Chad le Clos

Chad le Clos

Le Clos in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos
National team	South Africa
Born	12 April 1992 Durban, South Africa
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	77.8 kg (172 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Butterfly, freestyle, medley
Club	Seagulls Swimming Club
Medal record Men's swimming Representing South Africa Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 3 0 World Championships (LC) 3 1 0 World Championships (SC) 6 1 0 Total 10 5 0 Olympic Games 2012 London 200 m butterfly 2012 London 100 m butterfly 2016 Rio de Janeiro 200 m freestyle 2016 Rio de Janeiro 100 m butterfly World Championships (LC) 2013 Barcelona 100 m butterfly 2013 Barcelona 200 m butterfly 2015 Kazan 100 m butterfly 2015 Kazan 200 m butterfly World Championships (SC) 2010 Dubai 200 m butterfly 2012 Istanbul 100 m butterfly 2014 Doha 200 m freestyle 2014 Doha 50 m butterfly 2014 Doha 100 m butterfly 2014 Doha 200 m butterfly 2012 Istanbul 50 m butterfly Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi 200 m butterfly 2010 Delhi 400 m medley 2014 Glasgow 100 m butterfly 2014 Glasgow 200 m butterfly 2010 Delhi 4×100 m medley 2014 Glasgow 4×100 m freestyle 2010 Delhi 4×100 m freestyle 2010 Delhi 4×200 m freestyle 2014 Glasgow 50 m butterfly 2014 Glasgow 200 m medley 2014 Glasgow 4×200 m freestyle 2014 Glasgow 4×100 m medley All-Africa Games 2011 Maputo 200 m butterfly 2011 Maputo 200 m medley 2011 Maputo 400 m medley 2011 Maputo 4×100 m freestyle 2011 Maputo 4×100 m medley 2015 Brazzaville 50 m butterfly 2015 Brazzaville 100 m butterfly 2015 Brazzaville 4×200 m freestyle 2015 Brazzaville 4×100 m mixed freestyle 2011 Maputo 100 m butterfly Youth Olympic Games 2010 Singapore 200 m medley 2010 Singapore 100 m butterfly 2010 Singapore 200 m butterfly 2010 Singapore 400 m freestyle 2010 Singapore 4×100 m freestyle

Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos OIS, (born 12 April 1992) is a South African competitive swimmer who is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion as well as the Commonwealth record holder in the 50 and 100-metre butterfly.^[1] He won gold in the 200-metre butterfly and silver in the 100-metre butterfly in the 2012 Olympics in London, as well as silver medals in the 200-metre freestyle and 100-metre butterfly in the 2016 Summer Olympics. He also won five medals at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore. Le Clos has won the Overall Swimming World Cup three times: 2011, 2013 and 2014.

Personal life

Le Clos was born to a Mauritian father of French descent and a South African mother.^[2][3] He attended Westville Boys' High School in Durban, South Africa, matriculating in 2010. He has been swimming from a very young age, and when he started competing at the age of 8 he already had a few years of training under his belt.

He was conferred the silver Order of Ikhamanga on 27 April 2013. In a statement by the Chairperson of the National Orders Advisory Council, Dr. Cassius Lubisi, le Clos was conferred the honour "For his excellent achievements on the international swimming stage, especially at the London Olympics in 2012, thus placing South Africa in high standing globally in the field of Aquatic sports."

He was also announced as the KZN Newsmaker of the Year 2013 at the Durban City Hall on 9 October 2013. The event was hosted by the Durban University of Technology, the City of Durban, and the DUT Journalism Advisory Board. Radio personality Alan Khan was the programme director. Le Clos was not present to receive his award as he was swimming in Moscow. His father, Bert le Clos, received the honour on le Clos' behalf.

Le Clos won the Daily News SPAR Sports Person of the Year in 2010 in which the top school sportsmen were nominated.

2010 Short Course World Championships and Commonwealth Games

At the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, Le Clos collected 2 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals. He won the titles in the 200-metre butterfly and the 400-metre individual medley, breaking the Games record in both events.

