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PICS: Inside SA swim sensation Tatjana Schoenmaker’s mountain-top engagement
The swimmer’s boyfriend, Joel Smith, popped the question this past weekend at Eagles Nest, Constantia in Cape Town.
Picture: Instagram
She gripped the nation when she swam her way to a gold medal and a new World Record at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Now, three years later, Tatjana Schoenmaker is still making waves in the pool, but it appears that while preparing for the 2024 Summer Olympics, she has swam straight into Joel Smith’s heart.
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Who is Joel Smith?
The Citizen has previously reported that Joel Smith is none other than Rachel Kolisi’s brother.
Joel, who worked with his sister and brother-in-law Springbok rugby captain, Siya Kolisi at the Kolisi Foundation has not only found new love, but he also started a new job.
Joel recently joined forces with Craig Livingstone as a business partner at the Livingstone Management Group.
The company will focus on Sports Management with “the purpose to create an environment of responsible management of humans behind the exceptional athletes that they are, so that they get to focus on what they love whilst preparing for a new life after their sport career,” Joel explained in a lengthy LinkedIn post announcing his new career journey.
When did Tatjana Schoenmaker and Joel Smith start dating?
While the exact details of how and when Joel and Tatjana met and when they officially started dating is not known yet, the gold medallist confirmed that she was in a relationship with Joel at the end of February when she shared a picture of them together at a rugby match.
Joel took to his Instagram account on Valentine’s Day to share a picture of him and Tatjana after they had a swim, with the caption “My Valentine”.
On 19 March, the swimmer shared a second snap of her and Joel. In the photo, the two face each other with Joel holding and kissing Tatjana’s hands.
“We love because He first loved us -1John 4:19,“ she captioned the post on Instagram.
A mountain top engagement
The sporting world rejoiced this weekend when Tatjana and Joel both took to their separate Instagram accounts to announce their engagement.
Sharing eight happy snaps of the moment Joel went onto one knee to pop the question at the top of a mountain at Eagle Nest, Constantia in Cape Town, Tatjana captioned her post: “Don’t worry, I know what you are all thinking: Why did he take so long? We are engaged. I am lost for words. I am flippen going to marrying the man of me dreams. I am in absolute awe and gratefulness to have the privilege, firstly to love you and now to start a new journey with you”.
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