JOHANNESBURG - Swimming South Africa Acting CEO Zikie Molusi says they have been aware of Tatjana Smith's plans to leave South Africa.

However, due to confidentiality and respect for her privacy, the organisation could not say anything, but await her official announcement.

Smith, in a tearful video, announced that she would be swimming under the Netherlands flag. 

She holds both South African and Dutch citizenship, thanks to her father.

Her plans to go overseas have been long coming. International sporting regulations require a three-year "cooling-off" period before an athlete can change allegiance from one country to another.

Smith last represented South Africa at an international swimming meet during the Paris Olympics in 2024, where she won Gold in the women's 200m and Silver in the 100m breaststroke events. 

Upon her return from the Games, Smith announced her retirement from the sport. 

After not making herself available for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July this year, she came out of retirement in September only for her to drop her bombshell announcement.

In 2023, Smith was embroiled in a legal dispute with Swimming South Africa over her $35,000 (R578,000) prize money from the World Aquatic Championships, eventually paid to her following media scrutiny and public outcry a year after it was supposed to have been paid to her.

Swimming SA has been embroiled in a lot of controversy. In August, World Aquatics provisionally suspended Swimming South Africa's president Alan Fritz and Chief Executive Officer Shaun Adriaanse.

The duo was suspended for potential violations of the World Aquatics Integrity Code, including abuse of power and the provision of false information and fake documents.

Fritz has served on the executive at Swimming South Africa since 2004, while Adriaanse has been CEO for more than 20yrs.

Swimming SA also has a Special Investigative Unit (SIU) investigation to worry about. This is with regard to the corrupt allocation and abandonment of a high-performance training center in Franschhoek.

More than R50 million in funding from World Aquatics, the National Lotteries Commission, and the Sports Trust went into the project, which stalled into a vandalised site with sewage-filled pools.