2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
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- La Défense Arena — Paris, France
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We saw the men’s 100m butterfly heats unfold this morning from Paris which meant that 32-year-old Chad Le Clos of South Africa was in the water.
Unlike teammates Tatanja Smith who claimed 100m breast gold and 200m breast silver and Pieter Coetze who made the final of the men’s 200m back, Le Clos represented an outside shot of making a dent in the stacked 1fly field.
We reported how the 4-time Olympic medalist was entering Paris with an arm injury, although he did say pre-racing that he was in ‘fantastic shape’.
Reuters reported the injury happened when a young girl jumped into his pool lane while he was still underwater, pulling his shoulder and neck as he hurriedly stopped.
This morning the Germany-based star placed 24th with a time of 52.24 while it took 51.62 to make the top 16 for this evening’s semi-final.
Speaking to Supersport after his performance, Le Clos said, “It’s been a tough four weeks, got a bit of a grade two tear in the upper shoulder, probably shouldn’t have raced.
“On my best day it would’ve been hard to make the final. It’s not in my nature to just swim in the morning and be done with it.”
Regarding future plans, Le Clos is already looking ahead to Los Angeles 2028 but stresses he’ll see how things transpire at the 2024 Short Course World Championships this December.
After withdrawing from the 2022 World Championships after struggling with multiple bouts of bronchitis, Le Clos fans were encouraged by a string of impressive performances at that year’s World Cup Series and Short Course World Championships.
‘Chad 2.0’ was born and his career was on the upward trajectory until he then bowed out of the 2023 World Championships due to an undisclosed illness.
He raced at this year’s World Championships in Doha, placing 5th in the 100m fly (51.48) and 18th in the 100m free (49.04) while dropping out of the 200m fly event.
🗣️ "It's been a tough four weeks, got a bit of a grade two tear in the upper shoulder, probably shouldn't have raced!"
Chad le Clos' full reaction to missing out on the Men's 100m Butterfly semi-finals after the heats this morning.#Paris2024 | #CloserToYourChampions pic.twitter.com/jviFuCMIJw
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 2, 2024
Two things are undefeated…. Father Time and water (not related to sport, but in everything else)
phelps & LeClos 2028
This was a weird one to watch. At this point in his career it would certainly look a lot better to lean more into the gratitude angle.
Ok but the real South African story in these heats is Matt Sates. Good lord, he is one of the biggest disappointments over the last few years. I can’t for the life of me understand why you’d leave a collegiate program that could’ve nurtured you, to only regress seriously every year since choosing to “become a professional swimmer.”
Still remember his epic 500 free from 2022 NCAA’s. At that time he wasn’t too far off from the great Leon Marchand, but ever since then their careers have gone in totally opposite directions
I don’t know anything about Sates personally, but being a “student athlete” isn’t for everyone, and requires some amount of balance between academics and athletics. Is it possible that the academics just weren’t going well? He also moved really far from home, which isn’t required for a lot of American student-athletes (who are able to go to e.g., their home state university).
Nonetheless, I feel bad for the kid. Regardless of his reasons, his training setup for the past couple of years has not worked out well for him.
Le Clos is a legend in the sport but he’s as washed now as Lochte in 2021
Bro please just hang it up and enjoy your life
What if continuing to compete and train is what he loves doing?
I’m reminded of the 49-year-old Uzbek gymnast who participated in like 8 Olympics. She won a gold medal in 1992 (as part of the former Soviet unified team), and just kept going through the Tokyo games. She tried to qualify for Paris, but came up short. She was never a contender to win a medal in those later games, but really seemed passionate about continuing. More power to her!
He enjoys swimming
Just put the fries in the bag bro