South Africans all over the world are bursting with pride as the phenomenal athlete Tatjana Schoenmaker took home the silver in the women’s 100m breaststroke on Tuesday morning in Tokyo.
Even more extraordinary is the fact that this is SA’s first medal for the Tokyo Olympics – talk about female and South African empowerment all rolled into one. According to TimesLive, the trailblazer touched in at 1 minute 05.222 seconds, which was the slowest time in her three swims with regards to this event.
However, she beat out defending champion Lilly King from the United States, who swam in at 1:05.54 and nabbed third place. Team USA took home an additional medal, as teenager Lydia Jacoby swam to victory, touching in at 1:04.95.
This may not be the last time we see Schoenmaker standing on the podium; the swimmer is set to take on the 200m breaststroke heats on Wednesday and is entering the events as the “one to beat.”
It’s no surprise that Schoenmaker has become the favourite amongst Olympic spectators as she broke an Olympic swim record in the Women’s 100m breaststroke heat on Sunday, with an incredible 1 minute and 4.82 seconds victory, reports EWN.
We’ve never been prouder to wave the SA flag!
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Picture: Twitter – Team SA