A Champion Returns
Tatjana Smith, the double Olympic swimming champion, has decided to come out of retirement and will aim to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The 29-year-old is South Africa's most decorated Olympian. She explained that she had been missing the water and described her comeback as feeling a little crazy, a little scary and very exciting all at once. Smith had initially retired from swimming after the 2024 Paris Olympics.[S1][S2]
During her career, Smith won the 200m breaststroke gold and 100m silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games, before adding the 100m breaststroke gold and 200m silver at Paris 2024. She is also a former world record holder in the 200m breaststroke. Her achievements have made her one of the most successful swimmers in South African Olympic history.[S1][S2]
Targeting a New Distance
Smith's comeback will focus on the 50m breaststroke, a new Olympic distance that will be added to the programme. She said the challenge is definitely a new event, a new race, but also a new her. For the first time, she is choosing swimming, choosing the event, and choosing a new event that has no history but to try and write some new history. Her biggest Olympic successes came in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, so the shorter sprint represents a significant change.[S1][S2]
Despite her ambitions, Smith acknowledged that reaching Los Angeles is not guaranteed. She stated that LA 2028 is the goal, not a promise, and that she still has to build a race, qualify and earn her place back on those blocks. Her return is expected to begin with the South African Short-Course Championships, and she is also looking towards selection meets as she works towards a potential Olympic qualification campaign.[S1][S2]
