Tatjana Smith won GOLD in the women’s 100m breaststroke and Alan Hatherly earned a BRONZE in the mountain biking cross country as Team SA finished the day moving to three medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Monday.
Team SA had started the week with one medal, courtesy of the bronze secured by the men’s rugby sevens, and Hatherly doubled that. Schoenmaker made it three with her GOLD. Pieter Coetze again broke the African record but finished fifth in the men’s 100m backstroke final.
This is how Team SA have fared on the day.
BADMINTON
Women’s Singles, Group H: Johanita Scoltz went down 2-0 (23-21, 21-11) to Jin Wei Goh (Malaysia) in a hard-fought match. Ultimately though, it was her second defeat in two group games so far.
CYCLING
Men’s MTB cross-country: BRONZE! Alan Hatherly finished third in 1hr 26min 33sec, with Britain’s Tom Pidcock taking gold in 1:26.22 and France’s Victor Koretzky securing silver in 1:26.31.
EQUESTRIAN
Individual event jumping qualifier: Alex Peternell finished 43rd with 77.80 penalty points on his horse Figaro Des Primeces at the Chateau de Versailles. He didn’t qualify for the final.
HOCKEY
Women’s Pool B: Team SA 2 Argentina 4
RUGBY SEVENS
Women’s Pool B: Team SA 17 Great Britain 26. This was the third defeat of the competition for Team SA, who went down to Australia and Ireland on Sunday.
Women’s 9th-12th place playoff: Team SA 12 Japan 15
SKATEBOARDING
Men’s street prelims: Brandon Valjalo placed 12th in qualifying with a total of 197.17 points. He narrowly missed out on a place in the final, with the top eight going through.
SURFING
Men’s round 2: Jordy Smith won his heat against Rio Waida (Indonesia) to progress to the third round. He scored a total of 9.50 points (best first and second wave scores of 9.50 and 4.00), with his opponent totalling 5.40.
Matthew McGillivray lost his heat against Kauli Vaast (France). McGillivray had a best first wave of 7.17, followed by a best second wave of 3.50 for a total of 10.67 points. Vaast totalled 14.03 points.
Men’s round 3: Smith is OUT after losing to Alonso Per Correa (Peru). His best wave scores of 6.30 and 5.90 for a total of 12.20 weren’t enough for an opponent who was all class in scoring 15.00 points
SWIMMING
Men’s 100m backstroke, final: Pieter Coetze finished fifth in an African record 52.58sec. It was his second African record in the event. Gold was won by Italy’s Thomas Ceccon in 52.00.
Women’s 100m breaststroke, final: GOLD! Tatjana Smith won in a time of 1:05,28 to see off the challenge of China’s Qianting Tang (1:05.54) and Ireland’s Mona McSharry (1:05.59)
Compiled by GARY LEMKE in Paris
Photo of Pieter Coetze by ANTON GEYSER/Team SA