South Africa swimmer hopes her Tokyo medal will heal violence-hit country

SPORT often heals scars left in society and South African swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker’s feat at the ongoing Olympics in Tokyo has been no exception.

The 24-year-old, who won a silver in the 100-metres women’s butterfly event in her very first Olympic finals, hopes her prize could bring some joy back to her country which saw days of violence recently, resulting in deaths of hundreds.

Schoenmaker’s feat is the first by a woman swimmer from the southern African nation in 21 years. South Africa have won two silvers at Tokyo so far and are ranked 41st.

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“I really hope this brings a little bit of hope for South Africa and we are obviously going through a tough time at the moment so that shows us there’s hope in South Africa,” she was quoted as saying by BBC.

Devastating riots broke out in parts of South Africa on July 8 following the arrest of the country’s former president Jacob Zuma. Not only were lives lost but also the economy was affected in the challenging times of the coronavirus pandemic.

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“Obviously, we know sport unites countries we have seen it with the rugby world cup so hopefully the Olympics does the same,” Schoenmaker said.

In 1995, the Rugby World Cup home win healed divisions as the country came out of a punishing apartheid era. Former president Nelson Mandela had come up with his famous quote then, saying sport could change the world.

The country’s third Rugby World Cup title in 2019 was also seen to transcend sports since it came under Siya Kolisi, the country’s first black captain in the sport.