Swimming: Schoenmaker win could motivate young South African female swimmers

PRETORIA: South African Tatjana Schoenmaker's record-breaking gold medal in the 200m breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympics could motivate more young female swimmers in the country not to give up on their career, a coach at Schoenmaker's university said.

Schoenmaker came out top in a duel with American Lilly King on Friday, clocking 2:18.95 to smash a world record that had lasted eight years and deliver the first gold medal for South African women in the pool in a quarter of a century..At the University of Pretoria where Schoenmaker is studying, junior swimming coach Linda de Jager said most girls in South Africa tend to cut short their swimming career soon after high school.

"I think especially for the girls, they are now more motivated because you know girls stop soon, most of them stop when they're done with matric ," de Jager told Reuters. "Here it's Tatjana's first Olympics at the age of 24 and she won a gold medal, and she broke the record, so it can be done."Advertisement"I think it was surreal, just watching that race and watching her touch and actually seeing that world record pop up on the TV, that was amazing, that was such an amazing feeling," he said after a few laps in the pool.

Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Swimming: Schoenmaker takes gold for South Africa with world record at OlympicsTatjana Schoenmaker won the women's 200m breaststroke on Friday (Jul 30) in a world record time of 2:18.95 to deliver South Africa's first gold ...
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

Netizens Think Chinese Olympic Swimming Champ Zhang Yufei Looks Like South Korean Actress Bae Suzy
Source: TODAYonline - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »

South Korea experts call for more COVID-19 curbs as young, unvaccinated people fuel surgeSouth Korean health experts called on Thursday for tougher social distancing rules including a midnight curfew as the number of severe COVID-19 ...
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

Olympics: South Korean archer's short hair draws anti-feminist sentiment at home
Source: TODAYonline - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »

Olympics-Archery-South Korea's An wins her third gold at TokyoSouth Korea's An San won the gold medal on Friday in the women's individual event, becoming the first archer to win three golds at a single Games.
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

Support for South Korean Olympian after sexist abuse onlineA South Korean archer who has bagged two Olympic gold medals in Tokyo was flooded with messages of support from women Thursday after her short hair became a lightning rod for online abuse from men.
Source: YahooSG - 🏆 3. / 71 Read more »