Swimming SA admits prize-money mistake after Tatjana Smith’s Dutch switch

Swimming South Africa has admitted it was wrong to withhold Tatjana Smith’s prize money from the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, as the double Olympic champion prepares to resume her international career with the Netherlands.

Speaking to 702’s Bongani Bingwa on Thursday, 12 November, Swimming SA’s Zikie Molusi said Smith should have been paid while the federation dealt separately with a sponsorship dispute. His concession came two days after the Dutch federation announced her switch, renewing questions about the support South Africa gives its leading swimmers.

Also read: Banyana Banyana’s World Cup play-off squad and Sundowns Ladies’ run to the CAF final.

Swimming SA accepts Smith should have been paid

Molusi told Bingwa the disagreement arose from a clash between Smith’s personal sponsorship and the federation’s kit agreement. Asked about the decision to hold back her winnings, he acknowledged that it should never have happened.

“Yes, it shouldn’t have happened,” he said, in comments reported by Eyewitness News.

He said athlete contracts had since been revised to prevent a repeat. The federation should have paid Smith promptly, he accepted, and dealt with the sponsorship disagreement separately.

Smith won that money in Fukuoka, Japan, where she claimed 200m breaststroke gold and 100m silver in July 2023. Competing under her maiden name, Schoenmaker, she became the first South African woman to win a world title at the championships.

Her 200m victory came in 2:20.80, with American Kate Douglass second and Dutch swimmer Tes Schouten third. Swimming SA celebrated the performance at the time as a breakthrough for the country’s women swimmers. Smith had already won a World Championships silver over the same distance in 2019.

A comeback in Dutch colours

Smith, 29, retired after the Paris Olympics in 2024. Her return this year has brought both another chance to race and a decision about where she believes she can best continue her career.

The Royal Dutch Swimming Federation, known as the KNZB, announced on 10 November that she would represent the Netherlands. Her mother is South African and her father is Dutch, from Naaldwijk. Her parents have lived in the Netherlands since 2021.

In the announcement, Smith said she had returned because she loved swimming and wanted to discover how much more she could achieve. She believes the Dutch move offers the best environment for that ambition, as well as a chance to explore her family roots through sport.

“I will always be proud to be South African,” she said in remarks published in Dutch and translated into English. Both countries, she added, had always been part of her identity.

Molusi described her choice as a considered decision and said Smith herself was best placed to explain it.

World Aquatics now lists Smith as a Netherlands swimmer. She is due to make her international debut for her new team at the World Short Course Championships in Beijing next month.

Neethling says swimmers need more than financial help

Ryk Neethling, a member of South Africa’s gold-medal relay team in Athens in 2004, told Bingwa the problems had persisted for years.

Swimmers needed help with entries, travel and visas so they could concentrate on racing, he said. Instead, disputes and uncertainty added to the pressure of preparing for major competitions.

“This is not rocket science just to do the basics right,” Neethling said.

He recalled difficulties around Athens, while acknowledging that Swimming SA had provided better support for a period afterwards.

Swimming SA seeks help with Beijing costs

Molusi also faced questions about the costs confronting South African swimmers selected for Beijing. He said the federation was short of funding and needed more support from business.

He estimated that about half of the 21 swimmers travelling would receive full subsidies, with the remainder getting partial assistance. He said some athletes were supported through SASCOC’s Operation Excellence programme and that further help was being sought from companies and private donors.

McKenzie wishes Smith well and points to federation reforms

Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie backed Smith’s right to decide her own future in a statement issued on 10 November. He said she had told him of her decision before announcing it publicly.

The department acknowledged concerns raised by swimmers and said Swimming SA was undergoing a reform process that included World Aquatics oversight. It would continue monitoring that process.

It also defended the separation between government and national federations, which have their own boards and answer to international governing bodies. Federations must account for public funding, the department said, but government does not run their operations or meet all their costs.

The department said Smith had twice been honoured at the South African Sport Awards, including with prize money. McKenzie thanked her for what she had achieved for the country and wished her success with the Netherlands.

“Nothing can erase what Tatjana has achieved for South Africa,” he said.

Four Olympic medals and another chance to race

Smith’s South African record includes gold in the 200m breaststroke at Tokyo in 2021, when she set a world record of 2:18.95, and silver over 100m. Three years later in Paris, she won the shorter race and finished second to Douglass in the 200m.

That Paris silver took her to four Olympic medals, matching Chad le Clos’s total. Her two golds made her South Africa’s most decorated Olympian. Douglass beat her by 0.36 seconds in the Paris 200m final, reversing their placings from the World Championships in Fukuoka a year earlier.

Her return began at the South African short-course championships in Pietermaritzburg in September, where she won the 50m breaststroke in 29.50 seconds. In Rotterdam the following month, she won the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke at the Dutch Qualifiers.

Those results have brought her back to international competition after two years away. The Beijing championships run from 1 to 6 December, giving Smith her first opportunity to race for the Netherlands on the world stage.

The Betting Read

There is no verified South African market to recommend on this announcement. In Beijing, Smith’s recent short-course times, her opponents and the available odds will determine whether there’s a worthwhile bet. Our sports betting guide explains decimal odds and how potential returns are calculated.

Smith has chosen where she wants to swim next. Swimming SA’s task is to deliver the changes it says it has made, while the athletes still representing South Africa prepare for their own races in Beijing.

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