![]() Schoenmaker has been swimming for 15 years now and continues to train hard, hoping to add to the list of South African swimming greats. She then took the decision to compete professionally. The 25-year-old initially started her swimming career with water safety and was quickly recognised for her talent. As soon as I really let everything go, I ended up swimming my personal best.” “You try and convince yourself that you are ready for a race and you can do it but earlier, there was still something inside me that didn’t believe what I was telling myself. “The biggest lesson I learnt last year was not to doubt myself, because doubt brings fear,” she said. She had previously won a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke at the same event two years earlier and has since touched new heights. “I kind of felt like that last time, even though a lot of other people didn't feel like that, so I am just kind of riding the wave I've been riding for the last five years.South African swimmer and Napoli 2019 double gold medalist Tatjana Schoenmaker is gearing up for an important year in her swimming career, as she prepares for the Tokyo Olympic Games later this year.Ģ019 was filled with incredible success for the swimmer, as Schoenmaker bagged double gold for South Africa in the 100m and 200m breaststroke at the World University Games held in Italy last July. Timetable was changed in Tokyo so morning finals could be televised live in primetime in the United States.Īsked about coming in as the favorite, King replied after the heats: The format might be working against King, who has conceded she is better at night than in morning swims. “But I’m just going to have to come in really extra-prepared tomorrow, just go fast in the morning and hope it turns out for the best.” “It’s going to a tight race, I’m not going to lie.,” King said. Schoenmaker was silver medalist in the 200 breaststroke at the 2019 World Championships but was not considered a contender in the 100. No woman has won successive golds in the 100 breaststroke at the Olympic Games. 10, 2016 at Windsor, Ontario – behind Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson - but that was in a 25-meter pool and not in Olympic-sized long course. King lost in the 100 breaststroke in the short course World Championships on Dec. ![]() King famously beat Efimova at Rio in a finger-wagging duel that revisited the Cold War rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union. ![]() Efimova clocked 1:06.17 to 1:06.43 for King, then an IU freshman. King had not been beaten in the 100 breaststroke since Russia’s Yulia Efimova did so in the winter national championships on Dec. “We always want the last race to be the best race.”Īlaska’s first Olympic swimmer, Lydia Jacoby, won the first semifinal in 1:05.72. “It was a close race, and I’ve still got a little bit left in the tank for tomorrow,” King said in an NBC interview afterward. The two swimmers were in adjacent lanes, Schoenmaker in 4 and King in 5. King, 24, an IU graduate from Evansville, was second in that semifinal in 1:05.40. That broke the record of 1:04.93 set by King in winning the gold medal at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Schoenmaker’s time was 1:05.07, compared with her Olympic record of 1:04.82 from Sunday night’s heats. More: Lilly King and other pro swimmers train in Indiana pond More: Hoosiers Zach Apple, Blake Pieroni help USA keep Olympic gold in 400 freestyle relay She's going massive best times, and most people aren't." She had zero disruptions in her training. That girl (Schoenmaker) is really, really good. "She's going to have to dig really, really deep. The final will be "the biggest challenge" of King's career, said Indiana University's Ray Looze, a U.S. assistant coach.
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