Tatjana Smith of Team South Africa poses with silver medal following the Swimming medal ceremony after the Women’s 200m Breaststroke Final on day six of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Paris La Defense Arena. /CFP
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South African swimmer Tatjana Smith is retiring.
Smith announced her retirement shortly after claiming silver in the women’s 200-metre breaststroke race at the Olympic Games in Paris on Thursday. On Monday, the 27-year-old won her country’s first gold medal at the Paris Games by claiming the 100-meter breaststroke title. She hoped to emulate fellow South African Penny Heyns, who remains the only woman to have won the 100m-200m breaststroke double Heyns did so at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Smith walks away from the pool as South Africa’s most decorated athlete ever at the Olympics with two gold and two silver medals.
Smith also won titles at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships and set a world record during the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.
In a post-race interview, Smith said she was grateful to have the opportunity to end her career on a high.
“It was an amazing battle. It’s amazing to see new people coming up. I’ve never raced Kate (Douglass) at an Olympic finals. I love competing, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to the end of my career…a very tough battle,” Smith told the Olympics media team.
She also hopes that her story will inspire one person “to never disqualify themselves from the race.”
South Africans took to social media to pay tribute to Smith, with many hailing her as the country’s greatest-ever Olympian.
“Tatjana Smith is the greatest Olympian this country ever had. We have already beaten our Tokyo medal count and expecting lots more,” South Africa’s minister of sports, arts, and culture, Gayton McKenzie posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“Tatjana Smith – brilliant performances, we’ve been watching you just owning it! Congratulations, well done!” Four-time golf major champion Ernie Els wrote on X.
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