PARIS (Reuters)-Tatjana Smith took South Africa’s first gold of the Paris Olympics on Monday and added the 100 metres breaststroke title to the 200 metres she won at Tokyo 2021 under her maiden name of Schoenmaker.

China’s world champion Tang Qianting took the silver medal and Ireland’s Mona McSharry looked stunned, tears flowing, after an extraordinary three-way battle for bronze.

Tang led at the turn but Smith, in lane four but only fourth at that point, picked off her rivals and powered back to win in one minute 05.28 seconds.

That was 0.26 clear of Tang and made up for securing only silver in the event in Tokyo.

The winning time was slower than the 1:05.00 Smith had clocked in the heats.

She will also be a favourite for the breaststroke double by defending her 200 title to secure a place in the record books as her country’s most decorated Olympian, equalling Chad Le Clos’s four.