21 Commonwealth Games medals were not something Le Clos specifically set out to achieve at the start. But somewhere along the way, it became a thing. And in Glasgow a few weeks ago, a now 34-year-old Le Clos achieved just that – becoming the most decorated athlete in Commonwealth Games history.
“ Of course I wouldn ' t even imagine I could get to 21 at that stage. I think it was more just a dream, just to be the best that I could be at that stage. I mean, I wasn ' t expected to get any medals in Delhi … It kicked off my career. It was a starting point for me. So I think looking back, it ' s been an unbelievable journey."
Le Clos puts this achievement second only to his Olympic gold, but the journey he’ s referring to hasn’ t always been a smooth one. While the cheeky 20-year-old was the darling of the swimming world in 2012 when he beat Michael Phelps to 200m butterfly gold, there have been plenty of tough times since then.
“ I think obviously the biggest challenges have come outside the water. It ' s not necessarily been too much inside the water. Obviously both my parents getting cancer in 2016 was very, very difficult,” he explained.
“ I ' d say the biggest challenge was in 2021 when I was going through that really difficult spell of, call it depression if we have to. But I got over it with my family, with my friends, and definitely a sports psychologist helped me. That was the most difficult period in my life.”
It’ s those tough times that have carved out the perspective with which Le Clos now approaches life. He still has ambitions in the pool – reaching a fifth Olympic Games is one of them – but he knows there are more important things in life.
Never did that hit home more than when a fire gutted his Sea Point apartment in Cape Town while he was competing in Glasgow. Tragically, one of his neighbours died in the fire.
“ It’ s very sad. I probably haven ' t processed it fully, but also Sam Stine, who was my neighbour for nine years, passed away tragically in the fire. So I can’ t be crying about my house when my neighbour died.
“ I also can ' t be crying about my house when I became the king again, you know? I got 21 medals, so I’ ve got to take the good and the bad. And I think it ' s perspective that ' s kept me … at peace with it. As difficult as this has been, there ' s many, many people that are worse off than me, so I ' m still absolutely grateful."
While Le Clos is still counting the cost of the fire – he’ s not sure exactly which medals and other personal effects have been lost – he has jumped to the aid of his neighbours, setting up a fundraising platform to help them rebuild their lives.
“ I think because I come from humble beginnings, I really understand what this means, this fire, so I think setting up the fund, the GoFundMe for my neighbours, was the right thing to do … I ' m going to be okay. I have unbelievable people that are looking out for me,
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I’ ve got great sponsors, I ' m in a very blessed position. So, I have to spread that.”
That’ s just the kind of person Le Clos is. He’ s the guy who went to a matric dance with a stranger, just because she asked, the guy who, together with his family, took food to strangers at Durban’ s beachfront who needed it every Christmas, and since 2018 he’ s been giving back through empowerment and education programmes with his Chad le Clos Foundation.
Now he’ s set up his Chad le Clos Academy in partnership with Virgin Active, where almost 10,000 kids are already enrolled in Learn to Swim programmes across the country. With the latter stages of his 17-year career now in sight, Le Clos is all about legacy and, slowly, life outside of competitive swimming is taking shape.
But there’ s still work to be done in the pool.
Qualifying for the 2028 Olympic Games is going to be tough, but he’ s got that fifth Olympics, which would be a first for a South African, firmly in his sights.
“ I ' ve always been hungry for that fifth Olympics, if I ' m honest with you. This [ Glasgow ] just reaffirmed that … It ' s definitely given me confidence to go and do what I want to do at the next Olympics."
If he doesn’ t make it, that’ s also okay though. Because, as he’ s learned, often painfully, over the years, swimming isn’ t everything.
“ I have a different level of perspective than I did 16 years ago … four years ago even. My perspective is very different. Regardless of results, I ' m grateful for my family, I ' m grateful for my health, I ' m grateful for the fact that I have an academy which is serving close to 10,000 people in terms of a legacy. I give back to the communities with my foundation. So more than anything, I ' m beyond blessed. I really am. God is great.”
Delhi 2010: 200m butterfly gold, 400m individual medley gold, 4x100m medley relay silver, 4x100m freestyle relay bronze, 4x200m freestyle relay bronze
Glasgow 2014: 100m butterfly gold, 200m butterfly gold, 4x100m freestyle relay silver, 50m butterfly bronze, 200m individual medley bronze, 4x200m freestyle relay bronze, 4x100m medley relay bronze
Gold Coast 2018: 50m butterfly gold, 100m butterfly gold, 200m butterfly gold, 100m freestyle silver, 4x100m medley relay bronze
Birmingham 2022: 200m butterfly silver
Glasgow 2026: 4x100m mixed relay silver, 4x100m freestyle relay bronze, 4x100m medley relay bronze
“ If I break them into phases, obviously 2010 was my first one and was a green Chad coming through the ranks. I ' d say 2014 was probably the most pressure, obviously coming off the Olympics in London, and I had to win. I think 2018 was definitely my best one, sweeping the flys, 50, 100, 200m. That was definitely the more mature version of me. And then Birmingham was obviously the most disappointing by very much a long stretch. Also, in saying that, it was the most important one for me out of all five because it motivated me to keep going. So I ' m eternally grateful for Birmingham because it allowed me to feel what I felt this week. And then of course this one was, it was really the icing on the cake that I needed to get through."
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