Loadshedding and lack of support made winning gold an even bigger challenge for Schoenmaker

She may be an Olympic – and now two-time Commonwealth 200m breaststroke champion, but Tatjana Schoenmaker admitted a lack of support meant her build-up to the Games was far from ideal.

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With the country dealing with ongoing loadshedding, just a few weeks before the Games both Schoenmaker and bronze medallist Kaylene Corbett had to shift their training base from Tuks’s outdoor 50m pool to a 25m indoor pool because of the plummeting water temperature.

“It did 100 per cent challenge our preparation,” said Schoenmaker, who is aiming to defend both the 100 and 200m breaststroke titles she won at the Gold Coast Games four years ago.

“We’re obviously used to training outside in the 50m pool so three weeks out we had to change to short course. Obviously we’re blessed to be practising our turns more, so our turns probably improved,” she added with a laugh, “but it does make a difference.

“We were hoping for some support. Unfortunately we didn’t get the support we needed but that’s why we just gave our best with what we had and we still did it.”

Schoenmaker won the 200m breaststroke gold on Sunday night in a time of 2:21.92 – almost a full three seconds slower than her world record of 2:18.95 achieved in Tokyo last year, while Corbett’s 2:23.67 for bronze was also slower than her 2:22.06 for fifth place in the Olympic final. Had the competition been tougher, the podium could have looked very different.

Corbett explained: “We needed generators for our pool to be able to function to keep it heated throughout the winter and this is the second year we’ve struggled with it. We struggled before Tokyo as well.”

Schoenmaker added: “We were very grateful that Tuks was able to help us before Tokyo but they can’t carry on with those funds so we’re obviously looking for outside funds. But we had to make the best of the situation and I’m glad that we could do that. It was maybe not the results that we wanted in terms of times, but we gave our best and this is what we could get.”

Meanwhile, both Schoenmaker and Corbett as well as compatriot Lara van Niekerk, who claimed gold in the 50m breaststroke, were back in the pool on Monday, for the 100m breaststroke heats.

Both Van Niekerk and Schoenmaker won their heats in 1:06.40 and 1:07.10 respectively to go through to the semifinals as the top two qualifiers. Corbett finished second in her heat in 1:08.12 and progressed as the eighth quickest.