TATJANA SCHOENMAKER

Nationality: RSA

Place of birth: Johannesburg 

DOB: 9 July 1997

Coach: Rocco Meiring

LONG COURSE
50m breaststroke: 30.82 (African record)
100m breaststroke: 1:06.41 (African record)
200m breaststroke: 2:22.02 (African record)

SHORT COURSE
50m breaststroke: 30.39 (SA record)
100m breaststroke: 1:05.12 (African record)
200m breaststroke: 2:18.93

African and South African records (long course)
50 m: 30.82 sec, Gold Coast, Apr'18
100 m: 1:06.41 sec, Gold Coast, Apr'18
200 m: 2:22.02 sec, Gold Coast, Apr'18

African and South African record (short course)
4 x 50 m Medley Relay: 1:52.16 sec, Doha, Dec'14

2015 African Games, Brazzaville:
1st, 50m breaststroke (32.49);
1st, 100m breaststroke (1:09.47);
1st, 200m breaststroke (2:28.84);
1st, 4x100m medley relay (4:12.36)

2017 World Student Games:
Taipei - 2nd, 200m breaststroke (2:24.61)

2018 Commonwealth Games:
Gold Coast - 1st, 100m breaststroke (1:06.41);
1st, 200m breaststroke (2:22.02)

Having made steady progress in recent years, Tatjana Schoenmaker has transformed herself into South Africa's top women's swimmer.

After raking in multiple medals as a teenager at the 2015 African Games, she went on to reach the podium again at the 2017 World Student Games.

Reaffirming her talent in the 2018 season, at the age of 20, the breaststroke specialist became the first SA woman in eight years to earn a medal in the pool at the Commonwealth Games by securing the 100m and 200m titles at the 2018 spectacle on Australia's Gold Coast. She also narrowly missed out on the bronze medal in the 50m breaststroke final, breaking the African records over all three distances.

Displaying further potential in the 25-metre pool, Schoenmaker went on to shine again later in the 2018 campaign, breaking the long-standing national 50m and 100m breaststroke records at the SA Short-Course Championships in Durban.

Having already been compared to former Olympic champion Penny Heyns, after removing all her esteemed compatriot's marks from the record books, Schoenmaker is developing into one of the country's biggest stars in the pool as she continues her rapid rise at global level.