South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker, seen here in action at the Tokyo Games, secured her place in the final of the women’s 200m breaststroke on Wednesday FILE - South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker, seen here in action at the Tokyo Games, secured her place in the final of the women’s 200m breaststroke on Wednesday. Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP
The double is still on for Tatjana Smith after she came second behind American Kate Douglas to book her place in the women’s 200m breaststroke final at the Paris Olympics.
Smith, who earlier this week won gold in the 100m breaststroke final, is bidding to become only the second athlete in the history of the Olympic games to win both the 100m and 200m gold medals.
🏅 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 secured a spot in the Final after finishing 2nd in the #Swimming Women's 200M Breaststroke Semi-Finals!#SABCSportOlympics #Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/8iScYUgEuA
On Wednesday, she showed her class as she led the race for most of the way. In the end, she was pipped by Douglas, but her place in the final was secure.
Smith will be joined in Thursday’s final by Kaylene Corbett, who finished second in her semi-final behind Tes Schouten of the Netherlands.
In the men’s 200m backstroke, Pieter Coetze booked his place in the final after also finishing in second place in a close semi-final.
Coetze started well, and was first after the first 50m, but faded on the way to the 100m. He managed to build up some momentum on the last two laps, and was second to touch the wall after Roman Mityukov of Switzerland.
Earlier on Wednesday, the South African men’s hockey team suffered their third defeat in Paris when they were beaten 3-0 by Spain.
The South Africans went into the game needing a win to keep their chances of progressing alive, but were played off the park by a Spain side that had also struggled at the games.
🏑FULL TIME 🏑#TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Olympics pic.twitter.com/JCoG8ciJlH
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) July 31, 2024
After a goalless first quarter, the Spaniards scored in second, third and fourth to pick up their second win.
In order to reach the quarter-finals, South Africa need a big win against hosts France on Friday, and hope that other results go their way.
IOL Sport