When 32-year-old swimming star Chad Le Clos is asked about his chances at the Paris Olympics, South Africa’s most decorated Olympian of all time is resolute: “I have unfinished business,” he told CNN.
Despite his “horrendous time” at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where he didn’t win a medal and failed to qualify for the semi-final of the 100m butterfly, it served as motivation to embark on a transformative journey in 2022. The four-time Olympic medalist chose Germany over South Africa as his training camp, switched to the renowned German coach Dirk Lange, and prepared to launch “Chad Le Clos 2.0.”
In October 2022, at the Commonwealth Games, Le Clos began picking up steam by winning the silver medal in the 200m butterfly. And in December of that year he took gold over the same distance at the World Short Course Championships in Melbourne, setting a new African record.
Although the Durban-born swimmer still savors his first Olympics — London 2012, where he claimed gold in the 200m butterfly, edging US legend Michael Phelps by 0.05 seconds — he looks back on the period after that iconic race as a cautionary tale of mental preparedness and the sacrifices necessary for a successful Olympic career.
At his home in Durban, CNN spoke with Le Clos about his fourth consecutive Olympic Games, where he will look for redemption in the 100m butterfly and a chance for another gold.
The following interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
CNN: How do you feel now looking forward to Paris versus when you were going to your first Olympics?
Chad Le Clos: I’ve just turned 32, so obviously it’s a little bit of a different stage in my life. I’d say looking back to when I was heading to my first games in London, everything’s different. I mean, I’m a different person altogether. I’ve matured a hell of a lot, I’ve been through a hell of a lot, and I feel like my level of understanding of the sport and life is a lot better.
It’s an interesting question to answer, because I had nothing to lose in London, and now I don’t have anything to lose necessarily, but I understand what’s on the line so it’s a little bit different. Back then I just swam because it’s kind of all I knew. Now there are a lot of other things that I know are not (exactly) in the back of my mind, but also, I know what an Olympic medal or Olympic gold medal means to the country, what it means to myself, to my family, to my sponsors. What it means for everyone in my, let’s say, Chad Le Clos bubble.
CNN: Do you remember what drove you to take the plunge in the sport? What was the moment you said I’m going to pursue this further?
Le Clos: I swam from when I was eight or nine years old. That was absolutely for fun. But I would say right about 2004, when the guys won the relay gold medal (South Africa’s swimming team in the 400m freestyle relay at the Athens Olympics) and stopped Michael Phelps from winning the eighth gold medal. Phelps was 19 at the time, I was 11, and I watched him win those six golds and two bronzes. For me, that was just the real start of what I really wanted to do.
I didn’t understand it fully yet, but I knew that I wanted to be that guy. So I’d say around about that time and right after the next Olympics in 2008 (in Beijing). I remember waking up at 4:30 am to watch the swimming when Phelps won his eighth gold medal. I was so inspired by that, and I think that was a moment where I really knew this is what I wanted to do.
CNN: What went through your mind after that iconic gold medal win against Michael Phelps at the London 2012 Olympics?
Le Clos: You have to understand, as a kid in 2008, dreaming about racing Phelps and just wanting to be that guy, just to be at the Olympics in a final with him itself is enough. I loved him so much. I loved everything about the Olympics. I was just so passionate to just be there.
I knew that I had a chance. I knew that if there were any slipups anywhere, I was going to be there, I was going to be right on him. It was the most beautiful moment in history for me and hopefully for a lot of South Africans.
I think it was just, before that moment we hadn’t really, respectfully, done anything since Penny Haynes in 1996 (winning gold in the 100m breaststroke at the Atlanta Olympics). But that win against Phelps was just soaked with significance in the world of swimming because it showed everyone that anyone is beatable.
When I walk into any race, even now, I look guys in the eye and I’m ready to fight to the death. I’m ready to die for that race, and that’s the truth. That’s how I was as a kid, that’s how I am today at 32. And I believe that’s the reason I was able to beat Phelps; it was because I showed him the utmost respect by showing him no respect.
CNN: You’ve said that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was the darkest period of your professional life. Talk about your mindset after all the ups and downs.
Le Clos: That was a really devastating time for me mentally and emotionally, and some difficult things happened outside the pool, let’s just say. 2020 was obviously a horrendous time for me. I missed the podium for the first time in 12 years (and) got fifth in that final. And then 2022 was supposed to be the birth of Chad Le Clos 2.0, but we were still kind of chasing our tail and still not quite mentally ready to win again.
I think sacrifice was the easiest part for me as a youngster and it became the hardest part after 2012. I started to experience, not to say the good things in life, but I lived my life a little bit, you could say. And I think before then I was very green. I was very protected by my dad and by my family, and all I really knew was swimming. After the Olympics, I got thrown into the deep end, excuse the pun, and I got pulled in a hundred different directions.
The sacrifices became very difficult the older I got. Life became very real because with winning at the Olympics, you develop a drug that’s hard to even put into words. You win that Olympic gold medal, ask anyone you like, they’ll be lying if they tell you it’s just about the time or whatever. That thrill of being out there under the lights on the biggest stage of them all or the cameras on you, hearing the national anthem — there’s nothing better than that.
CNN: When you think about your place in history, what would you rather pick: to overtake Michael Phelps’s record as the oldest to win gold in any butterfly event (aged 31 years and 40 days) or cement yourself as a short-course powerhouse swimmer?
Le Clos: That’s a tough question. I choose the Olympics over anything, so I choose an Olympic gold medal. Will anyone ever break Phelps’s individual tally (of 28 medals) at the Olympics? Probably not in my lifetime, but if I can win another Olympic gold medal, that would be bigger than 2012 — that’d be bigger than anything I’ve ever achieved. People don’t fully understand the guys that I’m racing. These kids that I’m racing are better than Phelps was in his prime. And I say this with the utmost respect to Michael. I mean, he’s the greatest of all time. He’s the greatest long course swimmer ever. But there’s still something inside of me that just says that I have a small chance, and I’m okay with that.
But I still believe my legacy is short course. Obviously, I have, I think, two or three more medals I need to become the greatest short course swimmer in history. I’ve already broken all the World Cup records, over 80, 90 gold medals. I lead the tally, which again, respectfully, I don’t think anybody will catch that in my lifetime. But at the world championship level, I’m two individual medals away from being the greatest of all time. Outside of Olympic gold, that will be bigger than the Olympics for me, in Budapest, December of 2024 (at the World Aquatic Swimming Championships).
CNN: You are South Africa’s most decorated Olympian of all time, yet you’ve often said something is missing from your Olympic career. What is it that you are searching for?
Le Clos: I have unfinished business at the Olympics. I’ve said this many times, if I retire tomorrow, I’m okay with my career. I’ve achieved probably more than I ever thought I would as a kid. But the funny thing about winning and success is you want more every time. You just keep chasing those highs and just keep chasing that podium, so there’s a lot of unfinished business.
It’s a hell of a journey to get to that final and I don’t know what happens in life. I could go to the Olympics and come in 20th, you know what I mean? And it is what it is.
There’s a lot of hungry sharks out there in my events, but this old dog’s got a lot of fight left in him.
CNN: Do you think this will be your last Olympic rodeo, or is there more gas in the tank for Los Angeles 2028?
Le Clos: I’m pretty confident I’ll be in LA, respectfully. I think if the body holds up, I’m sure, we’ll be somewhere — between the 50 (meters) freestyle, or maybe the 100 (meters) butterfly. We’ll see what happens, but yes, we’ll definitely still be around in the sport for the next four to five years, absolutely.
