SA breaks World Record at Tokyo Olympics!

In the early hours of Friday morning, Tatjana Schoenmaker, a 24-year old from Pretoria, a town in South Africa faced all the pressure on her shoulders in the 200m breaststroke at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, not only did she place first, claiming the gold medal, but she also set a new world record.

"It's indescribable," she said, clutching her medal. 
"It really hasn't sunk in yet. The whole process went really quick. It'll probably kick in when I get home."

The 24-year-old South African broke Denmark's Rikke Moller Pedersen world record set in Barcelona in 2013.

Previous record held by Rikke Moller Pedersen:  2:19.11
New record held by Tatjana Schoenmaker: 2:18.95

Her world-record time of 2:18.95 left her comfortably ahead of Americans Lilly King and Annie Lazor, who took silver and bronze. Schoenmaker was 0.97 seconds ahead of King. Team SA teammate Kaylene Corbett finished fifth in the final. Tatjana added this gold prize to the silver she already collected in the 100m event at these Games.

Photo Credits: 
EPA-EFE/How Hwee Young
EPA-EFE/Patrick B Kraemer
Reuters / Sourced