Chad le Clos: Greatest sportsperson in CWG history, who beat Phelps at Olympics

And on Tuesday, le Clos had Medal No.20 that tied him with Aussie swimmer Emma McKeon.

South Africa adores its legend – the upstart who took on Phelps at the Olympics, and had the American swimming fraternity frazzled, bringing Phelps back from the cold for a 2.0 resurrection and fuelling a crackling rivalry. His feted career has four Olympic medals and 16 world titles and at 34, le Clos is aiming at LA ’28.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Jordan Gonzalez and Jim Sanderson, shared the pool in heat 1 of the men’s 50m butterfly.

They lined up alongside Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion Chad le Clos 🇿🇦!

Jordan finished 2nd in 26.18, with Jim 3rd in 26.69.

©️CGG#Glasgow2026 pic.twitter.com/uBLSdIe2a8

— GBC Sport (@GBC_Sport) July 28, 2026

Perhaps the more lasting testimonial came from the sidelines of Glasgow, where Tanzania’s only swimmer Collins Saliboko, told olympics.com, “I love Chad since watching 2012 where he beat Phelps. It made me believe it was possible that an African can get that high, on the podium.”

In the documentary, Black swimmers say that sometimes it seemed like doors were closed for them. “You hardly see black people at any competition.”

Culturally, whites grew up swimming. Historically, the disadvantaged didn’t have the luxury of swimming pools in their backyard.

“In rural SA, they grow up around rivers, lakes, dams and the ocean. Moving water. You’re likely to get swept away,” Athens 2004 gold medallist Roland Schoeman explained. “We have a lot of drownings..the biggest issue…” Le Clos added.

Triumph over adversity

He never forgot he came from the Third World, like most of Africa and Asia. His first CWG was at Delhi 2010, where several top Aussie swimmers chose to stay away due to paranoia about pool conditions. But le Clos was motivated and left with five medals at age 18.

The Durban swimmer had trained for 15 years at Li Park in Pine country. It was an open air pool, with leaves and bugs floating on the surface. Blue blobs of floor paint interspersed with grey where the colour had peeled off. It wasn’t even the safest – three of his family cars had been stolen from parking, and the family lived with burglar guards and an electric fence.

Chad’s father Bert recalled, “I’d give the pool 2 or 3 out of 10 rating. It’s the worst pool in the world. Not in SA, in the world. Phelps wouldn’t even put his first toe inside… But it’s my country.”

Le Clos believes that early adversity shaped him. A white man he might be, but South Africa was no Australia or USA. “If a lot of Australian, American boys were thrown into my shoes, they wouldn’t even make the Olympic Games,” he would say.

“The hardships made me who I am. The difficult times make you mentally tougher than other guys. When I step on the block and it’s an Olympics final, I know in my mind I can handle anything that gets thrown at me.”

Circumstances also meant South Africans hero-worshipped him.

Le Clos has continued to inspire. “I want to take swimming to another level. For SA people to say ‘not just cricket, rugby or football’. I want people to say, ‘Hey! the swimming team’s at 9.00 tonight ‘ That’s the goal.”

Bert & Gerri

One knew CWG 2026 was a big deal for the le Closes when father Bert would post on Instagram, “Happy birthday my boy. And hope your 5th Commonwealth and your 5th Olympics come together.” An earlier post from June with his mother Geraldine had been a relief. Both had survived cancer. Gerri was detected ahead of the 2010 Games.

“I remember very clearly. Just before my 18th birthday, it was the Commonwealth Games and my parents knew how important it was for me to qualify and they kept it away from me for two and a half weeks so it didn’t affect my trials. I was really angry at them but understood why they did it,” the swimmer recalled in the documentary.

Bert was a bombastic, ever-positive character born in Mauritius before moving to South Africa. His big viral moment came in a BBC interview after Chad beat Phelps when his exuberance won over the world. “I’m famous for being famous. I’m like Kim Kardashian,” he would say later. He was the bombastic engine behind Chad’s dreams. He would get detected with cancer just ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

“I’d rather have my mom and dad be healthy than win a gold medal,” Chad would say in the documentary. Ten years on, they are celebrating Chad le Clos becoming CWG’s greatest.