Tatjana Smith SA’s greatest Olympian, says swimming legend Penny Heyns

South Africa’s two-time Olympic gold medalist Tatjana Smith has been hailed the country’s greatest Olympian by none other than swimming legend Penny Heyns.

Smith will be gunning for her second gold medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and third gold overall, late Thursday when she takes part in the 200m breaststroke final.

Smith has already won one gold, in the 100m breaststroke final, at the Paris Games.

Heyns herself is a former double gold winner from Atlanta in 1996 when she won the 100m and 200m breaststroke titles.

‘Highest decorated Olympian’

“As far as South Africa is concerned, Tatjana has surpassed me in the Olympic sense,” Heyns told Showmax. “I had two golds and a bronze, and she has two golds and a silver, and will most likely get another medal tonight (Thursday). It’s just a matter of what colour she gets.”

Smith, who was still swimming under her maiden surname Schoenmaker in Tokyo in 2021 (when the Games were delayed by a year because of Covid) previously won gold in the 200m and silver in the 100m breaststroke events.

“Tatjana is the highest decorated Olympian of all sports in South Africa,” said Heyns.

“As far as where does she rank in terms of the greatest swimmers in the country, depends on how you look at it. Some might say that Chad le Clos is the most decorated and successful swimmer because he has a lot of World Cup medals and World Short Course medals.

“But quite honestly, most American, and Australian swimmers don’t swim World Cups and World Shorts, and Tatjana doesn’t compete in Short Course. The only thing that really matters for a lot of swimmers is the Olympic events.

“While Chad has one gold and three silvers, I think Tatjana trumps him. I would like to see her break more world records. Chad has two Short Course world records, and Tatjana has one Long Course world record that was only recently broken by a Russian swimmer.”

‘Mentally very focused’

Heyns has hailed Smith as an exceptional swimmer.

“I think Tatjana’s talent is exceptional. I remember seeing her around 2013, when she was much younger at the Africa Junior Champs. I saw this young girl swimming so fast. Her strike was a little choppy to be honest.

“But the more I saw her stroke the more I thought it was a very clever way to swim and I think that comes naturally to her. I don’t think anyone has taught her this way.

“Mentally she is also very focused. I think her faith has a large part to do with that and she’s able to kind of see swimming as something she does, not something that defines her.”

Heyns is thrilled that Smith is the swimmer to have taken the baton from her. “I’m delighted that Tatjana is the one that won the first gold as a female in our country after my 1996 swims.

“I’m glad she is the one that has taken the baton and is the golden girl. And especially since it’s in the breaststroke, it means a lot to me, as it is the event that I swam in.”