Baltimore Bullet v Durban Dynamo: how Chad le Clos and Michael Phelps will cause butterflies around the world tonight

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?

Chad's dad: the interview which wowed the Olympics... and your chance-by-chance guide to more South African medals

Unbelievable: Bert le Clos raving about golden boy Chad

IT’S being described in England as the best inerview of the London 2012 Olympics so far. The moment Bert le Clos, father of golden boy Chad, let it all hang out on the BBC.

Interviewed by Clare Balding high in the stands, bearded Bert could barely restrain himself after seeing the world’s greatest Olympian Michael Phelps beaten to the touch for a 200m butterfly triumph which secured South Africa’s best-ever double-gold start to a modern Olympiad.

Viewers around the world laughed and cried as Bert raved: "Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable. I’ve never been so happy in my life. It's like I just died and went to heaven. Whatever happens in my life now, it’s plain sailing. It’s plain sailing.

“Unbelievable. He’s the most beautiful, down-to-earth boy you could ever meet in your life.

“Fabulous. My boy Chad? He's beautiful! What a beautiful boy! Sorry, sorry. Look at him! He swims like you can’t believe. I love you. Oh my God.

“My other son is here, the small one, he’s somewhere out there, I can’t find him. He’s all over the place, you know. It’s not easy to get tickets. Unbelievable. Thanks Great Britain. Thank you very much."

Proud dad Bert’s 1min 45sec video meltdown is, legally, unavailable to South African viewers. Hopefully some technical guru will sneak it on to our screens later today. His gruff South African tones reflect the pride of a nation as Le Clos added to compatriot Cameron van der Burgh’s world-record breaking win on Sunday night in the 100m breast-stroke.

Chad, 20, went in to London 2012 admitting: “My time will come at Rio 2016,” and the lad who matriculated from Westville Boys’ High in 2009 was nearly overcome by emotion when Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika echoed around the packed Aquadome for a second time in three nights.

As a stunned Phelps – later to win a record 19^th medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay – threw an arm round his nemesis, Chad himself told the cameras: “To be honest I was lucky. Watching all Michael's races I know he finishes strong. It sounds crazy but I actually thought I was Michael at the last turn.

”Ever since I was 12, watching Athens 2004 when he won six gold medals, Michael has been an inspiration and role model.

"I have all his major races on my computer, I’ve watched the 100m butterfly final at Beijing 2008 a million times, when he beat Serbia’s Milorad Cavic by 0.01 seconds. I think I’ve seen that in seven different languages."

"When I turned there was a trigger point. I looked at him and I just thought I could try do something special. The last 25 metres were in slow motion and I just remember thinking to myself: ‘Don’t shorten up, keep it long.”

He did. And South Africans were treated to perhaps the most dramatic victory possible with bemused commentators raving about Phelps’s “rookie mistake”.

Le Clos could yet threaten the podium again in the final of Friday’s 200m individual medley. Remember, South Africa didn’t win a single gold in Beijing four years ago, where Khotso Mokoena’s long jump silver was the only thing of value brought home from a cheerless trip to China.

In fact you have to go back to Atlanta in 1996 to find a more successful gold haul, when Penny Heyns (two in the pool) and Hosiah Thugwane (marathon) triumphed in the USA.

Now South Africa, currently the leading African nation at the games of the 30^th Olympiad, stand on the verge of serious success. Tomorrow, the men’s lightweight four of James Thompson, Matthew Brittain, John Smith, Siswe Ndlovugo in to the final at Eton Dorney as fifth fastest qualifiers.

But given their second place at the Lucerne World Cup earlier this year, a medal is not beyond the realms of possibility. Remember, Le Clos was 50-1 to win gold against Phelps.

I’ve been to a couple of Olympics and witnessed how athletes feed off each other’s success in the village and around the venues. I suspect that may be the case here, with Team South Africa going in to the athletics on Friday with renewed confidence, real self-belief.

Sascoc’s predicted 12 medals remain a distant hope but I reckon South Africa could finish with ten gongs… and this is where the medals could be won:

Thursday 2: Rowing: Men's lightweight four: Brittain, Ndlovu, Smith, Thompson

Friday 3: Men's 200m Individual Medley: Le Clos

Saturday 4: Men’s long jump final: Mokoena

Sunday 5: Men’s 100m final (Usain Bolt) and women’s marathon with strong SA team

Monday 6: Men's 400m hurdles: LJ Van Zul

Tuesday 7: Men’s triathlon: Richard Murray

Thursday 9: Women’s K1 500: Bridgitte Hartley

Thursday 9: Women’s javelin final, Sunette Viljoen.

