Youth Olympic Games ambassador and 2010 YOGs alum Chad le Clos says the Youth Olympic Games prepared him to win Olympic gold two years later. The butterflyer appears in a Youth Olympic Games promotional video with his take on what the competition did for his career.
Le Clos burst onto the international scene in 2010, and a gold, three silvers and a bronze at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore were his first major international medals. He would go on later that year to win two Commonwealth Games golds and a short course world title as an 18-year-old. Two years later, the South African upset Michael Phelps for 200 fly gold at the 2012 London Olympics.
“The Youth Olympics gave me so much, and really platformed me into getting Olympic gold,” le Clos says in the YOGs video interview. “Because at the end of the day, if I never went to (the Youth Olympic Games in) 2010, I wouldn’t have experienced that taste of it.”
Le Clos, now 26, also talks briefly about his own future in the sport.
“It’s all about learning at the end of the day,” he says. “I still feel like I’m still learning as an athlete and as a man, going forward. I believe I have a lot more to achieve and a lot more to give to the sport.”
You can watch le Clos’ full interview below:
