Africa’s only other medal so far has come from Egyptian fencer Mohamed El Sayed, who secured the bronze in the men&#8217;s epee individual event.



Swimmer Tatjana Smith has claimed Africa’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games after a thrilling late surge in the women’s 100-meters breaststroke final took her to victory in a time of 1:05.28.



Smith, who won a silver medal in the event three years ago in Tokyo when she swam under the surname Schoenmaker, looked to be out of contention going into the final 20 meters, but edged China’s Tang Qianting (1:05.54) and Mona McSharry (1:05.59) from Ireland to the line.



An emotional Smith admitted it had been a difficult time since Tokyo, where she also won the gold medal in the 200-meters breaststroke, as she battled with her new-found fame and had considered giving up the sport.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2164264749.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-62587" style="width:580px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2164264749.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2164264749-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2164264749-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Smith celebrates after winning gold in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke Final (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


“It was a really tough three years. Just to be back here, swim and have fun, that is a blessing. To enjoy every moment has been special,” Smith told reporters.



“With all of these athletes, they work so hard and eat right, but it comes down to the mental side. Tokyo was such a blessing, the achievements, but it added a lot of expectation and pressure on me.



“I don’t want to swim to become famous, I swim because I love it so much. I had to deal with a lot of those things, everyone wanting a piece of you. That was hard, because I am a very introverted person. But it challenged my character and I have grown out of it.”



Smith will be looking to defend her title in the 200-meters breaststroke that gets underway on Wednesday and concludes on Thursday night.



Paris is becoming a special city for Smith and her family. Her change in surname came about when she married Joel Smith, the brother-in-law of Springbok captain Siya Kolisi.



The latter lifted the Rugby World Cup in Paris last year and now lives in the city, where he plays his club rugby for Racing 92.



The medal is South Africa’s third at the Games after the Rugby Sevens team won the bronze and Alan Hatherly did likewise in the men’s cross-country mountain bike race.



Africa’s only other medal so far has come from Egyptian fencer Mohamed El Sayed, who secured the bronze in the men&#8217;s epee individual event.

Swimming – Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 3

‘Don’t Want To Swim To Become Famous’: Tatjana Smith Wins Africa’s First Gold In Paris Olympics

In quiet Centurion, near Pretoria, you will find South Africa’s leading rowing boat maker, John Waugh. He lives around the corner from what he calls his office. This is where he and a handful of craftsmen make boats used by everyone from club rowers to Olympic champions.
The workshop stands on a large piece of land. It’s a white house where every room, including the upstairs, has at least one boat in it. The walls and floors are covered with dust, paint, tools and plastic. The raw materials used to make the boats are scattered throughout the house.
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Waugh has been building boats here for 34 years.
“I decided to build boats, working at night, as a hobby, just for myself. I started in my garage… 500 hours later I came out with a boat,” says Waugh.
Cape Town-born Waugh took interest in rowing at 20, when he was studying in the then Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. He graduated in Botany and Zoology and had an MSc in Marine Biology. He moved to Durban, on South Africa’s south coast in KwaZulu-Natal, with his family to work as a scientist. This is where he began fixing boats as hobby. He became a passionate artisan, who eventually quit his job and moved his family to Johannesburg to start his boat-making business.
“It was a total obsession once I started,” says Waugh.
However, it was not easy to find money to get the business running.
“It was quite difficult [getting funding]. I tell my staff that I started with R500 ($56), which is true. Today… materials could cost you R120,000 ($13,500) could be R105,000 ($12,000). It’s quite a lot of money.” says Waugh.
Rowing is not a cheap sport and those who can afford it are a small, privileged group of South Africans. Waugh’s customers are largely South African private schools and universities. These schools can afford to spend anything between R185,000 ($21,000) and R245,000 ($26,000) on a single boat, according to Waugh.
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The third boat he made was for rower, Colin Graham, who was a member of South Africa’s national rowing team. The very same team, which won the South African championship in 1980 in Waugh’s boat. And then the orders began to flood in.
Italian boat maker Filippi, the most recognized international boat-maker donated a four skull boat worth close to $18,000 to the South African rowers after they won gold at the London 2012 Olympics. His four skull boats cost anything between $17,000 and $21,000.
Yet the industry is not as steady as one of its finest boats.
“We had one winter where we only had one order for the whole month… One telephone call could bring in R250,000 ($28,000),” says Waugh.
International brands are fierce competition for Waugh as some South African clubs import. Waugh has taught a handful of employees how to build these boats in hopes of keeping the industry afloat. Lucas Muruku, who has been working for Waugh for 20 years, says that it takes five to six years to master boat making. Lucas was working as a gardener, when Waugh asked him to join him in his workshop. He has been with Waugh ever since. But Muruku’s job came under threat when Waugh and his wife were violently attacked in their home and left seriously injured.
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“… He was seriously ill, following a violent break-in at his house… He was in hospital for three weeks. We weren’t even sure that he would come back… They nearly killed him,” says Muruku.
After thirty four years of having his hobby as his job, his family thinks it’s time that he retires. For him, it’s not that easy.
“It’s more than just a job, it’s a labor of love,” he says.
Perhaps we’ll see the fruits of his labor gliding on the water for many years to come.

Tag: Olympic champions

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

‘Don’t Want To Swim To Become Famous’: Tatjana Smith Wins Africa’s First Gold In Paris Olympics

The Boat Master