Rio de Janeiro – One suspects the dread of losing his 200m butterfly crown will linger on before Chad le Clos will be his old self again.
Winning the 100m butterfly silver medals in a dead heat with American swimming legend Michael Phelps and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh was the first step towards regaining his confidence.
“It still stings, I can’t pretend I am too happy. I’m not but it is the Olympic Games and I have to have respect,” Le Clos said.
“I am terribly disappointed with two silvers but if you would have asked me 10 years ago would you want to three silvers and a gold at the Olympic Games, I would have taken it with both hands.
“The me from five or 10 years ago would have taken these medals but I have strong aspirations for the future and this year as well.”
This week was supposed to be Le Clos’ crowning glory and, although he became South Africa’s most decorated Olympian, the feat felt almost empty.
His four medals – three silver and a gold over two Olympics – is the most by a South African.
Penny Heyns’ three medals would still rank her achievement higher thanks to the two gold medal she won at a single Olympics n Atlanta 1996, rounded off by bronze in Sydney four years later.
It was a topsy-turvy week for the Durbanite, first winning the 200m freestyle silver medal before finishing fourth in his pet 200m butterfly event.
In the early hours yesterday, Le Clos found some solace finishing second in a three-way dead heat with Phelps and Cseh, the first time in Olympic history a swimming medal of any colour was shared by three athletes.
Singapore’s Joseph Schooling outclassed the three heavyweights winning in a time of 50.39 seconds.
Le Clos, Cseh, and Phelps then followed hitting the wall at the same time in 51.14s.
Sharing the second step on the podium, the trio locked hands in solidarity getting schooled by a young pretender.
“You could have given me odds of a million to one and I would never have guessed that would have happened,” Le Clos said.
“A huge congrats to Joseph, a phenomenal time, a phenomenal performance beating the world champion, the Olympic champion, and the 200m fly world champion.
“You couldn’t have asked for a better final. I am not as disappointed as I thought I would have felt.”
The jovial scenes from the podium and the friendly exchanges between Phelps and Le Clos was in contrast to the fierce rivalry between them.
A video clip from the call room ahead of the 200m butterfly semi-final race emerged where Le Clos shadow-boxed not far from Phelps.
Le Clos was lampooned for what many believed was a taunt towards the most decorated Olympian.
His long-time coach, Graham Hill, dismissed the notion that Le Clos aimed his little jig at Phelps.
“That shadow-boxing was not meant for Michael at all, Chad loves Muhammad Ali. He’s watched Muhammed Ali, he knows everything about Muhammad Ali and he thinks he is Muhammad Ali sometimes,” Hill said.
“I’ve seen him do that in training before he gets into the pool.”
Hill said there was no bad blood between the two.
The coach said although Le Clos had not used it as an excuse, the swimmer struggled to come to terms with his parents’ health problems.
Shortly before the Games, Le Clos announced that both his parents were being treated for cancer.
Mother Geraldine had breast cancer which had returned since her remission in 2010 and had a double mastectomy while his father, Bert, developed prostate cancer.
“Chad has had not a tough three months, but a tough six months. The media only heard about the family just before we started here when it was a month out,” Hill said.
“It hasn’t been easy for him and it shows how tough he really is, how many people would have been able to do what he did?
“He has never used it as an excuse. He never will, that is how he is. I am proud of him. He is a tough guy and will come through. He’ll be back.”
– The Sunday Independent