Tatjana Smith only needs to be on the podium in Thursday night’s women’s 200m breaststroke at the 2024 Paris Games to be officially confirmed as South Africa’s greatest-ever Olympian. However, the chances are that she will win gold.
That will take her overall medals tally to four – three gold and a silver. She would join Chad le Clos on four medals but move ahead of him in terms of weight of medals. She has already won two golds, as have Penny Heyns and Caster Semenya but three golds would see her stand alone.
Don’t be fooled, or fearful, that Smith was beaten to the wall by Kate Douglass of Team USA in booking her spot in the final, where she also will be joined by Kaylene Corbett, while Pieter Coetze qualified third fastest in the men’s 200m breaststroke.
In fact, it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility to see all three on the podium, after all, Corbett’s 2min 22.87sec leaving her fourth on the timesheets heading into the final.
Smith, who already has the 100m breaststroke gold in her bag, will up her career Games tally to four. Why the statement of fact? Because barring accidents she will be on the podium and despite the defeat to Douglass, with the American coming from behind to pip her, it was certainly no setback.
Expect Smith to rest up on Wednesday night and be back at the pool meaning business on Thursday. Her Olympic record of 2:18.95 is not safe.
Corbett is a trraining partner of Smith under the guidance of Rocco Meiring – as is Coetze – and the astute Pretoria mentor can be considered the best trainer across any sports trainer in the land. He goes about his business away from the glare of the cameras but you won’t get better than him.
Earlier in the week he will have watched as Smith finished with the perfect final stroke and touch into the wall which earned her 100m gold. That is only possible after countless hours and all the planning, blood, sweat and tears should come together in an emotional medal on Thursday for Smith.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Erik van Rooyen tee off representing their country at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Thursday, both proud at being able to be part of Team SA at Le National.
Bezuidenhout, the world No 46, is competing in his second Olympics, having finished tied 16th in Tokyo, where gold was won by American Xander Schauffele. The latter is one of the favourites this week, having come into the event on the back of winning two Majors in 2024.
Both Bezuidenhout and Van Rooyen know that driving and putting well will be key this week to scoring well.
“It’s always special to represent one’s country at any level. Outside the Majors, this is one of the biggest stages to play. It’s a great honour to have the chance to make South Africa proud both on and off the course.
“I last played the course in 2016, which is a long time ago. It’s a good course from tee to green and it’s. set up tough. You must stay on the fairways and find the greens. The greens are big, so you need to attack the flag and set up a lot of chances to putt for birdies.”
Van Rooyen is more familiar with the layout. “I played the French Open here a few times, it’s a brilliant layout. There’s lots of trouble if you don’t drive well and there’s a lot of water. It’s a typical ball-striking course, with lots of scoring opportunities.”
Both players watched Smith win gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke and they’ve also seen a bit of gymnastics. They aren’t staying in the Olympic athletes village but have been to Team SA headquarters. The village left a lasting impression on them and Van Rooyen even took the opportunity to use the gym. “It is a little crowded though, not that easy to find a spot. Then again, there are nearly 10 000 athletes staying in the village” he laughed.
Bezuidenhout is first off at 9.33am and Van Rooyen tees off at 11.17am.
Conditions both in and out of the water were unforgiving, to put it mildly, as the best of the best took to the water for the Paris 2024 Olympic triathlon event on Wednesday.
The race had been postponed by 24 hours given the dangerous ecoli level in the famous River Seine and understandably athletes were questioned on the state of the water. The Team SA trio all trusted in the scientists but Henri Schoeman (who finished 20th) and Riddle (25th) admitted the delay hadn’t been ideal in terms of mental preparation.
However, of more significance was the actual swimming conditions, not quality of the water. Schoeman again used his background and track record in the swim to enter the transition zone to the bicycle in second place.
“Conditons were tough but my lifesaving background came in handy when it came to going round the buoys. I made up good time around the buoys. I tried to make it as hard as I could. On the bike it was about conserving energy and on the run I thought I could go for a medal, but I found myself lacking that speed.”
Riddle was quick to point out the current in the 22°C water.
“I’m from Jeffrey’s Bay and grew up swimming in big waves and strong currents, so was prepared but still, its strength surprised me. It was so hot throughout the event (29°C) and when I got out the water my legs were cramping going up the stairs so I knew then it would be a long day,
“Ultimately becoming an Olympian has been a 12-year dream and my one goal was to enjoy it. I did just that and can’t wait for Los Angeles when I’ll be in my prime at 28.”
While it was a first Games for Riddle, it was Schoeman’s third, having won bronze at Rio 2016. Riddle seems certain to be in the mix for the 2026 Commonwealth Games and 2028 Olympics, while for Schoeman there are still decisions to be made.
First and foremost is getting home to his wife who is heavily pregnant and due to give birth to their second child, a boy, on 12 August. After that he wants to “try another challenge. Maybe middle distance. I’m not ruling out anything going forward and in fact feel like I’m getting better all the time since recovering from my injury, having broken my ankle in Tokyo”.
Vicky van der Merwe’s race had been cooked early when she received a yellow card penalty and had to serve her time at the transition to the bike watching the field get away from her. She was 50th heading onto the bike and admits it wasn’t loo long after that when she knew it wasn’t going to be her day.
“I had a tough swim and it applies to a lot of the girls. I nearly drowned on the swim, it’s not conditions we’re used to. I don’t know why I got the yellow card but when I got to my bike it was lying on the ground so maybe it was for that.
“I didn’t want to push too hard because then I’d have nothing left for the run. I had a number (finishing position) in my mind but it was probably halfway through the cycling leg that I knew I wouldn’t achieve that. I managed to run down a few girls later on. The crowds were simply fantastic.”
Gold in the women’s race went to home favourite Cassandre Beaugrand, while in the men the finish was tight but ultimately Great Britain’s Alex Yee came back strongly in the final kilometre to run down New Zealand’s Hayden Wild, with French athletes third and fourth.
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