Tatjana Smith's Last Race and New Beginnings

Tatjana Smith hangs up her goggles. After 22 years of kicking water, two Gold and two Silver Olympic medals, she is ready to move on.

Paris, France (02 August 2024) – Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend a family meet and interview with Tatjana Smith’s family at Speedo. The experience was wonderfully normal.

The food was great, and we received a few keepsakes—thanks, Speedo, for that. I can’t wait to try out my new goggles, but I also appreciated the chance to chat with the people behind the athlete.

Understanding the Sacrifices

Tatjana’s husband, Joel Smith, helped me understand the sacrifices involved in being with someone at the top of their game. The fact that it is swimming is irrelevant to them. When you are committed to one thing, try as you might, you miss out on other things. Birthdays during the week are a no-go. Weekends away are not viable because she trains on Saturdays.

Eating brown rice, chicken breasts, and broccoli every night with no sauce is not because you have no option but because it’s part of getting you to your best.

Maybe we don’t all live in those extremes, but most of us will have a version of them. The places we couldn’t go because of long-term goals or the sacrifices we made to be in a place we don’t have the mental or physical energy to be at.

Focusing on One Goal

Similarly, when speaking to Mr Schoenmaker, he spoke of only making one decision. Tatjana was apparently great at a lot of things, and he encouraged her to focus on one and they decided on swimming. Then he had to trust the coaches to get the team to where they needed to be.

He could not speak more highly about Rocco and Tuks, the high school and high-performance centre. They helped the athletes become the best they can be, both as sportspeople and as humans.

Not everyone can be an Olympian, but Mr Schoenmaker noted that sometimes we celebrate mediocrity, and Joel, Mr Smith – if you will, noted that we don’t celebrate the excellence around us enough. Seeming contradictions, we have so many pockets of excellence that we should shine a spotlight on, but we are so busy looking at the everyday play-by-play that sometimes we don’t have space for the wonderful moments around us. They didn’t give examples, but I think we get what they mean.

A Glorious Farewell

Having come second the last night in her “favoured event”, the 200m breaststroke, Tatjana now has two gold and two silver Olympic medals. She officially declared that to have been her last race.

According to her, her new purpose was to find her purpose, and she would probably miss swimming from today but it’s time to move find what’s next. However, she was glad she went out with a proper fight for the podium, with a race that pushed her to be the best she could be in the moment.

Support Without Pressure

When talking to her dad, I asked about her sister, wishing her well and just telling her to go kick some water. He said that they never wanted to put pressure on her, so they didn’t tell her to go win or get a medal because that wasn’t important to them. Saying good luck got boring, so they normally went with something a little random and off the cuff. For the 100m final this week, it was “Just go kick some water”.

He also noted that when they enrolled her into the high-performance centre, it wasn’t something they could afford, but they trusted that it was necessary, and things worked out. It paid off, not because she is one of the all-time greats, but because she reached her full potential.

They only asked one thing: that whatever she did, she did it to her full potential. So, I asked if that was why she always went so hard in the semi-finals, and they said maybe, but mainly, it’s because you never know. You don’t want to take it easy and miss a final. You have to control what you can.

Looking Ahead to LA 2028

This may have been her last Olympic event, but come LA 2028, you will still see her name on screen. With her world and Olympic records in the 100m and 200m women’s breaststroke remaining unbroken this time around, we will have reminders of her being at her best.

Tatjana took her time to enjoy the medal ceremony, they couldn’t push her along fast enough and they tried. She took selfies and signed things and just looked around and enjoyed everything.

So, on the off chance that you see it and wonder how to support our Olympians, find the excellence around you and celebrate that. Watch us in the rowing placements, follow the athletics programme, and if you have a particular friendly cashier at the shops, celebrate them too.

Joel reckoned what Tatjana was best at was humanising fame. Interpret that how you will, but to me, she did that by sharing her spotlight. So, as we bid her farewell and bask in her greatness, let’s also celebrate Pieter Coetze, who unfortunately didn’t medal but broke an African record from 2009 and is the best he has ever been… He is only 20! And Kaylene Corbett, who, like Tatjana, has completed her second Olympics and made her second final. They continue to blossom and I look forward to watching them kick some water in years to come.

Oh, and it bucketed as the swimming ended. I don’t think the train seats are safe to sit on for at least three days due to the number of drenched people who made themselves comfortable on them on the way home. It’s worth it, though.

Zareena Gaibee will be on the ground in Paris for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics events, sharing her take on the prestigious sporting event, giving exclusive insights into life at the games, and hopefully meeting many of the South Africans in Paris who are competing and supporting. She will be reporting her findings for Good Things Guy, giving readers a glimpse of what flying the flag in Paris is all about.

You can follow her series via Good Things Guy here.

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