Seychelles’ golden girl in the pool, Angelina Smythe, continued to impress at the 13th Jeux de la CJSOI, adding another individual gold and two silver medals to her growing tally on Day 5 of competition.
The standout swimmer also played a pivotal role in propelling the Seychelles girls’ relay team to a surprise silver medal finish in the 4x200m freestyle relay, delivering another proud moment for the host nation.
Smythe set the tone for the relay with a strong first leg, giving Seychelles a slight advantage early on. Despite losing ground during the second leg, the team stayed firmly in contention during the third leg before Reunion began to assert their dominance gradually, extending their lead slowly. By the final stretch, Reunion was clearly in control and sealed the gold, with Seychelles holding on strongly to finish second, ahead of Mauritius, to secure an unexpected silver.
The succes in the relay will be remembered not only for the result but also for the determination and heart shown by the home team—qualities that’s been lacking all-round in the performance of most swimmers in the Seychelles team at these Games so far.
The relay silver came on the heels of an already impressive individual outing for Smythe earlier in the day. She claimed gold in the 200m backstroke, further underlining her prowess in this discipline. Her silver medals came in the 100m freestyle and 200m individual medley, events where she was narrowly edged out by competitors from Reunion.
Smythe has now firmly established herself as Team Seychelles’ most consistent medal hope in the pool, having already delivered three gold medal during the tow day of racing at the Games. Her brilliance across multiple events, and leadership in the relays as displayed today, begs the question of what more to come from the youngster.
But despite Smythe’s heroics, Reunion once again dominated proceedings in the swimming pool on Tuesday, collecting eight of the ten gold medals on offer, similarly to the first day of competition. Their dominance across strokes and distances in both girls’ and boys’ categories remains unmatched so far.
However, Madagascar also made waves, showing their growing presence in the pool with another unexpected gold, proving that their earlier success was no fluke.
