Chad le Clos

Personal life

Le Clos was born to a Mauritian father of French descent and a South African mother. 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. 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.

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. He successfully defended his 2013 title in the 100 meter butterfly by winning the gold medal in a personal best time of 50.56. 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.

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.

Le Clos finished 4th in the 200 metre butterfly in which he was the defending champion, in a race he called the worst of his career. 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. 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 repeatedly.

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. 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