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Team South Africa’s Thursday Results

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on Team South Africa’s Thursday Results

Team South Africa finished the day with brilliant results on Thursday, including Tatjana Smith securing herself a silver medal! 

Swimming:
Women’s 200m Breaststroke – Final

Tatjana Smith made Olympic history by winning a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke at the Paris La Defense Arena. The South African superstar finished just 0.36 seconds behind American Kate Douglass. This was Smith’s second medal of the 2024 Paris Games, having already won gold in the 100m breaststroke.

Smith now ties with Chad le Clos as the greatest South African Olympian, each with four medals, but she surpasses him with her two golds and two silvers. She also joins Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima as one of the only four-time breaststroke medallists in Olympic history.

Despite leading at the 50m mark, Smith was overtaken by Douglass, who secured the gold with strong turns. Smith’s impressive performance earned her a well-deserved silver.

Kaylene Corbett, finished seventh and has been instrumental in Smith’s success.

Tatjana Smith has announced her retirement after becoming South Africa’s most successful Olympian at the 2024 Paris Games. The 27-year-old, who always emphasized that swimming doesn’t define her, is looking forward to life outside the pool. 

Married late last year and approaching her thirties, Smith said, “I’m looking forward to my life outside of swimming.” Smith wants to be remembered for bringing people joy, not just her achievements.

Men’s 200m Individual Medley – Heats
Matthew Sates finished 6th in his heat, and 21st overall. His position was unfortunately not enough to qualify for the next round.

Men’s 200m Backstroke – Final
Pieter Coetze finished 7th in the final on the evening. His effort was not enough for a medal, but he did set a New African Record, with a time of 1:55.60

Golf: Men
Scores after Round1: Erik van Rooyen Tied 6th (-4), Christiaan Bezuidenhout Tied 29th (-1).

Erik van Rooyen had a strong first round at the 2024 Paris Olympics, shooting six birdies and an eagle. He was poised to finish with a 65, just two shots behind leader Hideki Matsuyama, but a double bogey on the 18th hole dropped him to four-under 67.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout, in his second Olympics, finished with a 71, recording three birdies and two bogeys. Both golfers noted that the course favored making birdies with accurate drives and aggressive approaches.

Van Rooyen’s round included a notable eagle on the 9th hole and a stretch of four birdies in six holes from the 12th to the 17th. Despite the tough finish, he was pleased with his performance and optimistic about the upcoming rounds.

Hockey: Women – Pool B
Team South Africa’s women had a close loss against Spain, going down 1 – 0 in the team’s penultimate match.
Team South Africa next faces the United States of America on Saturday, 3 August.

Cycling BMX Racing: Women’s Quarter Finals
Miyanda Maseti finished 8th in her Quarter final run. The position does not allow her to progress to the next round.

Archery: Men’s Individual 1/32 Elimination Round
Wian lost to Kim Je Deok, the double gold medallist from Tokyo, with scores of: 25 – 29 | 25 – 29 | 29 -30. Wian finished 33rd overall

Surfing: Women’s Third Round, Heats
Team South Africa’s Sarah Baum was eliminated in the heat in round 3 of the competition by USA’s Carissa Moore.

Tatjana Smith retires, looking forward to life after swimming

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on Tatjana Smith retires, looking forward to life after swimming

Tatjana Smith has announced her retirement shortly after making history as South Africa’s most successful Olympian at the 2024 Paris Games.

The announcement wasn’t entirely unexpected, as the 27-year-old has consistently expressed that swimming does not define her. She values her life outside of the pool and believes it’s best for champions to retire while on top.

A devoted Christian, Smith has always felt there is a greater purpose to her life than winning medals. Having married late last year and with the next Olympics approaching in her thirties, she said, “I’m looking forward to my life outside of swimming.”

Reflecting on her career, Smith remarked, “It was an amazing battle and I’ve never raced Kate (Douglass) in an Olympic final before. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end my career in such a tough competition. I’ve always loved competing.”

In confirming her retirement, she added, “Achievements fade, but people remember who you are. I want to be remembered for bringing joy to others. Swimming was just one season in my life, and now I’m excited for the next chapter.”

Smith capped her illustrious career by winning her fourth Olympic medal—a silver in the women’s 200m breaststroke—bringing her total to two golds and two silvers across two Games.

Photo by Anton Geyser

https://www.teamsa.co.za/tatjana-smith-announces-swimming-retirement/

Team South Africa’s Wednesdays Results

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on Team South Africa’s Wednesdays Results

Team South Africa had some incredible results from Wednesday, 31 August. 

Triathlon: Women’s Individual
Vicky van der Merwe put in a fighting effort to finish 46th in the Women’s Triathlon race early on Wednesday morning

Rowing: Women’s Single Sculls Semi Finals C/D
Paige Badenhorst finished 1st in her semi final race in the C/D section of the competition. She will next compete in the C Final, where she will battle for the 13th 18th position overall.
She races on Saturday, 3 August.

Triathlon: Men’s Individual
Henri Schoeman and Jamie Riddle finished 20th and 25th, respectively, in the Men’s Triathlon race that was postponed from Tuesday.
Conditions were challenging both in and out of the water for the Paris 2024 Olympic triathlon. The race was postponed due to high E. coli levels in the River Seine. Team SA members, Schoeman (20th) and Riddle (25th), noted the mental strain of the delay but highlighted the difficult swimming conditions. Schoeman leveraged his lifesaving background to gain an early advantage but fell short on the run. Riddle, despite his experience with strong currents, was surprised by the water’s strength and suffered leg cramps. 

