SA's Olympic breaststroke star Tatjana Smith retires

PARIS -  SA's most decorated Olympian Tatjana Smith has announced her retirement from swimming at the Paris Olympics.

Smith's announcement comes after winning the silver medal for the 200m breaststroke.

#TeamSA🇿🇦 | Tatjana Smith bags a silver 🥈 in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke #Paris2024 #Olympics2024. Congratulations 🎊 👏 

#ForMyCountry🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/VCeFnT9aEG

— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) August 1, 2024

Smith won the gold medal for the 100m breaststroke on Tuesday.

She retires with two Olympic gold and two silver medals. 

"I think it's really just now embracing life and seeing what's outside of swimming, what my passions are outside of swimming," she said.

"I think when I was swimming I was really focusing on swimming because to stay motivated you need to be passionate about your sport, and I never really shifted my mind."

Tatjana Smith is the greatest Olympian this country ever had. We have already beaten our Tokyo medal count and expecting lots more 👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾 pic.twitter.com/pZ8DMU3pgR

— Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) August 1, 2024

Additional reporting - AFP