Paris — South Africa’s Tatjana Smith confirmed her retirement on Thursday after winning Olympic silver in the 200m breaststroke, saying she may not even “look at the pool for the next 10 years”.
The 27-year-old came to Paris as the defending champion but was edged into silver by American Kate Douglass.
Smith won the 100m breaststroke title earlier this week and said it was time to hang up the goggles.
“I think it’s really just now embracing life and seeing what’s outside of swimming, what my passions are outside of swimming,” she said.
“I think when I was swimming I was really focusing on swimming because to stay motivated you need to be passionate about your sport, and I never really shifted my mind.
“Now it’s going to be tomorrow is day one of the life without swimming.”
[WATCH] Tatjana Smith calls time on her career, announcing her retirement after she created history by becoming SA’s greatest-achieving Olympian, at the #PARIS2024 #Olympics .
Smith won her 4th Olympic medal after finishing 2nd in the women’s 200m breaststroke last night. pic.twitter.com/eic8an3Vgc
— Ntsako Mkhari (@Ntsako_Mkhari_) August 2, 2024
Asked if there was any way she could be tempted back, she replied: “I don’t know if I’m going to even look at the pool for the next 10 years.”
But Smith also said she still wanted to be involved in the sport in some capacity.
“I feel like I want to give something back to swimming, especially in South Africa,” she said.
“Just representing swimmers and athletes, we don’t really have that in South Africa. It’s a very unknown sport.”
She walks away with two Olympic gold and two silvers.
Tatjana Smith retires
4️⃣ Olympic medals
2️⃣🥇
2️⃣🥈4️⃣ Commonwealth medals
3️⃣ 🥇
1️⃣🥈3️⃣ World Champions medals
1️⃣🥇
2️⃣🥈1️⃣ World Record
An all time great in the swimming world.#ParisOlympics2024 #PARIS2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/V7c8Hg4i69
— Stephen (@SteviePSport) August 1, 2024
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Source: AFP
Picture: X/@VuisweNgcobo
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