Tatjana Smith Rebounds to Win Gold in 100m Breaststroke

Paris Olympics, Day 3: Tatjana Smith bounces back to win gold in 100m breaststroke

Tatjana Schoenmaker could come under pressure at the Paris Olympics. Tatiana Smith, However, he had none.

The body under the cap is still the same one that won the 200 breaststroke in Tokyo in 2021, setting a world record. But the expectations of that swim are not weighing down the mind in the cap of the newly married Smith.

Swimming freestyle, Smith captured her second first gold on Monday night in a thrilling final. She first came to the wall in 1:05.28, making up seven tenths of a second in the final 50 meters on The Tang Quianting. Tang won silver in 1:05.54, .05 over Mona McSharry, Lilly King She was denied a medal at her third consecutive Olympics by 0.01, finishing tied for fourth with Benedetta Pilato in 1:05.60.

• World record: Lilly King, USA, 1:04.13 (2017)
• Olympic record: Tatjana Smith (née Schoenmaker), South Africa, 1:04.82 (2021)
• Tokyo Olympic Champion: Lydia Jacoby, USA, 1:04.95

Smith’s ease with pressure hasn’t always been assured. It took time, Smith has made the most of his three years between games in the mentality department. Getting married has provided not only a significant non-swimming life change, but also a convenient lens through which to frame the transformation.

"It's about learning to handle that (pressure)," Smith said Sunday night after the semifinals. "So it's really been through the years that I've learned, and I think it's been my new last name, that the pressure has gone. There's no Schoenmaker anymore. Everything came with Schoenmaker, so I really feel like I can swim freely. I don't have the pressure of Schoenmaker on me. I'm a new, different person."

Smith was, less metaphorically, the same swimmer in both the preliminaries and the semi-finals, clocking 1:05.00 in both. He led each time. McSharry had finished second in the semi-finals in an Irish record of 1:05.51, followed by King.

She carried some of those traits over into the second half of her career. In Tokyo, she was slower in the final than in the prelims, which allowed Lydia Jacoby to surprise and take gold, while Schoenmaker took gold. Smith was also a quarter of a second slower, but she did what was necessary in the final 10 meters to get her hand on the wall first.

“My main goal was to just do what I did in Tokyo and look around,” Smith said Sunday. “So my mindset in the last 15 meters was just, close your eyes and go there. I closed my eyes and I hit the wall and I saw the red lights in my lane.”

It was a mixed zone of tears. Both Smith and McSharry were happy. The latter's was Ireland's only Olympic medal in swimming, other than Michelle Smith's four at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

"I started crying on the podium and I haven't completely stopped crying yet," she said. "It's just incredible. I think it's just the pinnacle of sports to see all your hard work pay off in something like this right now."

The tears were less happy for Pilato, who finished fourth. Tang started strong and was first to the wall, with Pilato and Smith tied for fourth. King was seventh, too big a hole to climb out of. King’s 34.60 on the second 50 was the best of the race, and Pilato looked ready to steal him in lane 1. But Smith pounced on the touch.

"It was really as close as it gets," King said. "So it was just a touch. And I could have easily been second and ended up tied for fourth. That's kind of the way luck plays out in this race. Obviously disappointed, but I've got a lot more to do and I'm shifting my focus to the 200."

On Sunday, Smith talked about the village it takes to raise an Olympian. On Monday, she took it a step further by wearing a T-shirt on the podium with the names of people back home who helped her get to this point.

In Paris, she turned pressure into composure. And with her best event yet to come, she’s already turned it into a medalist.

"Tokyo, it was my first Olympics," Smith said. "I think I was more like, you want to prove yourself. This time, I'm just having fun. I know this is my last Olympics, so I'm definitely taking it all in and really enjoying every race. All I'm doing is not standing behind the blocks and worrying. I know I've prepared the best I can, and now it's the fun part. It's just enjoying it and embracing the burn, and I love competing."