South Africa’s most decorated Olympian, Chad le Clos, insists he still has the killer instinct which carried him to the lofty heights he reached earlier in his career.
After securing a total of four medals at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics, Le Clos missed out on the podium at last year’s Tokyo Games.
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The four-time world champion also missed the podium at this year’s global long-course championships in Budapest and secured only one medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, after raking in 17 at the previous three editions of the showpiece.
Still hungry
And though he will be 32 at the Paris 2024 showpiece, Le Clos says he is still hungry to challenge for the podium after bagging three medals at the opening leg of the Fina World Cup in Berlin at the weekend.
While countryman Matthew Sates was flaunting his talent in the German capital, taking the overall lead in the short-course series with five medals, Le Clos also stood out with two gold and one silver in butterfly finals.
“I’ve come from a dark place. A year ago I didn’t even want to swim and I was just going through the motions,” he said.
“But I’ve got myself mentally back to where I need to be. I’m a killer again.”
Having burst back into form, Le Clos was hoping to regain some momentum in the World Cup series, in the build-up to the World Short-Course Championships in Melbourne in December, but he still had bigger long-term goals.
He was targeting more prestigious medals at next year’s long-course World Championships in Fukuoka and the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Done with losses
“I’ve been taking a lot of losses lately, but I’m done with that now,” Le Clos said.
“I’m making the slow climb back to the top, and we’re taking baby steps so we still have to improve a lot, but the focus is on the World Championships in Fukuoka next year, and of course Paris.”
