WATCH: How Tatjana Schoenmaker turned Rio Olympics despair into Tokyo 2020 glory

Cape Town - Tatjana Schoenmaker may now be a celebrated Olympic champion, but she first had to endure true heartbreak before becoming a gold medallist and world record holder.

The South African breaststroke sensation was close to participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics, but missed out by one-hundredth of a second (0.01) on qualification.

Now, just over six months after winning the 200m breaststroke in a new world record of 2:18.95, and claiming a silver in the 100m breaststroke, Schoenmaker believes that missing out on Rio actually played a major part in her success in Tokyo last year.

“There was so much that I needed to learn. This 19-year-old … I needed to grow personally, emotionally, everything, to be able to go to such a big stage. So now I’m very grateful that it actually happened,” Schoenmaker said this week.

“It is definitely tough (to maintain the physical intensity), especially if we do it 50 weeks of the year … It’s not that easy just to swim a 2:18! All that effort for years and years. But it’s worth the sacrifice because I’m so blessed to do what I love every single day.

“And it almost becomes a routine – there are some weeks that are more challenging than others. But we all know that, even getting up for work, sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s not. But you just get up and know you’ve got to do it. You know you have to put the hours in.”

The 24-year-old spoke to IOL Sport at an event hosted by one of her sponsors, Under Armour, in Cape Town.

The sports brand celebrated their five-year anniversary in South Africa by showcasing the achievements of a number of athletes whom they sponsor, including boxer Kevin Lerena, Paralympian star Ntando Mahlangu and Blitzboks rugby captain Siviwe Soyizwapi.

The Under