Tatjana Smith’s dreams of the breaststroke double at the Paris Olympics is very much alive after she cruised to victory in the 200m heats on Wednesday morning.
Smith came from behind to win Team South Africa’s first gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games when she triumphed in the women’s 100m final on Monday night.
Smith, who is the defending Olympic champion in the 200m following her golden swim at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, seemed relaxed as he finished first and touched the wall in 2:21.57, more than two seconds ahead of her compatriot Kaylene Corbett in second place.
Crobett should qualify for Wednesday night’s semi-finals with Smith, who is aiming to become the second swimmer to achieve the double gold feat after Penny Heyns made history by winning the 100m and 200m breaststroke gold at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996.
Heyns has already tipped Smith to do the breaststroke double.
🏅 𝕆![CDATA[]]>𝕝![CDATA[]]>𝕪![CDATA[]]>𝕞![CDATA[]]>𝕡![CDATA[]]>𝕚![CDATA[]]>𝕔 𝔾![CDATA[]]>𝕒![CDATA[]]>𝕞![CDATA[]]>𝕖![CDATA[]]>𝕤 ℙ𝕒![CDATA[]]>𝕣![CDATA[]]>𝕚![CDATA[]]>𝕤 𝟚![CDATA[]]>𝟘![CDATA[]]>𝟚![CDATA[]]>𝟜 🏅
— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) July 31, 2024
🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 #TeamSA's Tatjana Smith and Kaylene Corbett have advanced to the #Swimming Women's 200M Breaststroke semi-finals after finishing 1st and 2nd respectively!#SABCSportOlympics #Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/b9gKjykLYP
“I said she can do the double, but afterwards I looked at the stats. People talk about the double, and I did it in the same Olympics, but Tatjana has now done it, she holds both titles,” Heyns said on SuperSport.
“All I can say is that Tatjana is now the other swimmer who has won 100 and 200 gold [in the breaststroke] at the Olympics. Another South African, which is pretty cool. I know the Americans thought they would be the ones to do it, but I’m just so proud of Tatjana for doing it.”
The final of the 200m breaststroke will be contested on Thursday night.
@JohnGoliath82