At the World Short Course Championships in Dubai, Le Clos won the gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly. He narrowly beat Brazilian Kaio de Almeida by 0.05 of a second and Hungarian László Cseh, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist, by 0.11 of a second.

2011 Long Course World championships

At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, he finished fifth in the 200-metre butterfly, 13th in the 100-metre butterfly and 10th in the 4 × 100 m medley relay with his teammates.

2012 Olympics

On the first day of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London Le Clos finished fifth in the 400-metre individual medley. On the fourth day, Le Clos won the gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly in 1min 52.96 sec, edging out the two-time defending Olympic champion and world record holder, Michael Phelps, by 0.05 seconds. Le Clos had stated before the games, in personal information given to the media, that his sporting hero is Michael Phelps. He later said that beating his hero was totally unexpected.^[4][5] The next day Le Clos qualified for the final of the 200-metre individual medley by swimming the (tied) seventh time in the semi-finals, but he withdrew to focus on the 100-metre butterfly. On the seventh day of the competition, Le Clos won the silver medal in the 100-metre butterfly, tied with Yevgeny Korotyshkin in a time of 51.44 sec, at 0.23 sec behind Phelps.

In the course of the 2012 Games, Le Clos' father, Bert le Clos, became an instant media personality as a result of being interviewed on British television about his son's achievement of winning a gold medal.^[6]

2013 Long Course World championships

After his Olympic success, Le Clos came into the World Championships as a threat. This year, however, Le Clos shortened his program, deciding to only take part in the butterfly events. In his first event, the 50-metre butterfly, Le Clos came 23rd with a time of 23.76, unable to advance to the semi-finals. In his signature event, the 200-metre butterfly, after easily breezing into the final he followed his win from the Olympics, where he won with a 1:54.32. He finished off his schedule by winning the 100-metre fly with a new national record of 51.06, ending the championships on a good note.

2015 Long Course World championships

Le Clos finished 14th in the semifinals of the 50 meter butterfly, and 6th in the 200 meter freestyle. He finished 2nd in the 200 meter butterfly, at 0.2 seconds behind László Cseh.^[7] He successfully defended his 2013 title in the 100 meter butterfly by winning the gold medal in a personal best time of 50.56.^[8] Le Clos and Michael Phelps, who was swimming at the US national championships at the same time and posted slightly faster times in the 100 and 200 m butterfly events, exchanged comments about each other's times, which set up a rivalry for the 2016 Olympics.^[9]

2016 Olympics

Le Clos won the silver medal in the 200 metre freestyle event, finishing behind China's Sun Yang in a time of 1:45.20 to become one of South Africa's most decorated Olympians.^[10]

Le Clos finished 4th in the 200 metre butterfly in which he was the defending champion,^[11] in a race he called the worst of his career.^[12] The event was heavily hyped as a rematch between Le Clos and Michael Phelps, the 2004 and 2008 winner whom Le Clos had narrowly beaten in 2012. The relationship between Le Clos and Phelps had been cordial in 2012–2013 but it deteriorated in 2014 when Phelps came back from retirement.^[13] In the ready room prior to the preliminary race, Le Clos' shadow boxing while Phelps "glowered in a corner" spawned the Internet meme with the hashtag #PhelpsFace. Le Clos' Wikipedia biography was even vandalized.^[14]

Le Clos won a second silver medal in the 100 meter butterfly, in a three-way tie with rivals Phelps and László Cseh, behind Joseph Schooling. He said in the aftermath of the event to have been very disappointed with his overall showing in Rio, but already having firm plans on continuing until the 2020 Games in Tokyo.^[15][16] Despite not being satisfied with his Rio showing, he still became South Africa's most decorated Olympian ever with four medals – one gold, three silver.

