“Feels a little crazy”: Double Olympic winner Tatjana Smith comes out of retirement, eyes LA Olympics 2028 goal after “missing the water”
Tatjana Smith has announced a surprise return to competitive swimming after initially retiring following the Paris Olympics 2024. The double Olympic champion is now targeting the 2028 Los Angeles Games, where she hopes to compete in the newly added 50m breaststroke event.
Smith is South Africa’s most decorated Olympian. She won 200m breaststroke gold and 100m silver at Tokyo 2020 before adding 100m breaststroke gold and 200m silver at Paris 2024. However, her comeback is not guaranteed. Smith says LA 2028 is her goal, but she must first rebuild her race and qualify for the Games.
Tatjana Smith targets new 50m breaststroke challengeTatjana Smith initially walked away from swimming after the Paris Olympics. She had already achieved major success across two Olympic Games and was a former 200m breaststroke world record holder.
However, retirement did not last as she expected.
The South African swimmer said she eventually realised that she missed competing and being in the pool. That feeling helped convince her to begin another chapter in her career.
The decision also comes with a completely different Olympic target. Smith is focusing on the 50m breaststroke, a new Olympic distance that gives her an opportunity to compete in an event without a long history of her own.
“It’s definitely a new challenge, a new event, a new race, but also a new me,” she said.
The change is significant for Smith. Her biggest Olympic achievements came in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events. At Tokyo 2020, she won the 200m breaststroke gold medal and took silver in the 100m.
Three years later, she added another Olympic title in Paris. Smith won gold in the 100m breaststroke and finished with silver in the 200m.
Those results made her one of the most successful swimmers in South African Olympic history.
Now, she wants to create a different story in the shorter event.
“For the first time, I am choosing swimming and I am choosing the event and I am choosing a new event, that has no history but to try and write some new history. LA 2028 is the goal. It is not a promise. I still have to build a race, qualify and earn my place back on those blocks”, she said in a video.
The swimmer summed up her feelings about returning to the sport by saying she was “missing the water”, while describing the comeback as something that “feels a little crazy, a little scary and very exciting all at once”.
Smith’s comeback will therefore involve several steps before she can think about competing in Los Angeles. She needs to rebuild her competitive form and establish herself in the 50m breaststroke.
Her return is expected to begin with the South African Short-Course Championships. She is also looking towards selection meets as she works towards a potential Olympic qualification campaign.
Smith is South Africa’s most decorated Olympian. She won 200m breaststroke gold and 100m silver at Tokyo 2020 before adding 100m breaststroke gold and 200m silver at Paris 2024. However, her comeback is not guaranteed. Smith says LA 2028 is her goal, but she must first rebuild her race and qualify for the Games.
Tatjana Smith targets new 50m breaststroke challengeTatjana Smith initially walked away from swimming after the Paris Olympics. She had already achieved major success across two Olympic Games and was a former 200m breaststroke world record holder.
However, retirement did not last as she expected.
The South African swimmer said she eventually realised that she missed competing and being in the pool. That feeling helped convince her to begin another chapter in her career.
The decision also comes with a completely different Olympic target. Smith is focusing on the 50m breaststroke, a new Olympic distance that gives her an opportunity to compete in an event without a long history of her own.
“It’s definitely a new challenge, a new event, a new race, but also a new me,” she said.
The change is significant for Smith. Her biggest Olympic achievements came in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events. At Tokyo 2020, she won the 200m breaststroke gold medal and took silver in the 100m.
Three years later, she added another Olympic title in Paris. Smith won gold in the 100m breaststroke and finished with silver in the 200m.
Those results made her one of the most successful swimmers in South African Olympic history.
Now, she wants to create a different story in the shorter event.
“For the first time, I am choosing swimming and I am choosing the event and I am choosing a new event, that has no history but to try and write some new history. LA 2028 is the goal. It is not a promise. I still have to build a race, qualify and earn my place back on those blocks”, she said in a video.
The swimmer summed up her feelings about returning to the sport by saying she was “missing the water”, while describing the comeback as something that “feels a little crazy, a little scary and very exciting all at once”.
Smith’s comeback will therefore involve several steps before she can think about competing in Los Angeles. She needs to rebuild her competitive form and establish herself in the 50m breaststroke.
Her return is expected to begin with the South African Short-Course Championships. She is also looking towards selection meets as she works towards a potential Olympic qualification campaign.
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