South Africa’s golden girl of swimming, Tatjana Smith, will have her first crack at a gold medal on Monday evening at the 2024 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Smith will swim in the final of the women’s 100 m breaststroke. During the semi-final, she swam the fastest by touching the wall in 1:05,00, exactly the same time as in the heats.

Smith said she is happy with her times heading into the big final. She will be in action at 21:25 on Monday evening.

?? Hear what Tatjana Smith has to say about her performance! ???? #TeamSA #Olympics #ForMyCountry pic.twitter.com/gtKsBMdM58

— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) July 28, 2024

“I would say that it was comfortable, but I’m just so grateful to be swimming some good times,” said Smith. I haven’t been close to my time since Tokyo, so this is my best time since Tokyo, so I think good times are obviously amazing.

“I think most of all, I'm really enjoying every race and I’m much happier, so it doesn’t matter what the times are. I think just me personally experiencing these races and being happy is exactly what I want to be at this time.”

In 2021, during the Tokyo Olympics, she won the silver. 

Pieter Coetzé also qualified for the final. Picture: Anton Geyser/Team SA.

Meanwhile, Pieter Coetzé swam the joint-second fastest time in the first semi-final to qualify for the men’s 100 m backstroke final. Coetzé swam a time of 52,63 in the semi-final, which was the same as Yohann Ndoye-Brouard of France, while Thomas Ceccon of Italy was the fastest in 52,58.

This was, however, a good enough time for Coetzé to break the African record.

Coetzé said the main objective was to reach the final, and now the goalposts will shift.

“Tomorrow it’s just a race. I wanted to get into the final because once you're there, you give yourself a chance. So, it 0146s just going to be a dog fight.”

He will be in action at 21:19 on Monday evening.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg/mvh