Mom ill, but Chad will close in on Rio goal
CHAD le Clos refuses to let the return of his mother’s breast cancer derail his objective of becoming South Africa’s most successful Olympian yet.
Geraldine le Clos, who had surgery on Monday, was battling the disease when Le Clos, 24, first made his name in 2010, winning medals at the Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics.
By the time he stunned Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly at the London Olympics in 2012, her cancer was in remission.
Le Clos struggled to talk about his mother’s condition this week before he flew out of the country for a lengthy build-up to the Rio Olympics in August.
“It’s difficult,” he said. “But what can you do? Worse things happen. I’d rather have my mom be better, I’d rather come last in all the races.”
Le Clos intends doing everything to fight for her.
“I’ve still got to do a job and I always fight for my family. Like I say, I’ve always battled adversity.”
His mother had insisted he focus on swimming, but he said this was easier said than done.
“They [mothers] always say that, but you don’t know what they’re UNDAUNTED: Bert, Chad and Geraldine le Clos are ready to celebrate more Olympic medals despite her cancer going through. Whatever she says is not going to make anything better.”
She and husband Bert have already booked to go to Rio. “She’s going to go, unless something drastic happens,” said Le Clos.
Speaking about his aspirations for Rio, the swimmer said: “My goal is just to beat what I did in London [a gold in the 200m butterfly and silver in the 100m].
“If I can get a gold and silver or a gold and two other medals, that will still make me the best Olympian we’ve ever had,” said Le Clos.
Penny Heyns, the breaststroke queen of Atlanta 1996, and tennis player Charles Winslow, whose career was interrupted by World War 1, are South Africa’s most decorated Olympians, with two golds and a bronze each.
“And if I get two golds it will make me the best Olympian Africa’s ever had. I looked it up,” he said with a glint in his eye.
Kenyan Kipchoge Keino won two gold and two silver medals in three athletics events at the 1968 and 1972 Games.
“Even if I don’t do it this time, I will do it in Tokyo [in 2020],” said Le Clos, who will compete in the same two butterfly races in Brazil as well as two relays.
He has yet to decide whether he will do either the 100m or 200m freestyle races, but he confirmed he had entered both.
The South African team is in training camp in Doha, which includes living in a high-altitude chamber for 14 hours a day.
They head to Europe for racing early next month, and return to South Africa early in July for a few days before heading to the US for another camp and then on to Brazil.