Tatjana Schoenmaker won South Africa’s first medal at the World Student Games in Taipei this afternoon (24/08) when she set a new best time of 2:24.61 in the 200m-breaststroke to finish second.
Kanako Watanabe (Japan), a former 200m-breaststroke champion, won in 2:24.15. Mariia Temnikova (Russia) was third in 2:24.73.
An elated Rocco Meiring (Tuks/HPC swimming coach) said he is not sure, but it might be only the second time that a South African women’s swimmer won a medal at the Student Games. The last female to medal at this Games might have been the legendary Penny Heyns.
“Words cannot describe how happy I am for you and how proud I am that you kept your composure to deliver the result under such intense pressure. You are truly a champ. I am sure you have inspired every female swimmer with your performance,” said Meiring in a text message to Schoenmaker.
Graham Hill (Chad le Clos’s former coach) also weighed in with a message of congratulations to the Tuks/HPC-swimmer.
“I always believed that one day you would achieve something big. Female swimmers in South Africa will now start to believe.”
According to Meiring it is only the second time that Schoenmaker managed to swim under 2:25.00.
“That was our only goal for the Games. The medal is an absolute bonus. It proves to me that we are on track to get a good result at next year’s Commonwealth Games.”
Meiring was full of praise for the way Cedric Finch (national swim coach) assisted Schoenmaker to stay true to her goals in Taipei.
Schoenmaker will take a break now to focus on her studies before she starts her preparation for the Games.
Three seconds. That is how much Tatjana Schoenmaker needs to improve her time in the 200m-breaststroke by if she wants to have a realistic chance of medalling at next year’s Commonwealth Games.
Meiring admits she is in for a tough challenge.
“It equates to finding a way to gain eight metres. The only way Tatjana would be able to do is if we address every aspect: technique, power, speed endurance and pure speed.”
The exciting thing is that the Tuks/HPC swimmer is never one to settle for mediocrity. Earlier this season after swimming at 2:24.93 at the national championships she is on record of having said: “With this time I would have made the semi-finals at the Olympic, but I am not even close to the range for the finals. There is still a lot of hard work that awaits me.”
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