Tatjana Smith registered South Africa’s first gold medal win of the 2024 Paris Olympics with a dramatic, last-gasp victory on Monday night.
As she finished, Smith was not convinced she had made it to the leader board.
Smith won the 100m breaststroke final at Paris La Defense Arena. TimesLIVE Premium reported the 27-year-old pulled off a great come-from-behind victory, turning in fourth place before torpedoing home over the final 50m to win in 1min 05.28sec, beating China’s Qianting Tang (1:05.54) and Mona McSharry of Ireland (1:05.59).
Smith told TimesLIVE's David Isaacson in Paris she thought another swimmer had won the race.
“Everyone just fights for everything, but my main goal was to not do what I did in Tokyo and look around. So the last 15m I was like, ‘no, close your eyes, let’s just go’. I closed my eyes and when I touched the wall I had the red light on my [block],” she said.
At first she thought she hadn’t won a medal, let alone gold. “I 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.”
Smith will defend her 200m breaststroke crown from Tokyo on Wednesday and Thursday.
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Tatjana Smith registered South Africa’s first gold medal win of the 2024 Paris Olympics with a dramatic, last-gasp victory on Monday night.
As she finished, Smith was not convinced she had made it to the leader board.
Smith won the 100m breaststroke final at Paris La Defense Arena. TimesLIVE Premium reported the 27-year-old pulled off a great come-from-behind victory, turning in fourth place before torpedoing home over the final 50m to win in 1min 05.28sec, beating China’s Qianting Tang (1:05.54) and Mona McSharry of Ireland (1:05.59).
Smith told TimesLIVE's David Isaacson in Paris she thought another swimmer had won the race.
“Everyone just fights for everything, but my main goal was to not do what I did in Tokyo and look around. So the last 15m I was like, ‘no, close your eyes, let’s just go’. I closed my eyes and when I touched the wall I had the red light on my [block],” she said.
At first she thought she hadn’t won a medal, let alone gold. “I 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.”
Smith will defend her 200m breaststroke crown from Tokyo on Wednesday and Thursday.
TimesLIVE
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