Always go hard against the best, says le Clos

Chad le Clos’ silver medal in the 200m butterfly is his third Olympic gong, and was earned the hard way, says Kevin McCallum.

Johannesburg - He went out hard, he went out fast and went straight towards a silver medal. Chad le Clos took silver in the 200m freestyle on Tuesday morning (South African time), breaking the African record with a performance that was brave and wild.

Then, to complete his morning, Le Clos qualified fourth-fastest for Wednesday’s 200m butterfly final, third in his semfinal behind Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi with a certain Michael Phelps in second. It was the first time Le Clos and Phelps had raced since the 2012 Olympics, where the South African beat the American in the 200m butterfly final in a result that shocked the swimming world and announced Le Clos as a superstar.

His silver medal is his third Olympic gong and was earned the hard way. He was second behind China’s Sun Yang, who won with a time of 1:44;65, ending his 200m sprint in 1:45;20. Conor Dwyer of the US was third, three hundredths behind Le Clos.

Ryk Neethling, the 4x100m freestyle relay gold medallist from Athens 2004, said he was surprised by how fast Le Clos started in a “major final”.

He had done the same in the semifinals and heats, but had faded. Some believed he and coach Graham Hill would tweak his tactics, but he did not.

He started hard in the first 50m, a brave move. That first 50m was done in 23.39 seconds, which was world record pace, and had him ahead by 0,8secs. He went through 100m at 50.36secs, and was being caught at 150m, but just when it looked like he was done, Le Clos found something else and held on.

“What was my 50m split?” Le Clos had asked of South African journalists after his semifinal. He was told it was23.91: “Wow, that’s fast! That’s fast! I went out a bit too fast. I want to get out there, always go hard, against the best guys in the world,” reported the Sascoc website. “I struggled a bit tonight, and when I turned at the 100, I didn’t know what to do, I’ve never been this far ahead, ever, my whole life. I like to race. In the last 10m I was hurting a bit, and I knew that, like this morning as well, I’d gone slightly too fast. I need to pace myself slightly better.” And, yet, he didn’t. He went out hard and fast, and took on the best freestyle sprinters on the planet.

“Huge statement by Chad. Got all the tricks. Speed and endurance. Bodes well for the butterfly events later. Will also start to dominate 100 freestyle,” tweeted Neethling, who is at poolside for SuperSport. Neethling later said Le Clos had “stared down” Phelps as the two waited in the call room for the start of their semifinal. NBC TV commentators suggested Le Clos was “taunting” the American. The final will be fun to watch.

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