By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa’s most decorated Olympian, Tatjana Smith, arrived back home to an emotional hero’s welcome on Tuesday, alongside her Team SA athletes.
Supporters flocked to OR Thambo International Airport on Tuesday morning to catch a glimpse of the nation’s Olympians.
Smith, who won the 100m breaststroke gold and 200m silver medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics which concluded this weekend, arrived at about 10am.
Two members of South Africa’s silver-winning men’s 4x100m relay team, Bayanda Walaza and Bradley Nkoana, arrived at about 11am.
Walaza, the 18-year-old matriculant, ran the first leg during the relay competition. Shaun Mswanganyi was second, with Nkoana third, while Akani Simbine anchored the team to a runners-up spot behind winners Canada.
The other two members of the team were not returning to South Africa immediately. Maswanganyi is returning to his base in the US and Simbine has stayed on to compete in events in Europe.
Upon her arrival, Smith, moved by the incredible show of support, shared words of encouragement for her fellow South Africans.
“Never stop believing in yourself. You can only be the best version of you, so find that and hopefully you can get a medal, too!”
“I’m here to have a voice for athletes, and I will try to represent them because I think there’s a lot we can learn from each other in how we can grow and make it better,” Smith said.
“I’m very grateful to have been able to win gold medals, but first I had to face a lot of things to get there, and I think we can avoid a lot of things for future athletes to achieve amazing things.”
She wasn’t sure exactly how she could make a contribution, but Smith said she was eager to impart her knowledge in an attempt to pave a smoother road for her potential successors.
“As athletes I feel we’ve learned so much and we’ve gone through so much that we’ve got to share. To keep it for myself would be selfish,” she said.
“I definitely want to share my experience so that we can either prevent others from experiencing the same, or help them to get to that level where they can have similar experiences.”
Sports minister Gayton Mckenzie said he hoped Smith would help find young talent while motivating the sport’s rising stars.
“She might have retired from professional swimming but she’s not retiring from helping us look for other Tatjanas around South Africa, “McKenzie said.
McKenzie also made a bold claim, committing to ensuring the national Olympic team would double in size at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.