Tatjana Schoenmaker

She competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, winning gold medals in women's 100 metre breaststroke and the women's 200 metre breaststroke.[4][5][6]

In June 2021, Schoenmaker qualified to represent South Africa at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[7]

Schoenmaker entered the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan as the number one seed and predicted winner of the 200-metre breaststroke.[8][9] She also entered the 100-metre breaststroke as the number four seed.[9]

In the prelims of the 100-metre breaststroke, Schoenmaker ranked first out of all heats, advanced to the semifinals, and set a new Olympic record and a new African record in the event with her time of 1:04.82.[9][10][11][12][13] The Olympic record she broke was a time of 1:04.93 set at the 2016 Summer Olympics by American Lilly King.[10][12][13] In the semifinals, Schoenmaker swam the fastest time of 1:05.07 and ranked first heading into the final.[14] In the final, Schoenmaker won the silver medal, which was the first medal for a South African woman in swimming at an Olympic Games since 2000.[15][16]

In the prelims heats of the 200-metre breaststroke on day five of competition, Schoenmaker swam a 2:19.16, setting a new Olympic record, advancing to the semifinals ranked first overall and swimming less than a tenth of a second slower than the world record of 2:19.11 set by Rikke Pedersen.[17][18] In the event's semifinals, Schoenmaker swam a 2:19.33 and ranked first, heading into the final.[19] In the final, Schoenmaker set a new world record in the 200-metre breaststroke with her time of 2:18.95 and won the gold medal.[20][21][22] Her world record was the first individual world record set in the sport of swimming at the 2020 Olympic Games.[20] Her gold medal was the first gold medal won by an athlete from South Africa at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[22][23] Her teammate, Kaylene Corbett, also reached the finals, making it the first time since Sydney 2000 that two South African women reached the finals of the same event.[24]

At the 2022 South Africa National Swimming Championships, Schoenmaker won the silver medal in the 50-metre breaststroke, placing second less than three-tenths of a second behind Lara van Niekerk with a time of 30.87 seconds and achieving a qualifying time for the 2022 World Aquatics Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games in the event.[25][26] She won the gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke on day three with a time of 2:24.01.[27][28] In her third event, she swam a 1:06.06 to win the silver medal in the 100-metre breaststroke, which also marked the third event she qualified in for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games.[29][30] In June, she was named as one of twelve women on the South Africa swim team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.[31]

For the preliminaries of the 50 metre breaststroke, on day one, in swimming at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Schoenmaker swam a 30.76 and qualified for the semifinals ranking fourth.[32] She qualified for the final the following day with a time of 30.94 seconds in the semifinals.[33][34] In the final, she finished in 30.41 seconds and placed fourth.[35] The next morning, she ranked first in the preliminaries of the 200 metre breaststroke by over three full seconds with her time of 2:21.76, qualifying for the evening final.[36] She won the gold medal in the final, swimming 1.20 seconds slower than the Games record of 2:20.72 set by Leisel Jones of Australia in 2006 with her time of 2:21.92.[37][38] It was the third gold medal for South Africa at the 2022 Commonwealth Games across all sports.[39] On the fourth morning, she ranked second in the preliminaries of the 100 metre breaststroke with a 1:07.10 and qualified for the semifinals.[40] She ranked second behind Lara van Niekerk again in the semifinals, finishing in a time of 1:06.43 to qualify for the final.[41] In the final, she won the silver medal with a time of 1:06.68.[42][43][44]