There was no golden breaststroke double for South Africa’s Tatjana Smith, who finished the 200m final in second to take the Paris Olympics silver medal on Thursday.
Smith was bidding to become the first athlete since Penny Heyns to win the 100m and 200m gold medals at the same games, but fell agonisingly short as Kate Douglas of the United States took top honours.
Tatjana Smith secures silver in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke, earning her second medal at Paris 2024. 🥈![CDATA[]]>🏊♀️
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 1, 2024
We couldn't be prouder! 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦![CDATA[]]>🎉#TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Olympics2024 pic.twitter.com/KZ9UYW6i7K
Having already won the gold medal in the 100m, Smith was fast out of the blocks as usual, but Douglas managed to pip her at the 50m mark.
From then on, Douglas managed to keep her nose in front, and managed to touch the wall first after the final lap, winning the gold in a time of 2:19.24, an American record. Smith touched at 2:19.60.
South Africa’s other competitor in the final, Kaylene Corbett, finished way down in 7th place in a time of 2:24.46.
Meanwhile, in the men’s 200m final, South Africa’s Pieter Coetze missed out on the bronze medal after a fast start that saw him touch the wall in second place after the first 50m.
Coetze started to fall back, with Apostolos Christou surged into the lead after the first turn.
In a close race, Coetze looked like he was holding on to third, but faded towards the end as the rest of the field pushed.
Coetze eventually finished in seventh place, in an African record time of 1:55.60. Hungarian Hubert Kos took the gold, with Christou of Greece winning the silver.
The bronze medal went to Roman Mityukov of Switzerland.
IOL Sport