‘CHAD WILL BOUNCE BACK’
Coach believes Le Clos will be a force in the 100m butterfly after 200m pain
HE MAY have had his wind knocked out in the 200m butterfly final but coach Graham Hill believes Chad le Clos will pick himself up again for the 100m event.
Le Clos suffered a shock defeat finishing in the dreaded fourth-place position with American swimming icon Michael Phelps reclaiming the title he conceded to the South African four years ago.
It was billed as possibly the match-up of the Olympics, and it did not disappoint as the drama unfolded in spectacular fashion.
Turning in second place behind Phelps it looked like a repeat from London 2012 would play out in front of a boisterous crowd.
The realisation soon sunk in that Le Clos would not only lose his crown but a podium place altogether as he touched in fourth place with Phelps winning in 1:53.36. Hill said everything had gone according to plan over the first three laps but Le Clos somehow managed to see the title and a medal slip out of his hands.
“At the 150m mark he was good at 1:20.33 that’s where we wanted to be, and he just didn’t have it to come home,” Hill said.
“It was a big race, and hats off to Michael, the true champion that he is, and he really put up a big show tonight and held it over the last 50 metres.
“It just wasn’t Chad’s night tonight, and he still has the 100m butterfly to come so I am sure he will be back and challenging on Friday night.”
To add insult to injury Le Clos looked up to the results on the big screen showing Masato Sakai of Japan and Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi ahead of him in second and third place respectively.
Sakai clocked a time of 1:52.03 while Kenderesi posted a time of 1:53.62 with Le Clos touching in 1:54.06.
Olympic gold medallist Ryk Neethling believes it was the last time Le Clos would feature in the 200m butterfly at a major championship.
“In my humble opinion I think this is the last time we will see Chad swim the 200m fly at a major event,” Neethling said.
“I think he is going to be a great 100m freestyler, he is going to get bigger and stronger, it is also a much easier race to train for than the 200m butterfly, it is an animal.”
Neethling, was a member of the “awesome foursome” that won the gold medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Games in world-record time.
He believes Le Cos could dominate the blue-riband event in years to come turning his focus on the 100m, 200m freestyle, and the 100m butterfly events.
“After he won the 200m freestyle silver medal I thought it was obvious he is in good shape swimming a personal best while his butterfly has been good throughout the season,” Neethling said.
“It was a shock to me, I didn’t expect that to happen, I haven’t spoken to him yet but I think he may have focused too much on him and Phelps instead of focusing on his own race which he is good at. It is just one of those that you don’t know what happened.”
Neethling said the hype around the 200m butterfly had taken its toll on the swimmers with Phelps handling it better.
Hungarian world champion Laszlo Cseh was the other major casualty in the race. He finished in seventh place.