Coach Predicts Schoenmaker is capable of swimming faster
Coach predicts that Schoenmaker is capable of swimming faster
The coach of Pretoria’s Olympic swimming champion believes that South Africa and the world have not yet seen the best of Tatjana Schoenmaker.
Rocco Meiring, head coach at TuksSwimming, said it was important for Tatjana Schoenmaker to do what she did as young swimmers need to realize that it is possible to become an Olympic champion while training in South Africa.
South Africa’s Olympic champion and world record holder, Tatjana Schoenmaker, can swim faster in the 200m-breaststroke.
Rocco Meiring is the man who is making the prediction, and he should know as he is her coach.
The Tuks-based swimmer amazed everyone when she won the 200m-breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2:18.95. She is the first-ever female swimmer to dip under 2:19.00. Schoenmaker has also swum the third and fourth fastest times ever during the Games.
Schoenmaker won a silver medal in the 100m-breaststroke. During the heats, she swam 1:04.82. It is one of the ten fastest times on FINA’s all-time rankings.
Meiring said such statistics will always make for interesting reading, but he believes races are being won or lost in the pool. That is why he is fond of the saying, “yesterday’s home runs don’t win tomorrow’s matches”.
“I will always try to find ways for her to be faster. I don’t have a choice. High-performance sport in the world is a moving target. The level of competition is going to continue to improve. That is why we need to be faster at the Paris Olympic Games,” said Meiring in an interview shortly after he returned to South Africa.
As a coach, Meiring drew inspiration from Kenyan athletes. So, he makes sure that he keeps abreast of what they do.
“There is a lot of power in the simplicity of hard work and self-belief. And being positive instead of thinking about what you don’t have,” he remarked.
Before the Games, Meiring played down Schoenmaker’s chances to medal, but now he admits he was not surprised by the times she swam.
“I expected her to be fast. So, we did a lot of race simulation work. It meant she swam the same programs she did before the national trials in April. It allowed us to compare her times from April to just before the Olympics. She was faster, but not me, or she spoke about it. We knew it was about whether on the day she could put it all together, and she did,” Meiring explained.
TuksSport’s swimming head coach praised Schoenmaker for her perseverance in the build-up to the Olympic Games.
“I have coached for 33 years. I don’t think I have ever put anybody through ‘hell’ as I did with Tatjana. The past five years have been absolute hell for her. I have witnessed that. There were many days I felt terrible for what I’d be doing to her. But swimming is a demanding sport,” he said.
Meiring said it was important for Schoenmaker to do what she did as young swimmers need to realize that it is possible to become an Olympic champion training in South Africa.
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