# Why Olympic champion initially gave up swimming before shockingly switching countries

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/why-olympic-champion-initially-gave-up-swimming-before-shockingly-switching-countries/
- Published: 2026-11-11T16:23:22+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-11T17:49:24+00:00
- Original publisher: New York Post (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://nypost.com/2026/11/11/sports/why-olympic-champion-initially-gave-up-swimming-before-shockingly-switching-countries/
- Topics: Africa, World

## Key points

- Tatjana Smith has resumed swimming after a two-year retirement.
- She plans to represent the Netherlands at December’s world championships.
- She is shifting focus to the 50-metre breaststroke for 2028.

## Summary

Tatjana Smith, South Africa’s most successful Olympian, has returned to swimming after retiring for two years following the 2024 Paris Games. She says she had lost her love for the sport and felt the break was the right decision, despite coming soon after she won Olympic gold.

Smith also plans to switch her sporting allegiance to the Netherlands, where her father was born and where her parents now live. Financial pressure and concerns about how South Africa’s swimming system treated athletes contributed to her retirement; she took speaking engagements to support herself before training for a triathlon rekindled her interest in swimming. She will keep training in South Africa and is due to compete for the Netherlands at the World Short Course Championships in Beijing in December, with the 2028 Los Angeles Games as a goal. She has four Olympic medals and is now adapting her training for the 50-metre breaststroke, reducing her sessions from eight a week to three.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.