South Africa’s most successful Olympian Tatjana Smith retired from the sport before her latest shocking move.

The 29-year-old swimmer, who recently revealed she is switching allegiances from South Africa to the Netherlands, stepped away for two years after she “lost the love” for the sport following the 2024 Paris Games, despite winning gold in the 200-meter breaststroke.

“My whole life, I was kind of a robot towards swimming,” Smith said, per the BBC.

“You’re so zoned in, you’re obsessed with something, so there isn’t actually time for you to think about things outside of the pool that you potentially have a passion for. I think probably everyone would think that the timing [of retirement] was the worst. But I absolutely 100% believe it was the best decision at that time, and I still have so much peace about it.”

Throughout the two years Smith was retired, she avoided the pool for several months.

The four-time Olympic medalist revealed financial worries contributed to the decision, which involved a dispute regarding prize money with Swimming South Africa.

“The financial burden on any athlete is so tough,” Smith said. “I relied on my parents funding me until I broke the world record at the Olympics. And then, all of a sudden, now people are interested in maybe sponsoring you. But the majority of sponsorships for athletes are based on performance. So then you have that pressure and expectation to always have to perform, otherwise you’re not going to get paid.

“I think the financial side, and also being in a system where they’re not really putting the athletes first, made it really difficult.”

Smith took on speaking engagements to pay the bills despite her hatred for public speaking. She later decided to try to train for a triathlon, which pushed her back into the pool full time.

“The training was so intense, and I was like, ‘OK, I might as well just go back to swimming if I’m going to train this hard’,” she said. “Every time I went back to the swimming pool and I dived in, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is a feeling that I really miss so much’.

“I think slowly over the year and a half, I just realized ‘Wow, I really do love swimming’.”

Smith, who holds South African and Dutch citizenship, revealed her representation switch on Tuesday in an Instagram post, which was made two months after she stepped out of retirement.

“Representing South Africa at the Olympic Games was my biggest childhood dream,” Smith said. “To have lived that dream and won four Olympic medals is something I will always treasure. But dreams can change as you grow.”

Smith’s father was born in the Netherlands and her parents moved there after the Paris Olympics.

Yet, for now, she will continue training in South Africa before her first meet with the Dutch at the World Short Course Championships in Beijing in December.

Smith has her sights set on the 2028 Los Angeles Games, hoping to add to her medal collection — breastroke golds in the 200m in Tokyo and the 100m in Paris, along with silvers in the 100m in Tokyo and the 200m in Paris.

However, she plans to switch things up.

Smith will adjust her training and focus towards the 50-meter breaststroke event, which has been added to the Olympic schedule for the first time in the upcoming Olympics.

“I thought, ‘Why don’t I try? Why don’t I give myself that challenge? Reinvent myself’,” said Smith.

“I always try and describe it to someone that maybe doesn’t understand swimming; it’s like a 400m runner and a 100m [runner]. It’s two different body types, two different trainings, and that’s where I’m going.”

The transition has slashed her training volume by more than half, taking on three sessions a week rather than eight.

Smith said the change has made her feel “lazy.”

“I have 20 years of endurance in my pocket, but I can definitely see I don’t have those fast twitch [muscle] fibres. It’s a whole different way of teaching my body how to swim,” she said.