Tatjana Smith earns historic silver medal at Paris Olympics

Tatjana Smith fell just inches short of defending her title on Thursday night, but she managed to grab the silver medal in the women’s 200m breaststroke final, delivering a historic performance at the Paris Olympics.

Smith made her intentions clear, going out hard from the start, but she lost some ground after the first turn and American Kate Douglass managed to open a gap.

While the 27-year-old South African worked hard to close her down over the final length, she fell narrowly shy, touching the wall in 2:19.60. Douglass won gold in 2:19.24.

Further back, Kaylene Corbett ended seventh in 2:24.46 and was unable to challenge for the podium in what would have been a historic double for Team SA. 

Smith did make history, however, as the first SA woman to secure four career medals at the Games. On top of the gold and silver she claimed in Tokyo three years ago, she also won gold in the 100m breaststroke on Monday.

She also became the country’s most decorated Olympian of all time. While she equalled the record haul of fellow swimmer Chad le Clos, she holds more gold medals.

African record for Coetze

Half an hour earlier, Pieter Coetze swam the race of his life but finished well off the pace in the men’s 200m backstroke final, settling for seventh position.

Coetze, who was fifth in the 100m backstroke on Monday, clocked 1:55.60, breaking the 15-year-old African record of 1:55.75 set by George du Rand in Rome in 2009.

The race was won by former world champion Hubert Kos of Hungary in 1:54.36.

Earlier in the pool on Thursday, on day six of the Paris Games, Matthew Sates crashed out in the opening round of the men’s 200m individual medley, settling for 21st place overall in 2:04.01.

Sates will line up again on Friday morning, along with four-time Olympic medallist Chad le Clos, in the 100m butterfly heats.

Le Clos will hope to put up a fight in the only event he has entered, in what will be a swansong performance at the quadrennial Games for the 31-year-old star.

Other events

Elsewhere on Thursday, on the golf course, Erik van Rooyen settled in a tie for sixth place on four-under par (after shooting a 67) after the first round of the men’s tournament, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout was in 31st position on one-under (70).

On the hockey field, the SA women’s team were edged in a narrow 1-0 defeat to Spain, and they remained rooted to the bottom of their group after four straight losses in the tournament.

In the men’s archery competition, Wian Roux was knocked out in a tough 1/32 elimination clash against three-time Olympic team champion Kim je Deok of South Korea.

Cyclist Miyanda Maseti ended 24th overall in the quarterfinals of the women’s BMX racing event, and she did not progress to the next round.

in Tahiti, surfer Sarah Baum was eliminated by American Carissa Moore in the third round of the women’s competition, which had been postponed for a few days due to hazardous weather conditions.