South Africa: Tatjana Smith and Kaylene Corbett of Team South Africa have advanced to the swimming Women’s 200m Breaststroke semi-finals after finishing in 1st and 2nd place, respectively.
Smith’s dream of winning breaststroke doubles at the Paris Olympics is very much alive after she cruised to victory in the 200m heats on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
The swimmer came from behind to win first gold medal for Team South Africa at the 2024 Paris Olympics, when she triumphed in the women’s 100m final on Monday, July 29, 2024.
Smith performed as a defending Olympic champion in the 200m heat, following her golden swim at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Her compatriot – Kaylene Corbett came in second place, which seemed relaxed as she finished first and touched the wall in 2:21.57, which was two seconds ahead.
Corbett then qualified for Wednesday semi-finals with Smith, who is aiming to become the second winner to achieve the double gold feat after Penny Heyns, who made history by winning the 100m and 200m breaststroke gold at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. However, Heyns has already tipped Smith to do the breaststroke double.
Considering this Heyns said that she can do the double but afterwards she looked at the stats. People talk about the double and she did it in the same Olympics, but Tatjana has now done it and she holds both the titles.
Heyns further added to her statement that all she can say is that Tatjana is now the other swimmer who has won 100m and 200m gold (in the breaststroke) at the Olympics.
“Another South African, which is pretty cool,” Heyns said by referring to Tatjana Smith. “I know the Americans thought they would be the ones to do it, but I’m just so proud of Tatjana for doing it,” said Heyns.
Notably, the final of the 200m breaststroke will be contested on Thursday, August 01, 2024.