INLSA
Westville Boys High swimming captain Marno Langeveldt, left, and deputy swimming captain Tyler Walker admire past pupil Chad le Closs incredible Olympic achievement. The boys were among the millions of South Africans who erupted in celebration when |Le Clos beat US star swimmer Michael Phelps by a fingertip in the 200m butterfly on Tuesday evening
On the morning after the night before, Oscar Pistorius bumped into Chad le Clos, the Olympic 200m butterfly champion, in a lift in the Olympic Village. His neck was adorned with the biggest prize in sport.
“I saw him in the lift this morning… and he had his medal around his neck, so I got to hold it and look at it,” said Pistorius.
“I said to him: ‘Where are you going?’ He said: ‘I’m going to the dining hall.’ I said: ‘Are you going to take the medal off? He said: ‘I haven’t taken it off since yesterday!’
“He slept with it around his neck. I don’t know what’s going to happen when he competes in other events. He’s probably going to have to swim with it strapped to his back or something!”
Yesterday morning, Le Clos had barely had time to come to terms with what he had achieved. He had just swum in the 200m individual medley and qualified for the semi-finals and was struggling.
“I was hurting, oh my gosh, that was hard,” he said. “I got to bed at, like, 2.30am, and I only got into the room at 2am. Leith (Shankland) and Gideon (Louw) were up waiting for me and gave me a small cheering-on party. It wasn’t very long because I had to wake up this morning and face reality, and come and race again.”
Westville Boys High School unite in a spectacular cheer at a special assembly held in honour of past pupil Chad le Closs Olympic gold medal.
INLSA
He said that the realisation he was an Olympic gold medallist – and had beaten the most successful Olympian in Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly – was still setting in.
“It’s still like a dream for me, because I never thought it would happen so soon, and it’s happened so quickly. It’s almost like you’ve won the lottery.”
Le Clos’s father, Bert, became an internet celebrity on Tuesday night after he gave an interview with the BBC. Le Clos sr bubbled over, even slipping in a little F-bomb during the live broadcast. “Unbelievable, unbelievable. It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven,” said Bert le Clos.
“I can only imagine how my dad reacted – he’s always gone crazy,” said Le Clos. “He’s always been such a, well, crybaby. It was awesome to have him in my corner.”
