Tatjana Smith Demands Interest On Prize Money Held Back By Swimming SA
Olympic champion was told a day before racing what kit she must wear at 2023 World titles. She wore the sponsors name on her cap racing to gold and silver - yet SSA halted prize payment, imposed a big arbitrary fine, and then failed to pay interest due when making amends. The Timeline:
Lawyers representing Olympic champion Tatjana Smith issued Swimming South Africa with a letter of demand seeking payment of interest on prize money said to have been retained for more than a year on highly questionable grounds.
The timeline of events confirms that the letter was sent to SSA a day after the Aquatics Integrity Unit (AQIU) slapped provisional suspensions on SSA president Alan Fritz and CEO Shaun Adriaanse over alleged abuse of power and the provision of false information and fake documents:
Craig Lord
Investigations are ongoing, and it is not known whether the Integrity case is related to revelations about the Smith case in media coverage of a case that has all the hallmarks of a classic Athlete Fair Play & Welfare Vs Governance Failure story.
The Timeline
2023
- July 23, 2023: hours before the start of competition at the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships, South African swimmers are told that they must wear the arena team kit they have now been told is the official team equipment
- July 25, 2023: racing at her last international championship under her maiden name of Tatjana Schoenmaker (she takes her husband Joel's family name, Smith, when they marry in November that same year), the Olympic 200m champion claims silver in the 100 m breaststroke. She is using her tried and tested equipment, including a Speedo suit and goggles [professional swimmers tend not to switch to new and untested equipment within a day of the start of a major championship, the screamingly obvious reasons apparently not part of the playbook of SSA governors] - however, the only visible equipment above the water line and prominent in the vast majority of victory photos taken on the day displays the arena logo, on a cap that includes the obligatory branding of the World Aquatics sponsor/partner, probiotic outfit Yakult.
- July 28, 2023: the exact same conditions applying, Schoenmaker claims the World title in the 200m breaststroke to add to her Olympic gold of Tokyo2020ne. Those results mean that the swimmer has earned $35,000 in prize money from World Aquatics
- August 16, 2023: South African swimming tells Schoenmaker that the prize money is being withheld: according to her lawyers and documentation now subject to inquiry, they cite a euros 46,000 fine for wearing the "wrong kit". As far as this site is concerned, that figure appears to be entirely arbitrary: there is nothing in domestic or international rules that would set a fine for "wrong kit" at that level or any other.
2024
- May 31, 2024: Hurter Spies Attorneys sends SSA a first letter of demand. SSA fails to respond, and that is not the first time that such a lack of response has characterised the governance culture at SSA, even though the recommendations of the FINA Reform committee that were accepted and supposedly adopted by the rebranded organisation World Aquatics specifically cites the need for an immediate end to a 'non-communication' approach to communication in the sport.
- July 29, 2024: Smith claims gold in the 100m breaststroke at the Paris 2024 Olympics - and the coverage raises questions surrounding the Fukuoka 2023 prize money.
- August 1, 2024: when Smith claimed silver in the 200m breaststroke at the Paris 2024 Olympics, SSA provided proof that the previous prize money owed to the swimmer had been paid. No interest was paid, however, for the time it was held back on highly questionable grounds.
2026
- August 24, 2026: SSA leaders handed provisional suspensions by the Aquatics Integrity Unit.
- August 25, 2026: On instruction from Smith, Hurter Spies Attorneys send a demand to SSA for the outstanding unpaid interest accrued during the time SSA withheld the Fukuoka 2023 prize money
Tatjana Schoenmaker (later Smith) claims Tokyo 2020ne gold in the 200m breaststroke - Photo by Patrick B. Kraemer
The letter from Hurter Spies Attorneys, on behalf of the Smith, who claimed gold and silver medals in the 100m (G, 2024; S, 2020ne) snd 200m (G, 2020ne; S, 2024) and her husband Joel, alleges that SSA retained interest accrued on $35,000 (R560,000 at the current exchange rate and R650,000 at the time) of Fukuoka 2023 prize money won by the most successful female swimmer from South Africa since Penny Heyns claimed double 100-200m breaststroke gold at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Mafata Modutoane, SSA’s operations manager, is alleged - by the legal team representing the Smiths - to have kept the interest as a “management fee” after prize money was “unlawfully held by SSA for more than a year”. That's all in the lawyer’s letter to SSA.
The swimmer - who was coached by Rocco Meiring and is now retired - and her husband approached Wian Spies, attorney and director of Hurter Spies Attorneys, in July 2026 to issue a final letter of demand, according to South African media reports, including this from Annemieke Thomaidis at the Daily Maverick, where you can read more details:
Annemieke Thomaidis
Spies told Daily Maverick that the dispute is "less about money than the principle involved, especially considering the culture of mismanagement rooted in the federation, particularly by its most senior officials", the outlet reports.
SSA has been given 10 days to respond, after which action would be escalated, Spies tells Thomaidis.
Modutoane told the reporter:
“I received that letter. I’ve got my legal team looking at it, so I cannot comment further after we’ve responded to them [Smith’s attorneys]."
The Daily Maverick then notes:
"He later asked Daily Maverick to delay publishing on Friday 28 August, to allow him time to provide a further response. But by close of business on Monday 31 August, Daily Maverick had not received any further correspondence from Modutoane. "
And so, it ran a story that will now run and run until justice has been served, one way or another. It is also a story that may well remind us and reveal more about the treatment of South African swimmers down the decades, the narrative stacked with tales in which governance leaders have left a trail of unanswered questions.
