Tatjana Schoenmaker: age, education, images, Olympic record, profiles
Tatjana Schoenmaker is a South African female breaststroke swimmer. She has flown the South African flag high in several international competitions and has a number of gold medals under her belt. She is one of the best female swimmers in South Africa and has a bright future in athletics. Below is a detailed Tatjana Schoenmaker’s biography for more about her rise and personal life.
Source: Getty Images
For a long time, South African female swimmers were not doing well. The emergence of great athletes like Tatjana has helped restore public confidence in the country’s female swimming squad.
Profile summary
- Full name: Tatjana Schoenmaker
- Date of birth: 9th July 1997
- Tatjana Schoenmaker’s age: 24 years in 2021
- Place of birth: Johannesburg, South Africa
- Current residence: Pretoria, South Africa as of 2021
- Nationality: South African
- Height: 5 feet 10 inches
- Weight: 63 kg
- Languages spoken: English
- Religion: Christian
- Gender: Female
- Sexuality: Straight
- Relationship status: Dating
- Boyfriend: Ruan Ras
- Tatjana Schoenmaker’s school: Tuks Sport High School, University of Pretoria (BCom Financial science)
- Profession: Athlete
- Sport: Swimming
- Strokes: Breaststroke
- Tatjana Schoenmaker’s coach: Rocco Meiring as of 2021
- Club: Tuks Swimming Club in Pretoria South Africa
- Tatjana Schoenmaker’s Instagram: @tatjanaschoen
- Tatjana Schoenmaker’s Facebook: @Tatjana Schoenmaker
- Twitter: @TRSchoenmaker
- LinkedIn: @Tatjana Schoenmaker
How old is Tatjana Schoenmaker?
The professional athlete was born on 9th July 1997 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is 24 years old in 2021. She was brought up in Roodepoort before moving to Pretoria. Tatjana Schoenmaker’s parents have been supportive of her career from an early age.
Tatjana Schoenmaker's boyfriend
Source: Instagram
The swimmer is in a relationship with Ruan Ras, a professional South African male swimmer. It is not clear when the two started dating, but they often express their love for each other on social media.
Tatjana Schoenmaker's education
Source: Instagram
The athlete went to Tuks Sport High School, from where she graduated in 2015. She then joined the University of Pretoria to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Financial Science. She graduated in 2020 with her family in Pretoria during the Covid-19 lockdown and shared her joy on social media.
Swimming
Tatjana’s passion for swimming started when she was five years old. She revealed that she participated in the first competition at eight years old. However, she did not make swimming her main sport until towards the end of her high school education.
She started her swimming breakthrough as a youth swimmer. In 2014, a then 16-year-old Tatjana 11th grade student from Tuks Sport High school, won a gold medal for 50m Breaststroke at the 2nd Africa Youth Games held in Botswana. She has since won at various national and international swimming competitions.
One of her greatest achievements was qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. She is lucky to have a great coach, Rocco Meiring, who has been with her since 9th grade. He trains her and Kaylene Corbett at the Tuks Swimming Club in Pretoria.
Tatjana Schoenmaker’s images
Tatjana continues to cement her mark as the best swimmer in South Africa. Here are a few pictures of some of her greatest career moments since having an international breakthrough in 2018.
Tatjana Schoenmaker’s Olympic record
Source: Getty Images
Tatjana set the fastest Olympic swimming record at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics in the Women’s 200m and 100m breaststroke held at the Tokyo Aquatics center. She set a new world record when she touched the wall at 2:18.95 in the 200m breaststroke finals, thus breaking Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pederson’s record of 2:19.11 in 2013. She took home South Africa’s first gold medal at Tokyo 2020.
The South African swimmer showcased a spectacular performance in the Women’s 100m breaststroke and ended up setting a new Olympic record. She touched the wall at 1:04.82 in heat 5, thus beating American Lily King’s previous Olympic record of 1:04.93 in Rio 2016. She won silver in the finals behind USA’s Lydia Jacoby.
Commonwealth Games
Source: Getty Images
The professional athlete won two gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She emerged victorious in the Women’s 100m breaststroke and the 200m breaststroke. The competitions were held in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, and it was the first time she was winning at an international event.
Sportswoman of the Year
Source: Instagram
Since coming into the limelight as one of the best female swimmers in Mzansi, Tatjana has been recognized numerous times for her swimming prowess. SwimSwan named her the African Female Swimmer of the Year in 2019 and 2020. She also emerged as the Sportswoman of the Year and Sports Star of the Year at the 2019 South African Sport Award
World Championships 2019
Source: Getty Images
Tatjana finished second in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke at the 2019 World Swimming Championships and took home a silver medal. She finished at 2:22.52 behind Yulia Yefimova, who won at 2:20.17. The competitions were held in Gwangju, South Korea, and she made history as the first female South African swimmer to win a medal at the World Championships.
World Student Games
Source: Instagram
The professional athlete won gold for Women's 100m Breaststroke at the 2019 World Student Games. The competitions were held in Napoli, Italy.
Tatjana Schoenmaker has had a blossoming rise in South African swimming competitions. Her zeal for the game has kept her going and enabled her to break records that make every South African happy. Winning at international championships is a dream come true for her and the country at large.
READ ALSO: Summer Olympic sport lists for Tokyo 2021: All must-watch games
Briefly.co.za published a list of all the sports at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics. The competition, which takes place from 23rd July 2021 to 8th August 2021, will have a total of 33 sports, 50 Olympic categories, and 339 events.
The 2021 Summer Olympics in Japan will also have four new games, including surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding, and karate. Softball and baseball will return since their last appearance at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Source: Briefly News
