Golden Touch: Le Clos and Phelps after Tuesday night |
A WEEK ago, the very suggestion that South Africa would
grind to a halt on a Friday night to watch two men butterflying twice up and
down a swimming pool would have been laughed out of Soccer City.
Then along came Chad le Clos and his dad Bert.
When the Baltimore Bullet takes on the Durban Dynamo at
London’s sparkling new Aquatics Arena tonight at 8.38pm in a rematch dubbed The
Man With The Golden Touch II, the Rainbow Nation will stop to see if
Kwaaaaa-Zulu’s 20-year-old can edge out the 28-year-old superstar once more.
I’ll be at the Parlotones “This Is My Story” concert at
Monte Casino when the 100m butterfly final gets underway. I have just sent them
a polite request to stop the music and put South Africa’s fourth medal of
London 2012 live on the big screens during the concert.
Will they PUSH ME TO THE FLOOR? I think not. That would be a
GIGANTIC MISTAKE. Bert will be saying BABY BE MINE.
On Tuesday night the Parlotones did exactly that at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, as ex-pat South Africans gathered to hear their
favourite band – and paused briefly to see Le Clos produce a remarkable
last-gasp win over the world’s greatest Olympian.
Tonight they’re at it again, this time over two lengths
rather than four. And my, how international perceptions have changed since the
200m butterfly final. Phelps has gone on to break the Olympic records of most
medals won and most golds garnered.
And with a little help from his dad, Chad has become a
global brand. When he beat Phelps to the final touch in the 200m, the
commentators were harping on about the great man’s “rookie mistake” and “controversial
defeat”.
At the 100m semi-finals last night, with the two golden
heroes in separate races, the commentators whispered: “I wonder if Phelps will
hear the foot-steps of Le Clos in the final stretch tomorrow night,” and they
lauded the performance of South Africa’s swimmers, pointing out that, like
France, the men from the tip of the dark continent had altered swimming’s
balance of power for good.
And of course, everyone was asking: Where’s Bert. That’s
Chad’s dad, the bearded beauty whose post-gold chat with the BBC’s Clare Balding
has become he talking point of the games. Bert hailed his son as “beautiful”
four times, he used the word “unbelievable” six times and generally restored
the world’s faith in father-son relationships.
Bert will be there tonight. The cameras will no doubt
capture his antics in the stands as Chad goes for a second win and a record
fourth gold for South Africa – with the athletics events barely underway in
Stratford.
Phelps, who has seen off a tiring Ryan Lochte as the male
star in a world-record studded week of action in the pool, has been highly complimentary
of Le Clos since his uncharacteristic defeat on Tuesday, tweeting: “What a performance
from the South African. I’ve got to know him over the past year at a few photo
shoots, he’s a hard-working, talented lad.”
And Le Clos has told us about his hero-worshipping of
Phelps, whom he first saw winning at Athens, aged 12: “You have no idea what
this means to me. Beating my idol. I can’t believe it.” After last night's semi, he said: "It's brilliant to be racing Phelps again, but I've already shaved half a second off my best time, I don't know if I can do any more."
Strangely, while Le Clos was forced to pull out of the 200m
individual medley final to focus on the 100m butterfly and Lochte has
over-stretched himself on all fronts, Phelps manages to look stronger as the
week goes on.
With 20 medals behind him, Phelps goes in to tonight’s race
slightly quicker than Le Clos. In the 200m butterfly on Tuesday, he started the
final with a slightly slower qualifying time. I think Phelps has a tiny edge
going in to tonight’s 100m final… but that’s what the bookmakers thought last
time.
Tonight is about revenge for Phelps. Or another sensational
upset from Le Clos. Either way, swimming and London 2012 will win.
And whatever happens, South Africa will have their fourth medal.
And then, of course, we’re in to the athletics. Flag-bearer Caster
Semenya in the 800m, Sunette Viljoen’s world-beating javelin, long-jumper Khotso
Mokoena looking to repeat South Africa’s only medal (silver) in Beijing and, South Africa’s best shot, the 4x400m relay where
Oscar Pistorius, the legless Bladerunner, may run a lap.
And don’t foget Richard Murray in the triathlon on Tuesday,
Siphiso Nhlapo on BMX next Friday and Burry Stander in the mountain biking on
Sunday, the last day of the Olympics.
Successful Olympic teams tend to feed off each other’s
success. Why should South Africa not do the same and take us to the SASCOC
promised land of a record 12 medals?
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