Fri 30 July 2021:
South African Tatjana Schoenmaker smashed the long-standing women’s 200m breaststroke world record on Friday to win the Olympic gold medal.
The 24-year-old timed 2min 18.95sec to better the 2:19.11 set by Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen in 2013.
America’s Lilly King was second in 2:19.92 with her team-mate and training partner Annie Lazor third in 2:20.84.
The 24-year-old Schoenmaker, who won silver in the 100m event, had signalled her intent by going close to the record in the heats and she made no mistake in the final.
King went out fast and turned first at both the 50m and 100m mark before Schoenmaker made her move, reeling in the American to touch first.
It made her the first female South African to win an Olympic swimming gold since 1996, when Penny Heyns swept the women’s 100 and 200 breaststroke.
Despite missing gold, it was an improvement for King who placed 12th at the Rio Olympics.
It was the third world record in the Tokyo pool, but the first individual one after Australia’s women set a new mark in the 4x100m relay and China did the same in the women’s 4x200m relay.
She is the 10th South African to have won multiple medals at single Games, and the fourth since readmission, after Penny Heyns, Roland Schoeman at the Athens 2004 games, and Chad Le Clos in London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Mthethwa said South Africa is incredibly proud of Schoenmaker who has proven beyond a shadow of doubt that “South Africa is indeed a nation of winners”.
“She set the pace from the onset of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by becoming the first female South African swimmer to win an Olympic medal in 21 years. She is a true ambassador of the nation and a living example that hard work and dedication truly pay off,” Mthethwa said in a statement.
Schoenmaker was the top seed in the 200m breaststroke going into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and upon achieving this momentous feat she said: “I would never have even thought!”.
“This is my first Olympics so for me to get a lane into the final, then everyone stands a chance. That’s the thing I’ve always believed in. So I’ve exceeded, or God has exceeded, all my expectations so I couldn’t be happier,” said an elated Schoenmaker.
On Tuesday, the athlete bagged a silver medal in the women’s 100m breaststroke final.
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