South Africa's Tatjana Smith competes in the semi-final of the women's 200m breaststroke event. FILE - South Africa's Tatjana Smith competes in the semi-final of the women's 200m breaststroke event. Picture: Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP
South African swimming legend Penny Heyns has hailed Tatjana Smith as the greatest Olympian the country has ever produced.
Heyns, the iconic double gold medallist, has been left in awe by Smith’s performances in the pool at the Paris Games.
“As far as South Africa is concerned, Tatjana has surpassed me in the Olympic sense,” Heyns told Showmax.
“I had two golds and a bronze, and she has two golds and a silver, and will most likely get another medal tonight. It’s just a matter of what colour she gets.”
On Monday night, Smith had to come from behind to win the 100m breaststroke final. Now Heyns has backed Smith to do the 100m and 200m breaststroke double and become the second swimmer to achieve the feat at an Olympic Games.
Heyns is the only other athlete in the history of the Olympics to do the 100m and 200m breaststroke double when she absolutely obliterated the field at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Smith will swim at the 200m breaststroke finals on Thursday evening together with her compatriot Kaylene Corbett.
“She is the highest decorated Olympian of all sports in South Africa. As far as where does she rank in terms of the greatest swimmers in the country, depends on how you look at it.
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— 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
“Some might say that Chad le Clos is the most decorated and successful swimmer because he has a lot of World Cup medals and World Short Course medals. But quite honestly, most American, and Australian swimmers don’t swim World Cups and World Shorts, and Tatjana doesn’t compete in Short Course. The only thing that really matters for a lot of swimmers is the Olympic events.
“While Chad has one gold and three silvers, I think Tatjana trumps him. I would like to see her break more world records. Chad has two Short Course world records, and Tatjana has one Long Course world record that was only recently broken by a Russian swimmer.”
Heyns has also predicted that Smith will announce her retirement after the Paris Games.
“Given that she’s 27 and recently got married, I suspect that this will be the last time she competes at this level. I wouldn’t be surprised if she announces her retirement after this, but you never know.”
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