Schoenmaker Breaks Another Olympic Record on Day 5

Tatjana Schoenmaker did it again today (Wed 28 July)  – winning her 200m breaststroke heat in 2:19.15, a new Olympic record, at the Tokyo Olympics.

A few days ago Schoenmaker unexpectedly broke an Olympic record in her heat for the 100m breaststroke… and went on to win SA’s first Silver medal in the final.

In Wednesday’s heat, the South African swimmer’s time was only 0.05sec off the world record!

UPDATE Thursday: Both Tatjana Schoenmaker and Kaylene Corbett won their Breaststroke 200m semi-final races, in 2:19.33 and 2:22.08, respectively. They are 1st and 4th fastest heading into Friday’s final!

Other highlights from Day 5 for Team South African include:

CYCLING
Women’s Individual Time Trial: Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio finished eighth after finishing the 22.1km route in 32min 37.60sec. She had been in the leader’s ‘box seat’ after 16 of the 25 riders had finished, but the powerhouse top seeds came through with times to knock her down the sheets. Gold went to Annemiek Van Vleuten of the Netherlands, with Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) taking silver and Ann Van Der Breggen (Netherlands) the bronze. “I’m content and proud. I gave it my best shot and executed the best time time I’ve ever executed. I left everything out there. The course favoured the bigger girls, but it is what it is. Thank you so much for the support,” Moolman-Pasio said.

Men’s Individual Time Trial: Stefan De Bod finished 14th over the 44.2km course in 57:57. The gold medal went to Slovakia’s Primoz Roglic in 55:04, with silver to the Netherlands’ Tom Dumoulin. The bronze medal was wrapped up by Australian Rohan Dennis. De Bod finished 3:52 behind Roglic and 1:49 off the bronze medal.

HOCKEY
Women’s Pool A: Netherlands 5 South Africa 0. Having suffered defeats by Ireland (2-0) and Great Britain (4-1), the South Africans were up against it here against the Dutch. Although Netherlands had six penalty corners in the first quarter they couldn’t score, but broke through in the 16th minute. South Africa were under siege and conceded further goals in the 35th and 42nd minutes. It was now one-way traffic and further goals in the 52nd and 55th minutes added the gloss. The Netherlands had 28 shots at goal to South Africa’s one.

RUGBY SEVENS
Men’s Placing, 5th-8th: South Africa 22 Australia 19. South Africa had been on the wrong end of an upset when they lost to six-man Argentina in the quarter-finals which put them out of medal contention. Here, on the final day of the competition, they were playing for pride. First-half tries by Siviwe Soyizwape and Ronald Brown (2) put them 17-0 up at the break. However, Australia struck back to reduce the deficit to 17-12 before JC Pretorius crossed to stretch the gap to 22-12. A converted try to Australia with a minute left closed the gap to 22-19, but SA held on for the win.

Men’s Playoff, 5th and 6th: South Africa 28 USA 7. Tries by Justin Geduld, Sakoyisa Makata, Kurt-Lee Brown and Stedman Gans helped Team SA to a 28-7 win over the USA in their playoff for 5th and 6th. South Africa led 14-7 at the break when Makata scored a try, converted by Ronald Brown after the hooter. Brown crossed the line with 77 seconds remaining and Branco du Preez converted to stretch SA out to 21-7. Gans then added the gloss after the final hooter, with Du Preez converting again.

SAILING
Men’s Skiff (49er), race 2: Benji Daniel and Alex Burger placed 16th, with Spain’s Diego Botin le Chever and Lago Lopez Marra leading the way.
Men’s Skiff (49er), race 3: Benji Daniel and Alex Burger placed 18th, with Australia’s Will Phillips and Sam Phillips winning
Men’s Skiff (49er), race 4: Benji Daniel and Alex Burger placed 17th, with Great Britain’s Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell winning
Men’s One-Person Dinghy (Heavyweight) Finn, race 4: Leo Davis placed 18th

SWIMMING
Men’s 200m Butterfly final: Chad Le Clos, the 2012 Olympic champion, had qualified third fastest for the final and went off in lane three. Hungary’s 21-year-old Kristof Milak had looked dominant in getting this far and duly won gold in an Olympic record 1:51.25. Le Clos had reacted quickly off the blocks and yet it was Milak who led him at the 50m mark. Le Clos rallied and led at halfway in 53.32. That’s when Milak started to assert his authority and at the 150m turn the South African was third, before he was outgunned for the bronze medal in the last 25m. Le Clos finished fifth in 1:54.93. It was his fastest swim of the week.

Women’s 100m freestyle, Heats: Erin Gallagher finished second in her heat in 54.75sec. This was slightly slower than her entry time. The fastest 16 overall qualifiers from the heats progressed to the semi-finals. Gallagher placed 25th overall and failed to reach the semis

Men’s 200m backstroke, Heats: Martin Binedell finished second finished 2nd in his heat in 1:58.47. That placed him 21st overall and he failed to qualify for the (fastest 16) semi-finals

Women’s 200m breaststroke, Heats: Tatjana Schoenmaker won her heat in 2:19.15, a new Olympic record. She is only 0.05sec off the world record. Kaylene Corbett won her heat in 2:22.48 to qualify fourth fastest and reach the semi-finals.

Men’s 200m IM, Heats: Birthday boy Matthew Sates, who turned 18 today, finished fifth in his heat in 1:58.08 and qualified for the semi-finals in 15th position. Well done young man.

Women’s 4 x 200m freestyle, Heats: An African record 8:01.56 Aimee Canny, Rebecca Meder, Dune Coetzee and Erin Gallagher in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay. They placed 6th in their race but failed to qualify for the final

WATERPOLO
Women’s Preliminary Round, Group A: Canada 21 South Africa 1: Scores at the end of the quarters were: 5-1, 9-1, 13-1, 21-1 Tough day at the office

Compiled by Gary Lemke, TeamSA

How to watch the Olympics if you’re in South Africa

You can watch all the key moments from the Olympics online at www.showmax.com or on your phone using the Showmax app, plus score an additional free month when you sign up for Showmax Pro before 31 August. (To claim your free month, go to www.showmax.com to subscribe or upgrade. That’s it, you’re all set!)