Tatjana Smith, a swimming gold medalist at the last two Olympics for South Africa, will now represent her father’s birth nation of the Netherlands, saying it offers “greater high-performance support and the potential to build a more sustainable career.”
Smith, who holds South African and Dutch citizenship, already had her sport nationality change confirmed by World Aquatics, according to a press release from Smith’s team.
For the Olympics, athletes must typically wait three years since their last time representing one nation before being able to represent their new one at the Games. Smith’s last time representing South Africa was at the Paris 2024 Olympics, after which she retired for two years.
Smith will rep the Netherlands at the World Short Course Championships from Dec. 1-6 in Beijing.
“When I was a little girl, my biggest dream was to represent my country at the Olympic Games,” Smith said in a tearful video titled, “To my beloved South Africa.” “I wanted to wear the South African flag and make my country proud and show what was possible. I got to live that dream, and it gave me more than I could have ever imagined. Four Olympic medals later, I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to swim for South Africa, for the people who supported me and for every moment I was privileged enough to wear the green and gold.
“But dreams can change as you grow. When I decided to return to swimming, it wasn’t because I had something left to prove. It was because I had fallen in love with the sport again. I wanted to compete, push my limits and discover what more I was capable of. And for the next chapter, my dream looks different.”
Smith, the 200m breaststroke gold medalist in Tokyo (as Tatjana Schoenmaker) and 100m breast gold medalist in Paris, ended a two-year retirement in September, returning at South Africa’s trials for short course worlds.
She will continue to train in South Africa.
“I know that not everyone will understand or agree with my decision,” Smith said. “I could spend hours trying to explain it, justify it or convince everyone why I made this choice, but at the end of the day, this is a decision I’ve had to make for myself and my future.
“I know it may disappoint or even break the hearts of people that who have supported me and been part of my journey, and that’s not something I take lightly. I know it won’t be easy, and I’ll have to accept that not everyone will see it the way I do. But that beyond this decision itself, you’ll see the heart behind it, the love I still have for South Africa and the reason that brought me to this point. I will always be incredibly proud to be South African.”
