Tokyo (AFP)
South African Tatjana Schoenmaker won gold in the 200m breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday, breaking the world record, pushed by Americans Lilly King, in silver, and Annie Lazor, in bronze.
At 24 and after winning silver in the 100m breaststroke on Tuesday, the swimmer from Johannesburg won in 2 min 18 sec 95, breaking the world record set by Danish Rikke Moller Pedersen in 2013 (2: 19.11) and styling Lilly King in the final meters (2: 19.92), far ahead of Annie Lazor (2: 20.84).
In a private room open to the public but no atmosphere, as the delegations compete for cheers, the vice-world champion made the noisy South African team exult after a stifling race.
Starting very quickly and rather specialist in the 100 m breaststroke, the double Olympic champion Lilly King was still leading halfway through the race, ahead of the world record, before being caught at 150 m and then doubled in the last length.
At the top of the annual reviews and favorite in the absence of the Russian world champion Yuliya Efimova, who had focused on the 100m breaststroke (5th), Schoenmaker had shone in the series as in the semi-finals.
Annie Lazor, who at 26 years old became the oldest American swimmer to access her first Games, won bronze a few months after the brutal death of her father, a victim of Covid-19.
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