South Africa's Chad le Clos eyes a return to the podium at Paris 2024
South Africa's most decorated Olympian is fighting his way back from an illness enforced hiatus as he targets podium success 12 years since he won his maiden title in London 2012. His compatriot Matthew Sates has stepped into the void.
Swimming
Hampered by injury, Chad le Clos has lost a bit of his lustre in recent years, but South Africa’s most decorated Olympian with four medals is hell-bent on returning to the podium at Paris 2024.
The 31-year-old star swimmer failed to make it onto the podium in Tokyo 2020 (in 2021) and has been battling with niggling injuries and illness since the global showpiece.
In a recent interview with World Aquatics, Le Clos said he would be targeting a return to the podium in Paris 2024 in what would be his fourth Olympic appearance if he qualifies. Should he win silverware next year he would be the first South African to do so eight years apart.
Le Clos pulled out of this year’s World Long-Course Championships citing an illness that plagued him for four months.
He now has his sights set on the World Championships to be held in Doha in February which he would be using as a stepping stone towards reviving his form ahead of Paris 2024.
“Then it’s on to Paris for the Olympics to face the world and to try to win. If it’s a bronze next year, I am going to celebrate that,” Le Clos told World Aquatics.
“We aren't done after that; we are going to Los Angeles. My mind is strong, I am bulletproof, and my body will have to give up first.”
The illness came at a time when Le Clos seemed to have found some of his old sparkle including solid performances on the 2022 World Cup circuit where he won nine medals – five gold and four silver – to finish third overall in the men’s competition.
He backed that up winning the 100-200m butterfly golden double at the 2022 World Swimming Championships (25m) in Melbourne. Highlighting his return to form he broke his own African Record in the 200m butterfly.
“It's been a tough time for me, especially with the virus that I had had for four months that kept me out of the World Aquatics Championships this past summer,” Le Clos said.
“The last several months have been hard. The last two weeks have been intense. It may be the hardest time for me to get on the podium at these World Cup events. If it's a medal in the World Cups, even better.”
Matthew Sates steps into the void
As he predicted, Le Clos has been finding the going tough on his return to the World Cup circuit and is yet to step onto the podium with one more leg to go in the three-gala series.
While Le Clos has been battling, his compatriot Matthew Sates has stepped into the void with scorching swims over the first two legs in Berlin and Athens. The rising star dominated the men's 200m individual medley and the 200m butterfly at both galas while finishing second in the 400m IM. He also won the 100m butterfly in Athens where Le Clos joined in the final finishing in fifth place.
“Last night's race I fractured my wrist, so I wasn’t sure how I would swim. But it felt OK in warm-up and honestly, I didn’t feel it in either race tonight,” Sates said.
“I’m really happy to come away winning both the 200 IM and the 200 fly tonight.”
Sates rose to prominence at the 2022 World Swimming Championships (25m) in Melbourne where he won the 200m IM title and added bronze in the 400m IM.