Chad Le Clos talks mum and dad, breaking a Commonwealth Games record and those Michael Phelps memes

Over the next five days, Le Clos is competing in seven events on the Gold Coast as he bids to become the most successful athlete in Commonwealth Games history

Chad Le Clos is aiming to make history on the Gold Coast (Getty)

Chad Le Clos is in the midst of explaining his desire to become the first athlete ever to win 19 Commonwealth Games medals, when he touches upon a theme which perhaps goes to the heart of the urgency the South African swimmer feels to create a lasting legacy in his sport.

“I want to take the opportunity while I have it now,” Le Clos says. “While I’m healthy, fit, ready, and while everything’s going my way. I could break my leg after the Commonwealths and never swim again. I could get off the train, trip down the stairs and shatter my arm in six places. There’s no guarantees in sport.”

Over the next five days, Le Clos is competing in seven events on the Gold Coast as he bids to surpass shooters Mick Gault and Philip Adams, who both have 18 medals, to become the most successful athlete in Commonwealth Games history. Le Clos, who has 13, won seven at Glasgow 2014, and he admits he’s been eyeing the opportunity to clinch the record for the past four years.

“For me, it’s about legacy,” he explains. “It’s about me cementing myself in the history books of South Africa, in the Commonwealth Games. I want to go down as not just one of the greatest swimmers, but one of the greatest athletes from South Africa, and the only way I can do that is by breaking records. When the history books are written, it’d be nice for them to say, ‘Chad le Clos was 25 years old when he became the most successful ever.’”

Legacy is weighing heavily on Le Clos’ mind. So much so, that the build-up to this year’s Games was punctuated by the extraordinary story that Le Clos was offering to self-fund two of his relay team-mates’ flights to Australia, to give himself the chance of an eighth medal.

Swimmers Christopher Reid and Zane Waddell were omitted from the South African squad after missing the mandatory national trials due to college commitments in the US. However, despite Le Clos’ attempts, no agreement could be reached with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee to let them compete, and South Africa are not fielding a 4 x 200m relay team at the Games.

“I was extremely angry a few weeks ago when I found out,” Le Clos says. “The problem is in sports, you just have to accept it. I still feel that we have a really great chance of winning medals, but I just feel like, if some of Portugal’s top players weren’t selected for the World Cup this summer, it would be a problem. These guys are top 8, top 10 in the world, and it wasn’t that they messed up. They just didn’t have the opportunity to go to the trials. That’s why I said, I’m willing to pay for them to come, because that’s how much it means to me to try and get this record.”

Le Clos has his eyes on more silverware on the Gold Coast (Getty)

At 25, Le Clos may yet have one or even two more Commonwealth Games in him, but he admits there is a particular urgency to get the record in three Games, which made the relay decision especially frustrating.

“When the history books are written they say, for example, Phelps got to be the greatest ever Olympian after three Games,” he says. “And if he’d never had those relay medals, he would have had to wait another four years.”

It is fitting that Le Clos brings up Phelps, for two years after the great American retired from the pool following Rio 2016 - having avenged his London 2012 defeat to the South African in the 200m butterfly final - there is a sense that his presence continues to linger in Le Clos’ mind.

Looking back to that race, where Le Clos finished fourth, a night he still describes as ‘pretty horrendous’, he admits that he’s been on a quest for redemption ever since.

“For me the thing that upset me the most about Rio was not so much losing, but the fact that I wouldn’t have another shot at Michael,” he says. “If Michael was around in 2020, I would have no problem. But it’s 1-1 at the moment. We should have the final chapter. I’m not calling him out, I don’t want you to misquote me, but it’s just that I like to race the best, and if I lose, I’d rather lose to the best.”

Le Clos still refuses to speak fully about the mental turmoil he experienced both before and in the aftermath of Rio, insisting that he does not want to make excuses. However 2016 was undoubtedly a personally traumatic year after both his parents, Bert and Geraldine, were diagnosed with cancer. They are now in remission, and Le Clos says he intends to tell the full story of his struggle if he wins the 200m butterfly in Tokyo.

“If anybody had gone through what I’d gone through in 2016, I don’t think they’d have made the Olympic Games,” he says. “That’s all I’m saying. I have my reasons. Once I win in 2020, people will understand why it didn’t go according to plan in 2016.”

But last year Le Clos returned to the top of the podium once more, winning the 200m butterfly at the Budapest World Championships in front of both parents. The subsequent image of Le Clos receiving his gold medal with tears streaming down both cheeks went viral, a reaction reminiscent of Bert’s emotional response when his son claimed gold at London 2012.

“My swimming comes from my mum but my emotions come from my dad,” Le Clos laughs. “That win meant more than you can understand. That 200 fly was the worst race of my life in Rio, I felt I’d lost my firepower but last year was my redemption year. Winning the worlds meant the world to me, and now I feel I’m back where I was after 2012. On top of the world.”

Le Clos is desperate to leave a lasting legacy (Getty)

Le Clos describes himself as a very different athlete to in Rio, describing changes he’s made to his training programme which have made him a smarter, and more technical swimmer. He cringes when the famous image of him shadow-boxing in front of Phelps in the Rio call-room is brought up, with the American’s stormy faced reaction sparking a thousand memes.

“That was stupid, man,” he sighs. “I think it was just in the moment or whatever. You know. I think I’ve learnt a lot from Rio, what happened there stayed in Rio. I’m in a better place now. I’ve definitely learnt to be a bit smarter with everything. Like in training and racing, I’m a slugger. The harder you hit me, the harder I come back at you. The more I believe, the more I fight. That’s the way I swim. But with my coach, I’ve learnt that it’s not all about going 100 per cent crazy the whole time.”

Le Clos will need every bit of nous he possesses, if he is to clinch the seven medals he seeks over the coming days. Such is the intensity of the swimming schedule in Australia, the draining 200m freestyle and 200m butterfly finals are scheduled on back to back nights.

“Those 200s are painful, man,” Le Clos laughs. “The final 50 you don’t remember too much, because you start to become dizzy, especially in the 200 free. Your head starts to spin because of the lactate and with 50 to go, your arms and legs feel like lead. It’s like when the rowers are coming down the last 800m. There’s so much pain, that you’re barely conscious of anything. But that’s sport and I love that. I love the pain.”

Le Clos is at his most passionate when it comes to discussing the mental toughness required to be an elite swimmer, and his attempts to build new revitalised facilities in Cape Town for the next generation of South African swimmers. He envies the generous funding of the athletes from Team England, Scotland, and Australia at these Games, saying that many South African swimmers have to fund their own travel to compete at international swimming meets.

He was particularly anguished when his home town of Durban pulled out of hosting the 2022 Commonwealth games last March, after the city announced it lacked the finances to host the competition.

“I was gutted,” Le Clos says. “I think I cried that day, it was a terrible day. For me, that would have been fantastic, almost like a swansong. I’d be 30 years old, and I still believe I’ll go to the next Olympics in Paris after that, but it’s just really sad. It would have been awesome to go there and go for 7 or 8 medals in my home pool in my home town."

However while South Africa no longer has a major multi-sports event on the horizon to inspire the youth, Le Clos hopes that breaking the Commonwealth record in Australia might attract more corporate support within South Africa for junior swimmers, a legacy which could persist far longer than his own feats in the pool.

“Helping the next generation reach their potential is a big a goal of mine,” he says. “I want some guys to look back in 10,20, 30 years’ time and say, ‘Chad Le Clos, he helped me go to the Olympics and achieve my dream.’ That would be something very special, better than money, anything.”