Tatjana Schoenmaker Discusses Olympic Title and World Record On Inside With Brett Hawke Podcast
One of the top feel-good stories from last summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo was the gold-medal performance by South African Tatjana Schoenmaker in the 200-meter breaststroke. En route to the gold medal, the 24-year-old Schoenmaker established a world record and became the first woman in history to crack the 2:19 barrier.
Schoenmaker recently joined the Inside with Brett Hawke Podcast, which celebrated the 200th episode of its highly successful run, to discuss her breakthrough. In addition to revisiting her title-winning effort, Schoenmaker talked about the influence of another South African breaststroke star, Penny Heyns, and how her initial goal for Tokyo was to simply qualify for a final.
During the interview, Hawke spoke with Schoenmaker about the changes in her life after becoming an Olympic champion, along with her other medal-winning performance. Prior to capturing top honors in the 200 breaststroke, Schoenmaker was the silver medalist in the 100 breaststroke, an event that was won by American teenager Lydia Jacoby.
Other topics that were covered were Matthew Sates, the teenager who has been pegged as South Africa’s next male star, and the road to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Here is the full interview.