Friday 10: Men’s BMX final: Sifiso Nhlapo

Friday 10: Men’s 4x400m relay: four from Oscar Pistorius, Van Zyl, Fredericks, Ofentse Mogawane, Willie de Beer and Shaun de Jager.

Saturday 11: Final of women’s 800m: Caster Semenya

Sunday 12: Men's mountain biking: Burry Stander

The man with the golden touch: How South Africa's Chad Le Clos edged out Michael Phelps, the world's greatest Olympian

The man with the golden touch: South Africa's Chad Le Clos 

THERE will never be a more dramatic Olympic moment for South Africa than Chad Le Clos’s golden touch in the 200m butterfly at the glittering new London Aquatic Centre last night.

Sure, Cameron van der Burgh’s world record victory in the 100m backstroke was pretty special as he claimed Africa’s first medal of the 30^th Olympiad on Sunday night.

But it was the sheer drama of Le Clos’s triumph 48 hours later which makes South Africa’s second gold medal so special, so historic – and put the Rainbow nation ahead of Australia and hosts Great Britain on the medal table.

Afterwards, the 20-year-old from Durban sobbed through the national anthem before gushing: “Michael Phelps is my hero. I love the guy. I just wanted to race him in the final and I've beaten him. I can't believe it.

“It's been a dream of mine ever since I was a little boy. This is the greatest moment of my life. To beat Phelps, I can't believe it. You don't understand what this means to me.”

And of course, that’s the point. Phelps was the big character here. The world’s greatest ever swimmer was bidding to became the first male to win the same individual event at three Olympics.

Though it was given precious little hype by the local broadcasters, it was one of THOSE finishes. The kind you’ll remember with a huge grin when you’re old and cynical.

There was the greatest swimmer of all time, soon to be the greatest Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps cruising out in front. This was the night he would equal the great Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina’s all-time record of 16 gold medals.

And Le Clos, the lad who matriculated from Westville Boys in 2009 was trailing in third after two lengths against the man famous for winning tight finishes.

But unlike compatriot Van Der Burgh who is unbeatable over 50m in the breast-stroke, Le Clos is a strong finisher in the 200m butterfly. As they came down the last, he was third. Then second… and the commentators told us: “It’s Phelps, on his way to history. He’s got the lead, but is it a winning lead.  

“It’s going to be close, Phelps is hanging on, he’s a winner… does he touch? He DOESN'T. Le Clos GETS THE TOUCH! Incredible. The greatest swimmer we’ve even seen makes a rookie mistake.”

All around the pool – and all around the world – incredulity reigned. “The man who doesn’t make mistakes has made a mistake,” they told us, unsure how to find the words, unsure what to say about Le Clos, who was described as French by Reuters and Russian by USA Today’s tweets.

At one point, the commentators on the global feed told us about “Phelps’ controversial defeat” as if the great man had been wronged - but of course there was nothing controversial about it. He simply got done on the line by a youngster who said before London that he was “just warming up for Rio in 2016”.

To be fair, the commentators did manage to drag themselves away from Phelps for brief seconds: “You don’t get a bigger scalp ever than Michael Phelps,” was one effort, while they also applauded the emergence of France and South Africa in the pool.

Still, with the SABC and SuperSport sticking to the global feeds, the social networks were awash with complaints. And it was a full hour before we saw Chad again… for the medal ceremony. No attempt was made to get a microphone to Le Clos, despite the myriad of reporters sent to England for the Olympics.

Le Clos sobbed throughout the second rendition of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika in three nights, and Phelps managed to keep a smile on his face throughout.

Twenty minutes later, Phelps and the USA went on to win the 4x200m freestyle relay from France while South Africa, with Le Clos swimming a game third leg, finished seventh. And all the talk was of Phelps again, as he drew within a single gold of the all-time record and became, with 19, the leading medal winner of all time with 19 of all colours.

And speaking of colour, many twats on twitter began asking if Le Clos was white or coloured. As I told them: he’s not black, white or coloured. He’s simply pure gold.