Go well Tatjana, you will be missed

Tatjana Smith’s sudden decision to retire from swimming marks the end of an illustrious sporting era.

Smith, known at the time by her maiden name, Schoenmaker, won a gold and a silver at Tokyo 2020 to become the first South African woman to win medals in the 100m and 200m races since Penny Heyns. Heyns won the double at Atlanta 1996 and followed that up with the 100m bronze at Sydney 2000.

And then women’s swimming in this country went quiet — until Smith. First, she won the double at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, then she became the first South African woman to win a world championship medal, in 2019, before her historic Olympic achievements in Japan. That it took two decades for a star of her calibre to emerge in the wake of Heyns shows just how rare her talents are, deserving of her recognition as one of our all-time sporting greats.

At Paris 2024 she became the first South African to win gold medals at different Olympics in real time, joining Chad le Clos as the most decorated Olympian with four medals. Her two golds and two silvers, however, outrank Le Clos’s one gold and three silvers.

But perhaps Smith’s most endearing quality has been the manner in which she has dealt with fans and youngsters, trying to inspire them to believe that they can be anything they dream. She often describes herself as a random girl from a random place in South Africa — Roodepoort — who never dared to dream that she would step on to an Olympic podium. Not only did she make that trek, but through exemplary hard work and dedication, she ascended to the pinnacle of her sport. However we look at it, Smith is a once-in-a-generation sensation and the odds are we will have to wait until possibly 2044 for the next one to emerge.