Results in major championships

Meet	200 free	50 fly	100 fly	200 fly	200 IM	400 IM	4×100 free	4×200 free	4×50 medley	4×100 medley
WC 2009				17th		16th
CG 2010			17th		5th		^[a]
SCW 2010	16th				12th	5th
WC 2011			13th	5th						10th
OG 2012					F^[b]	5th		7th		13th
SCW 2012
WC 2013		23rd					11th			11th
CG 2014
SCW 2014								4th	8th^[a]
WC 2015	6th	14th
OG 2016				4th

^a Le Clos swam only in the heats

^b Le Clos withdrew after qualifying for the final

Career best times

^[17]

Long course (50-metre pool)

Event	Time	Venue	Date	Notes
100 m freestyle	48.16	Moscow	11 August 2015
200 m freestyle	1:45.20	Rio de Janeiro	8 August 2016	AF, NR
50 m butterfly	23.29	Glasgow	24 July 2014
100 m butterfly	50.56	Kazan	8 August 2015	AF, NR
200 m butterfly	1:52.96	London	31 July 2012	AF, NR
200 m IM	1:57.94	Johannesburg	7 April 2014
400 m IM	4:12.24	London	28 July 2012

Short course (25-metre pool)

Event	Time	Venue	Date	Notes
50 m freestyle	21.05	Moscow	4 September 2016	[18]
100 m freestyle	46.00	Doha	8 October 2016	[19]
200 m freestyle	1:41.45	Doha	3 December 2014
50 m butterfly	21.95	Doha	6 December 2014
100 m butterfly	48.44	Doha	4 December 2014	WR
200 m butterfly	1:48.56	Singapore	5 November 2013	WR
200 m IM	1:51:56	Dubai	1 September 2014
400 m IM	3:59.23	Tokyo	9 November 2013

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)

References

1. "Le Clos wins gold in Delhi". sport24.co.za. 4 October 2010. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
2. "Le champion olympique Chad Le Clos s'entraîne à Maurice" [Olympic Champion Chad Le Clos Trains in Mauritius] (in French). Le Défi Media Group. 1 February 2013. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
3. Graeme Joffe (10 May 2012). "Road to London: Chad le Clos". sport24.co.za. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
4. "Chad le Clos". www.london2012.com. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
5. Chris Paine (1 August 2012). "UNBELIEVABLE! Chad le Clos's dad is the proudest man at the Games". www.dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
6. Richard Hookham (4 August 2012). "Chad le Clos's dad Bert becomes online hit after emotional TV interview". Metro. Archived from the original on 7 August 2012.
7. Stewart, Mel (5 August 2015). "Watch Laszlo Cseh win 200 butterfly – world championships race video". Swimswam. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
8. James, Ryland (8 August 2015). "Le Clos throws down Rio challenge to Phelps". Yahoo!. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
9. Newberry, Paul (8 August 2015). "Michael Phelps answers rival Chad le Clos' trash talk with top time in 100-meter butterfly". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
10. "Chad le Clos bags a silver". Independent Online (South Africa). 9 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
11. "Michael Phelps wins his 20th and 21st Olympic gold medal in Rio as Britain bags two silvers". The Daily Telegraph. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
12. Anderson, Jared (11 August 2016). "Le Clos: 200 fly was "the worst performance of my career"". Swimswam. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
13. D'Andrea, Christian (12 August 2016). "Here's why Michael Phelps was staring daggers at Chad le Clos". SB Nation. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
14. Lang, Cady (10 August 2016). "A Guide to Why the Internet Is Losing It Over Michael Phelps Beating Chad le Clos". Time. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
15. http://www.sport24.co.za/OtherSport/Olympics2016/chad-le-clos-turns-attention-to-tokyo-20160813
16. http://www.iol.co.za/olympics-rio-2016/le-clos-looks-for-the-silver-lining-2059220
17. "Chad le Clos Bio". Swimswam. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
18. "2016 FINA World Cup Moscow: Day 2 Finals Full Recap". Swimming World. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
19. "Men's 100m Freestyle Final". Omega Timing. October 8, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2016.

External links

• London 2012 Official Profile
• Chadleclos.com fan site (Unofficial)