South African swim coaches have heaped praise on Tatjana Schoenmaker, after the Pretoria swimmer won the country’s first medal of the 29th Summer Universiade in Taiwan on Thursday.
Schoenmaker set a new best time of 2min:24.61sec in the 200m-breaststroke to finish second.
Kanako Watanabe (Japan), a former 200m-breaststroke champion, won in 2:24.15, while Mariia Temnikova (Russia) was third in 2:24.73.
An elated Rocco Meiring (Tuks/HPC swimming coach) said if he was not mistaken it was only the second time that a female South African swimmer has won a medal at the Student Games. It seems the last female to medal at this Games was the legendary Penny Heyns.
‘Words cannot describe how happy I am for you, and how proud I am that you kept your composure to deliver the result under such intense pressure. You are truly a champ. I am sure you have inspired every female swimmer with your performance,’ said Meiring in a text message to Schoenmaker.
National coach Graham Hill (also two-time Olympian Chad le Clos’s former coach) weighed in too with a message of congratulations to the Tuks/HPC-swimmer.
‘I always believed that one day you would achieve something big. Female swimmers in South Africa will now start to believe.’
According to Meiring it’s only the second time that Schoenmaker has managed to swim under 2:25.00.
‘That was our only goal for the Games. The medal is an absolute bonus. It proves to me that we’re on track to get a good result at next year’s Commonwealth Games.’
Meiring was also full of praise for the way Cedric Finch (one of the national swim coaches) had assisted Schoenmaker to stay true to her goals in Taipei.
Schoenmaker will now take a break to focus on her studies before she starts her preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Picture of Schoenmaker courtesy of Reg Caldecott