Schoenmaker wins historic gold at the Commonwealth Games
Tatyana Schoenmaker and her coach are excited about the future after she finally began to reap the benefits of years of hard work in the swimming pool.
Tatjana Schoenmaker broke the South African ’jinx’ when she won the 200m-breaststroke this afternoon at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in a new African record time of 2:22:02 last week.
In the past South Africa’s female swimmers fiercely contested the 200m-breaststroke at the Games but on three previous occasions, they had to settle for silver.
From a South African swimming perspective, the final was historic. It is possibly the first time that three South African female swimmers contested the same final at a major championship. Emily Visagie was seventh and Kaylen Corbett eighth.
The Pretoria swimmer impressed with her dominance. From the moment she dived into the water it was clear that she meant business. She was in the lead after 50 metres, dropped to second after 100 metres but from then there was no stopping her.
Her winning time of 2:22:02 minutes is more than two seconds faster than the time she swam during last year’s World Student Games in Taipei where she had won the silver medal in a time of 2:24:61 minutes.
“Overwhelmed” is the word Schoenmaker used when asked to talk about her performance.
“To win the gold medal is big for me. At first, I did not realise how fast I had swum. I was just relieved to be the first to touch the wall, but then I turned around and saw the time it was an absolute bonus that made the moment that little bit more special,” said the Tuks swimmer.
Schoenmaker did not want to comment on whether she thinks she is capable of swimming faster times. She credits the fact that she now has won a gold and silver at major events to hard work.
“My coach, Rocco Meiring, and I believe in taking things step by step. For now, I am happy. The more I train the more confident I get about my own abilities,” said Schoenmaker.
Meiring is quick to point out that it will be unfair to compare Schoenmaker to anyone or to speculate as to what she is capable of at the moment. When forced to give an opinion Meiring chose his words carefully.
“I am more cautious than excited. Tatjana got the X-factor when it comes to putting in the hard work and competing. To me, she is like a proverbial ‘racehorse’ so as a coach it is essential to know when enough is enough as the margin of error is so small. What excites me is the way she is capable of producing a really big output when it matters,” said Meiring.
When one listens to Meiring talk it quickly becomes clear that he has mapped out Schoenmaker’s journey to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo to the finest detail, leaving absolutely nothing to chance. He has prioritised her studies. If everything goes according to plan, she will get her degree at the end of the year. Only then he wants her to focus on swimming faster times seriously.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
