DUBAI // South African swim star Chad le Clos is looking forward to renewing his battle with his childhood “hero” Michael Phelps at the Rio Olympics next year following a summer of verbal duels between the two.
Le Clos stunned Phelps at the 2012 Olympic Games in London to win the 200-metre butterfly gold, but, speaking to the media in May earlier this year, the American legend bemoaned the “slow” times in the butterfly swims in recent years.
The South African snapped when asked to react to Phelps’s comments after winning the 100m butterfly gold in 50.56 seconds at the World Aquatics Championships in August.
“I just did a (100m butterfly) time that (Phelps) hasn’t done in four years, so he can keep quiet now,” he reportedly said.
Phelps, the 100m butterfly (49.82s) and 200m butterfly (1 minute 51.51s) world record holder, responded by saying he doesn’t “trash talk” and knows “his facts about swimming”.
Le Clos, who is in Dubai to compete in the final leg of the Fina World Cup at the Hamdan Sports Complex, insisted he had never asked Phelps to “keep quiet”. But at the same time, he said he does not care what the American great – who was not selected to the US team for the World Championships in Kazan because of his arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol 11 months earlier – thinks about him.
“That was very misquoted and very wrong, what they have said about me,” Le Clos said. “The American media blew it out of proportion. But it doesn’t make any difference to me now.
“I don’t really care what Phelps thinks of me. I am coming there [the 2016 Rio Olympics] to race, not to make friends.
“I have a lot of respect for him. He is the greatest of all time and I have said that many times, but if the media wants to blow it out of proportion, that’s their business. I am not going to let the media dictate how I swim.”
Le Clos, who has always “looked up” to Phelps, considers racing against the American – a recipient of 18 Olympic gold medals, including eight at the 2008 Beijing Games and winner of 26 gold medals at the World Championships – as a privilege, and the South African is looking forward to renewing their battle at the Rio Olympics next summer.
“To race against my hero Michael Phelps (at the 2012 London Olympics) was a dream come true,” Le Clos said. “Since I was a young boy. I was 11 or 12 years old when I started looking up to him.
“There’s no secret why I swam butterfly. It’s because of him. Obviously when I beat him at the Olympics, it was a very special moment.
“So I am always looking forward to racing Michael Phelps. It’s a pleasure for me to race him. He’s excited and I am sure it’s going to be a great race. For me, it’s about trying to be the best. If I can win, I will be really, really happy. I am sure Phelps will be thinking the same thing.”
arizvi@thenational.ae
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