Chad Le Clos made good on his promise to silence the doubters after some turbulent times left him swimming “like a desperate man”.
A “traumatic experience” in January 2021 led to depression and therapy and a feeling of desolation at Tokyo 2020 where he finished outside the medals. The four-time Olympic medallist reached a career low point in 2022 when he finished fourth in the 100m butterfly at the Commonwealth Games.
Chad switched training bases in October the same year, moving to join Dirk Lange in Frankfurt. Buoyed by the prospect of a fresh start, the South African said people who had written him off were making a “huge mistake”.
Success on the World Cup tour was followed by the World Short-Course Championships in Australia where Chad won the 100/200m fly double. After winning the 100m for the fifth time, he said: “What you see is Chad Le Clos mark 2.0.”
“This performance was really just for me, it’s been an emotional week because I really haven’t won in four years.”
“It’s been a long time since I have been happy. The truth is that I’ve been in a bad place for the last two years.”
Chad now has 12 individual world short-course titles - two shy of Ryan Lochte’s record of 14 – with Budapest 2024 the next opportunity for him to chip away at the now-retired American’s haul. Looking ahead to the World Championships and beyond to Paris 2024, he told Swimming World: “I’m not going there to make up the numbers, not going there to make the final.”
“I’m coming in to try and win medals at least.” “I know I’m going to be in the best shape that I can be and whatever that result is, I can live with that result after I’ve done proper training.”
