her resilience once more by winning the 200m breaststroke title at last year’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan in a time of 2:20.80 – as well as a silver in the 100m breaststroke.
“Tatjana had gone through a very difficult time post Tokyo, which is understandable because she’s older. She’s basically done the ultimate, which is a world record and an Olympic gold medal – and an Olympic record in the 100m (1:04.82),” Meiring told Independent Newspapers in an interview this week.
“So, it’s very difficult to redefine your goal, and redefine your reason once you’ve achieved it.
“Tatjana’s preparation has been okay. She has been struggling with an injury in her leg – that affects her breaststroke kicking. So, we had to make quite a few adjustments to her training. This injury has been chronic since February.
“I take my hat off to her that she actually stuck it out for another Olympics – especially (after) experiencing the difficulty she went through after Tokyo.
“That’s the true test (of improving her past achievements) … It does show you that these competitors internationally in their sports that are at the top for so long, you can appreciate what amazing people they are.
“In Tatjana’s case, Tatjana’s very outspoken about the fact that she’s not a swimmer – swimming is just something that she does.
“She’s got a life beyond swimming, and she’s got aspirations and other goals beyond swimming. So, it does put a different slant to it. But she’s tough. When she decides she’s going to see something through, she’s going to see it through.
“And she is where she is now, where she’s gone through the bad patches, and she’s looking forward to Paris. And she’s done the work. I have never experienced any day where I felt she’s getting lazy or she’s getting soft … never. I’ve never seen that, which is in itself a helluva achievement.
“At no point was she looking for an easy option or whatever. The injury came from the fact that we really pushed her hard in February. Our job is to push them to the limits, and if you sometimes push somebody to the limit, then yes, they are going to get injured.
“But we’ve managed the injury, and we’ve had to manage it. And how it will affect her results, we don’t know.”
Smith got married last November – to Joel Smith, brother of Rachel, Springbok captain Siya Kolisi’s wife – and showcases her life outside the pool often on her Instagram account.
But she is still putting in the hard yards to be in prime shape for Paris, where her main event will be the 200m breaststroke, which starts with the heats and semi-finals on Wednesday July 31, with the final on Thursday August 1.
Meiring said that they will make a decision on Smith’s participation in the 100m breaststroke – which starts on Sunday July 28, with the final a day later – once they get to the French capital.
“We can’t go in without hope. We go in with hope, and we go in with intent, because intent is more important than hope,” Meiring said.
“We go in and prepare with the intent of doing as best as we can. Hope is something that we will put to the side – we go in with intent and prepare with intent.
“But to go and speculate about the expectations and so on, I personally as a coach hate that, because these people that speculate, I wish they would do it (swim) – then we will see whether they want other people to speculate about their performance.
“All I can talk about is the intention and determination that goes into the preparation, and then the ability to handle that highly pressurised environment – and to do your best under those conditions.
“The injury is recurring. It’s manageable, but it’s recurring. It’s something we have to manage in terms of preparation.
“You can’t really compare Tokyo to Paris, because in Tokyo, we were preparing for the 100 and the 200. So, you can’t compare the training and the result between the two.
“The message to the people out there is that this girl has gone through … I said in Tokyo that I put her through incredible work before Tokyo.
“This time, she went through the same amount of work, if not more, but she also had to deal with the mental side of it.
“It’s one thing getting to the top of the mountain, but it’s another thing coming down and then having to get up to that mountain again.
“So, from that point of view, I take my hat off to her that she stuck it out, because it was a very, very tough time for her – with lots of doubt and questions … Not of her ability, but of ‘Why do I need to do this?’.
“I’ve not seen any day or any moment where I thought she got soft, or she’s starting to look for easier options. Or she’s lazy or entitled or anything like that.
“It’s been the opposite: it’s the same, if not more in terms of discipline and determination, and willingness to ‘When I decide to do something, I am going to do it – and I am going to do it properly’.
“She couldn’t have done more in preparation for Paris than what she’s done.
“She’s just got to get herself into that final, and then she’s got to race that final. She’s going to be competing against the best of the best. There is a new breed. The old ones are there, and there’s a totally new breed who are hungry, and they are on the hunt.
“So, she’s got her hands full. It’s not an easy task by any means.”