Smith secures silver to end career on a high; Coetzé breaks 15-year-old African record
Heading in as the defending champion after claiming 200m gold in Tokyo three years ago, Smith came up against an inspired Kate Douglass of the USA, who took the win in an Americas record time of 2:19.24 with Smith coming in second in 2:19.60.
The 27-year-old was thrilled with the silver and said afterwards: “It was incredible. That’s what sport is about – it’s that battle. Obviously everybody wants to touch the wall first but I’m just as happy to get the silver medal because I love that competitiveness.
“It’s amazing to now celebrate the new champion. She has so much more to come. She wasn’t in Tokyo so I never got to race an Olympic final with her so I think that was just exciting on its own and to end off my career with a big fight was so worth it.
“I’m so grateful that I still get to walk away with a medal. I’m walking away from the Olympics with two medals, I’m a double Olympian so I can’t complain,” added Smith, who confirmed she is now retiring from swimming.
“I'm officially done. It's a relief, but I definitely know I'm probably, tomorrow, going to miss it already. It's been a big part of my life, it's 22 years that I've been swimming and it's been a big part of my family's life and everything.”
Kaylene Corbett finished in seventh place in the same 200m breaststroke final in a time of 2:24.46 and has already set her sights on the LA Olympics in 2028.
“There’s a lot to improve on from that race. Sometimes sport just is sport and you don't get everything right in a race, so I’m definitely a little bit disappointed in that race, but at the same time you can't be disappointed because this is where God placed you tonight and I know there's a blessing waiting for me at the end.
“I definitely saw Tatjana battle it out with Kate, but you know that Tatiana doesn't give up and she's always fighting.
“I think the two of us had some serious challenges coming off of Tokyo into 2024. We had different challenges, but I can definitely speak for myself in this regard that I’m a much stronger person in comparison to 2021 in Tokyo.
“I think that this time around I just feel very proud of myself in what I've achieved and being able to come to another Olympic Games. I mean, if I had to tell eight-year-old Kaylene that she's a double Olympian and she made two finals and she’s top eight in the world, that's incredible, so I'm very happy.”
Also in action on Thursday night was Pieter Coetzé who finished seventh in the 200m backstroke final. While disappointed not to be among the medals, the 20-year-old did find some consolation in breaking the South African and African record that has been held by George du Rand since the 2009 World Championships in Rome. Coetzé finished in 1:55.60 to take .25 of a second off the 15-year-old mark in the race that was won by Hungary’s Hubert Kos in 1:54.26.
“I'm thankful for how it played out and to go PB is always good, so I can’t be comparing myself to the other guys too much, but a medal would have been nice,” said Coetzé afterwards.
“I'm very happy with that, and the fact that I'm faster than I've ever been is a great thing. So I'm just really thankful that I got this experience. I can't be sad about not getting a medal because so many people like Ryan Murphy couldn't even make the final, so this game is tough and it can go either way in any race you swim,” added Coetzé.
Earlier in the day, Matthew Sates finished sixth in his 200m individual medley heat in a time of 2:04.01 and did not progress to the evening semifinal after placing 21st overall.
Sates will be back in action on Friday morning in the heats of the 100m butterfly along with four-time Olympic medallist Chad le Clos. Both Sates and Le Clos are scheduled to swim in heat 2 at 11.03am. Rebecca Meder will take to the blocks in heat 4 of the women’s 200m individual medley at 11.30am.
ENDS
Photo credits: Anton Geyser/TeamSA
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Mafata Modutoane
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