‘I have let my country down’
CHAD le Clos describes his 200m butterfly defeat as the “worst performance of his career” and said he was ready to get back on the horse.
Touching in fourth place in Wednesday’s race, the result was almost as shocking as when he beat decorated American swimmer Michael Phelps for the title in London 2012.
“It was the worst performance of my career, there will never be a worse performance than that no matter what happens,” Le Clos said.
“Like my dad said, we don’t cry for losing, we cry for winning, and as much as I want to cry, worse things have happened to me this year.
“This is not even the fifth worst thing that has happened to me over the last few months. I will take it on the chin, I will access it, and I will move on.”
Shortly before the Games it was announced that both his parents were being treated for cancer. Mother Geraldine had breast cancer which had returned since her remission in 2010 and had a double mastectomy, while his father, Bert, developed prostate cancer.
The 24-year-old said he would not be looking for any excuses for the defeat, and congratulated Phelps on reclaiming his title.
“I am in good shape and there is no reason for me to swim that slow, but firstly congrats to Michael, of course he is a phenomenal champion,” Le Clos said.
“I will not make any excuses from my side, there may have been reasons for the defeat, but I will never say that. “I’ve said before we started there is a possibility I could come in here and win two golds, two silvers or two fourths, but I have to do a lot better.”
Phelps demonstrated he was far from his sell-by date, winning his 20th gold medal when he touched first in 1:53.36 with Le Clos clocking 1:54.06, missing out on the podium.
Le Clos said he felt somewhat flat during the race as he waited for his customary kick, to no avail.
“I’ve let my country down, I felt like I should definitely have won that race, and this makes me hungrier,” he said.
“In my mind I was winning, with 10 metres to go I was winning, and my body just was going like ‘what’s going on here?’.
“When you get to an Olympic final, and there is first, second, and third – after that doesn’t matter.
“So I am not going to say what happened and what didn’t happen, it would be disrespectful to Michael and the other two guys.”