Le Clos savours golden victory
Second gold for SA in the pool, this time denying US swim legend Phelps
SA’s Chad le Clos handed US swimming legend Michael Phelps a shock defeat last night, winning the men’s 200m butterfly final at the London Olympics, and giving SA a second gold medal in the pool.
Phelps, who was bidding to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three Olympics, led all the way but misjudged his final stroke, allowing Le Clos to get his hands on the wall first in a time of one minute, 52,96 seconds.
Phelps, a master of winning tight finishes, took the silver, while Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda was third.
“It’s been a dream of mine ever since I was a little boy. I just wanted to race Phelps in the final and I’ve beaten him. I can’t believe it,” said Le Clos.
On Sunday, Cameron van der Burgh won SA’s first gold in London, in the 100m breaststroke.
“Phelps is my hero and I love the guy. To beat him, I can’t believe it. You don’t understand what this means to me. This is the greatest moment of my life,” Le Clos said.
Phelps was less impressed, throwing his goggles into the water and later storming past reporters without stopping before regaining his composure and managing a wry smile at the medal ceremony.
The lone consolation for Phelps was that his second placing lifted his career tally to 18 medals, 14 gold, two silvers and two bronze, joining Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina as the most decorated Olympian, though not for long.
Meanwhile Banyana Banyana produced their best performance of the London Olympics yesterday, holding world champions Japan to a credible goalless draw in their last pool match of the women’s football tournament.
Holding fort at the back for 90 minutes, Banyana did well to keep out a relentless Japanese attack in their final appearance on their Olympic debut.
Banyana’s Portia Modise had perhaps the best chance for SA in both halves. She fired a shot wide to the left in the 23rd minute and had an effort saved by Japanese goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori with 20 minutes left in the second period.
Despite settling for a draw, the single point was enough to send Japan into the playoffs, with Sweden also qualifying from Group F.
Banyana finished bottom of the group with one point, while Canada were also eliminated from the tournament after finishing third.
Modise scored Banyana’s only goal of the Games when she fired in a blinder from 45m out in their 4-1 defeat to Sweden in their tournament opener.
The South Africans lost their second match 3-0 against Canada on Saturday to prevent any further progression in the competition.
The South African women’s hockey side, meanwhile, lost the second consecutive match of their London Olympic campaign 4-1 to world No 6 New Zealand in London yesterday.
Having suffered a heavy 7-1 loss to Argentina in their Olympic opener on Sunday, SA’s women’s hockey team set out to get their campaign back on track at the Riverbank Arena and raise themselves off the bottom of the pool B standings.
New Zealand stuck up their hands as major medal contenders as they rarely looked troubled in defence and in the middle of the park where they controlled possession.
SA came out into the second period looking more composed and seemed to settle into their structures better than in the first.
Striker Pietie Coetzee continued to be a thorn in the Kiwis’ side as she marked her milestone with a goal from a penalty stroke, after Jennifer Wilson was bundled over in the New Zealand area.
In rowing, the SA men’s lightweight four team of Matthew Brittain, Sizwe Ndlovu, John Smith and James Thompson qualified for tomorrow’s final A, after finishing second out of six boats — behind Denmark and ahead of Australia — in a time of 6:04:21 in the second semifinal yesterday. Sapa-AFP, Reuters