Five fun facts about Tatjana Smith

Professional swimmer Tatjana Smith has become a household name.

From breaking records to winning multiple Olympic medals, she is a legend in her own right.

ALSO READ: South Africa's Tatjana Smith 'blessed' after more Olympic glory

Get to know the swimmer with these five fun facts:

She is a married woman

One of the most obvious changes from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is her surname change. 

Since she graced the Olympic stage four years ago, Tatjana tied the knot with Joel Smith and took his last name. 

He is the brother of Rachel Kolisi - wife of World-Cup winning Springbok captain, Siya Kolisi. 

She almost gave up swimming

In 2016, a young Tatjana almost gave up swimming when her Olympic dream was shattered. 

At 19-years-old, she missed qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 200m breaststroke by 0.01 seconds. 

Luckily she stuck it out as she went on to claim multiple national and continental records, Commonwealth Games titles and three Olympic medals (so far). 

She is a Tuks graduate

While her natural born talents are in the pool, Tatjana is also an accomplished smarty pants.

She graduated from the University of Pretoria with a BCom in Financial Sciences in 2020.

She is inspired by legends

Tatjana shared that she is inspired by sporting heroes like Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt and South Africa’s very own Penny Heyns.

“They inspired me to want to go to that level. But I've never dreamt of being anyone else, I can only be myself and I've always wanted to create my own way in swimming.”

She trains almost everyday

It almost makes sense that an Olympic swimmer like Tatjana would be in the pool all the time.

So, what does her training entail?

Two training sessions of about two hours from Monday to Friday. 

Saturdays are a little easier with only one session, and Sundays are her rest days.