Hockey: Women
Team South Africa’s women continued their streak of scoring in every match played at these Games. However, today’s effort was not enough to see them past Great Britain, going down by a single goal: 2-1.

Both South Africa and Great Britain entered their match at the 2024 Paris Games seeking their first win. Great Britain triumphed 2-1, leaving Team SA at the bottom of Pool B with three losses. Despite leading 1-0 early from a deflected shot by Kayla de Waal, South Africa couldn’t maintain their advantage. Amy Costello equalized for Great Britain, and Hannah French scored the winning goal. South Africa missed several opportunities to level the score. Edith Molikoe expressed disappointment but optimism for the remaining games.

Rowing: Men’s Pair: 
Team South Africa’s men’s pair, Christopher Baxter and John Smith, finished 4th in their race just outside of the qualification position for the finals.
The pair will next race on Friday, 2 August to battle it out for the 7th – 12th position.

Swimming: Men’s 200m Backstroke
Pieter Coetze finished 2nd in his semi final race, and qualifies for the final on Thursday evening. Earlier in the day Pieter swam the third fastest time overall in the morning heats.

Swimming: Women’s 200m Breaststroke
Tatjana Smith and Kaylene Corbett both made it through their semi final races, and qualified for the final race on Thursday, 1 August.
Tatjana Smith aims for gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke at the 2024 Paris Games to become South Africa’s greatest Olympian with four medals. She already has two golds and one silver. Despite a recent loss to Kate Douglass, Smith is favored for gold. Kaylene Corbett also qualified for her finals, with Corbett potentially joining Smith on the podium. Smith’s training under coach Rocco Meiring, along with her recent 100m gold, bolsters confidence in her success.

Hockey: Men
Team South Africa’s played to a 3- 0 defeat against Spain in their penultimate pool match.
The Poll A hockey match between Team SA and Spain at the 2024 Paris Olympics was played without spectators due to a weather evacuation. Both teams struggled in the silent, empty stadium, ending the first quarter goalless. Spain’s Marc Reyne scored after South Africa received a yellow card, leading 1-0 at halftime. South Africa’s efforts to equalize were thwarted, including a disallowed goal and a saved penalty stroke. Spain capitalized on defensive errors, adding two more goals to win 3-0, eliminating Team SA from the Games.


How Team South Africa Performed on Tuesday

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Team SA began Tuesday with three medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, thanks to Alan Hatherly and Tatjana Smith’s contributions on Monday. On Tuesday, our athletes are competing in five different sports.

Rowing:  Women’s Single Sculls, Quarter-Finals
Paige Bandenhorst finished fourth in her quarter-final. The top three from each of the four heats advance to semi-finals A/B, while the remaining competitors go to semi-finals C/D.
Therefore, Bandenhorst will be competing for places 13th to 24th.

Swimming: Men’s 200m Butterfly, Heats
Matthew Sates finished 6th with a time of 1:57.04, placing him 20th overall and missing a spot in the semi-finals.

Cycling (BMX):  Men’s Park Qualification
Vincent Leygonie did not finish in the top 9 and was eliminated after placing 12th with a points average of 75.85 over two runs.

Rugby Sevens
Women’s 11th/12th pace playoff: Team SA 21 Fiji 15

Men’s Hockey
Men’s Pool A: Team SA 1 Germany 5

Team South Africa’s men’s hockey players continued their demanding schedule by playing their third match in four days at the 2024 Paris Olympics, this time facing Germany. On Tuesday they went down 5-1 to sixth-ranked Germany.

Having previously defeated Germany at Tokyo 2020, Team SA aimed to deliver another memorable performance, hoping to honor head coach Cheslin Gie’s birthday. However, Germany quickly took the lead. In the final minute of the first quarter, Christopher Ruhr doubled Germany’s lead with a penalty stroke.

Justus Weigand extended the lead to 3-0 when he scored from within the circle. Despite a good chance for South Africa, the shot went wide. The second period was uneventful, and Germany maintained their 3-0 lead at halftime.

Early in the second half, South African goalkeeper Gowan Jones made several saves before a counterattack almost resulted in a goal for South Africa, earning applause from the crowd. South Africa then won a penalty corner, which Matt Guise-Brown converted to make it 3-1. However, Germany soon restored their three-goal advantage with a penalty corner goal by Gonzalo Peillat.

South Africa had another penalty corner opportunity after good work from Bili Ntuli, but Mustapha Cassiem’s shot was saved, and his rebound went over the crossbar. In the final minutes, a defensive error allowed Mats Grambusch to score Germany’s fifth goal with a brilliant shot into the top right corner.

Despite the defeat, South Africa now turns its focus to the next game against Spain on Wednesday, where they will compete for potential quarter-final places.

Photo by: Mimmo Perna

Do What is Hard

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on Do What is Hard

Not too many people can say they have run a marathon, never mind 100 marathons in 100 days. That will probably sound like climbing Mount Everest to the average person… but that’s what 21-year-old Joburg student Chad Markgraaf did last year. And now he’s getting ready for his equally long but much bigger #RUNSA2024 challenge. – By Richard Laskey with Sean Falconer