Two-Time Olympic Champion Tatjana Smith Confirms Return to Swimming With Eyes On The 50 Breaststroke At La 2028
Two-time Olympic champion Tatjana Smith has officially confirmed her return to competitive swimming and has her eyes on the 50m breaststroke at the 2028 Olympics in LA.
The South African retired from the sport after the 2024 Olympics in Paris where she captured the 100m breaststroke crown and silver over 200m. That followed 200 gold and 100m silver in Tokyo three years earlier.
It was announced five days ago that Smith would compete at the South African Short-Course Championships in Pietermaritzburg from 24-27 September.
Now she has officially announced that she will be back in competitive waters at the selection meet for the short-course worlds in Beijing in December.
“When I announced my retirement from swimming, I genuinely believed that chapter of my life was over,” she said in a press release shared with news outlets. With some distance, I realized that stepping away had been the right decision for me at that time. I had always believed that swimming was something I did, not who I was. Stepping away proved that to me.
“I discovered that I could have a full life beyond the pool and still choose to swim. I am coming back because I want to. This time, the decision is mine. The time away gave me perspective, but it also gave me power. Now I get to bring both of those things back into the pool.”
Eyes On The One-Length Prize In LA
The 29-year-old now has her sights set on the 50m breaststroke which will make its first appearance on the Olympic programme at LA 2028.
She posted to social media, saying: “I think when I heard that the 50 was going to be at the Olympics for the first time, it’s definitely a new challenge, a new event, a new race, but also a new me. For the first time, I am choosing swimming and I am choosing this event and I’m choosing a new event that has no history.
“Let’s try and write some new history. The 50 is different. One length, no turn, no room to settle, almost no time to recover if the start, pull-out, breakout, or touch goes wrong. Everything happens now. It scares me, but it also excites me.
“LA 28. This is the goal. It is not a promise. I still have to build a race, qualify, and earn my spot back on those blocks. I don’t know how the story ends, but I know that I want to find out. The work starts here.
“I don’t know, how do I say it? I’m back.”
Smith enjoyed junior success in the 50m, winning gold at the 2013 African Junior Championships and African Youth Games a year later. She was also crowned champion at the 2015 African Championships where she swept the breaststroke treble.
She finished fourth at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, clocking 30.41 as South Africa team-mate Lara van Niekerk took the title in 29.73, a Games record.
Smith has been training with a new group, called Lane Leader, in Stellenbosch and her return follows allegations that Swimming South Africa had delayed payment of prize money dating back to early in her career. Per reports out of the country, that has been paid with interest. SSA’s president and CEO have been suspended, however, while World Aquatics investigates possible violations of its ethics code relating to unspecified matters.