‘All I wanted was a lane in the final,’ says Schoenmaker

South Africa’s latest swimming sensation Tatjana Schoenmaker admitted she had stunned even herself after she wrapped up a memorable double on Friday, scorching to a new world record to grab the 200m breaststroke title at the Tokyo Olympics.

Competing in her last individual race of the Games, Schoenmaker lived up to the hype after lining up as the firm favourite, adding the 200m gold medal to the 100m silver she had earned earlier in the week.

“This was my first Olympics and I just wanted to get a lane in the final, where everyone stands a chance,” Schoenmaker said.

“I’ve exceeded all my expectations and I couldn’t be happier.”

The 24-year-old breaststroke specialist touched the wall in 2:18.95 in the 200m final, breaking the world best of 2:19.11 which had been set by Rikke Moller Perdersen of Denmark at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona.

Schoenmaker also sliced 0.21 off her own African record of 2:19.16 which she had set in the first-round heats, finishing well clear of American swimmer Lilly King, who bagged the silver medal in 2:20.92.

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Earlier in the week, after setting an Olympic record of 1:04.82, Schoenmaker had gone on to secure the silver medal in the 100m butterfly.

The 24-year-old swimmer became only the third South African woman to win an Olympic swimming title, after Joan Harrison, who took the top step on the podium in the 100m backstroke at the 1952 Helsinki Games, and Penny Heyns, who secured the 100m/200m breaststroke double at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

She also broke a lengthy drought as the first SA woman in 21 years to earn an Olympic medal in the pool.

“It still hasn’t really sunk in, and I wish my Olympic dream wasn’t over, but I am excited to go back home and celebrate with my family,” Schoenmaker said.

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Her fellow South African, Kaylene Korbett, also put up a fight in the 200m breaststroke final, taking fifth place.

Corbett, who had delivered stunning performances in the heats and the semifinals to establish her place among the medal contenders, set another personal best of 2:22.06.

Schoenmaker’s latest podium performance lifted the SA team’s medal tally to three (one gold and two silver) after seven days of competition at the Tokyo Games.

She closed out her campaign in the 4x100m medley relay heats yesterday, forming part of the SA team.

Despite being anchored by Schoenmaker, the quartet finished seventh in their heat in 4:03.02 and they were eliminated ahead of the final.