On Monday night, Tatjana Smith surged to victory in the 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:05:28 to clinch a memorable gold medal, finishing ahead of China’s Qianting Tang (1:05:54), with Ireland’s Mona McSharry in third (1:05.59).
Just for this result alone, Smith pocketed R400 000 thanks to the financial incentives promised by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).
TATJANA IS THE FIRST GOLD MEDALIST FOR TEAM SA (CHECK OUT THE SA FINANCIAL INCENTIVES BELOW)
Individuals
Gold medallists R400 000 and the coach R100 000
Silver medallists R200 000 and the coach R50 000
Bronze medallists R75 000 and the coach R25 000
South Africans don’t have to wait long for Smith to return to the pool at the Paris La Defense Arena. Tatjana will be the favourite to defend her gold medal in the women’s 200m breaststroke, with the three preliminary heats taking place on Wednesday, 31 July, starting at 11:00 (SA time).
The top 8 will race the final on Thursday, 1 August at 21:04 (SA time).
SMITH WASN’T CERTAIN SHE HAD DONE ENOUGH IN THE 100m
Smith had shown that she was in superb shape heading into the 100m final, after swimming identical times of 1:05.00 in both Sunday’s morning heats, but she was only in fourth place at the turn.
The swimming superstar is renowned for her strong finishes, though, and produced a sensational finish to edge ahead of the three swimmers who had their noses in front of her with 50m to go.
“I had no idea where I was, literally most of the race,” admitted Smith afterwards. “I actually didn’t think I medalled because when I turned to my left, the two blocks next to me both had lights on and it felt like someone else on the other side touched first.
“So I actually didn’t think I was medalling. My main goal was just to not do what I did in Tokyo and look around, so literally the last 15 metres, I was like, no, close your eyes, let’s just go.”
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