By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Tatjana Smith took the gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics women’s 100m breastroke in the Paris La Defense Arena pool on Tuesday night.
Smith’s gold was Team South Africa’s third medal of the Paris Games, ahead of China’s Tang Qianting with Ireland’s Mona McSharry taking the bronze.
Lilly King was denied a medal at her third straight Olympics by .01, finishing tied for fourth with Benedetta Pilato in 1:05.60.
Pieter Coetze was in superb form, touching the wall in 52.58 seconds to break the African record of 52.63 he had set in the semifinals the night before. He was 0.19 outside a place in the top three.
Earlier,mountain bike cyclist Alan Hatherly delivered a gutsy performance to take bronze in the men’s cross country race, ensuring the SA squad would close out day three with a total of three medals at the Games, after the national men’s rugby sevens team grabbed bronze over the weekend.
Hatherly finished third in a hard-fought race, just 11 seconds behind British opponent Tom Pidcock, who successfully retained his Olympic title, and two seconds behind silver medallist Victor Koretzky of France.
Elsewhere SA’s women’s hockey players showed why they’re at home on the big stage when they pushed world No2’s Argentina all the way in their Pool B match at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Monday.
Ultimately they came up short, 4-2, in what was onky the second meeting between the two sides in Olympic history, with Argentina winning easily at London 2012.
Adding to the challenge for Team SA, their most experienced player, Dirkie Chamberlain, was ruled out, and Kayla Swart had the opportunity to emulate her older brother and become an Olympian.