So near, but yet so far. That was the fate of Chad le Clos on Tuesday night at the Rio Olympics as he gave as good as he got from Michael Phelps, but the American legend showed his class in grabbing his 20th gold medal to win the 200m butterfly final.
After all the taunting from the 24-year-old South African Le Clos ahead of the semi-finals the night before, Phelps brought out the beast in him to claim his 24th Olympic medal – the most by any athlete in history.
Le Clos started with his usual sprint out of the blocks, in the lead after about 25 metres, but it was actually Hungarian Laszlo Cseh who touched the wall first at the 50m-mark.
Phelps was second, but surprisingly after his fast start, Le Clos was outside the top three. The South African 2012 Olympic champion in the 200m butterfly improved steadily in the second 50m, climbing up to third and then second after three laps.
But all the while the big American Phelps had slipped into the lead, showing great strength and technique as his action was smooth compared to Le Clos, who looked a little rushed.
Le Clos then started looking up to see where Phelps was and mounted a strong comeback, coming up close to his 31-year-old rival with about 30 metres to go.
But just when all of South Africa thought that there was one last big push from their Durban golden boy, Le Clos was unable to muster another kick. Phelps kept his cool all the way to the line to win in 1:53.36, and it was Japan’s Masato Sakai who surprised by claiming silver in 1:53.40.
Hungary’s 19-year-old Tamas Kenderesi surpassed his veteran teammate Cseh to clinch a superb bronze medal in 1:53.62, with Le Clos fading to fourth, more than a half-a-body length behind Phelps in a time of 1:54.06.
Phelps had retired after Le Clos defeated him in the same race at the 2012 London Olympics, and then even when he launched his comeback to take revenge, he was not expected to make it to Rio, let alone beat Le Clos.
In the end, though, the man who is statistically the greatest Olympian of all time in terms of medals proved that he is the ultimate champion in winning his 20th gold medal as he reclaimed the title he won in Athens in 2004 and Beijing four years later.
Le Clos was rightly heartbroken as he looked up at the clock to see where he had finished and realised he had missed out on a medal, but after letting Phelps take it all in – the American put up his finger to show that he was No 1 – Le Clos went over to give his great rival a big hug and extend his congratulations.
That proved that even though he endured abject disappointment on the night, Le Clos remains a true South African champion.
Independent Media