Chad le Clos: Greatest sportsperson in CWG history, who beat Phelps at Olympics

6 min readUpdated: Jul 29, 2026 06:50 PM IST On Tuesday, le Clos had Medal No.20 that tied him with Aussie swimmer Emma McKeon. (Instagram/chadleclos92) In swimming hero Chad le Clos‘ official documentary ‘Unbelievable’ from 2016, fast bowling legend Dale Steyn says there are three sports in South Africa that get looked after really well: Cricket, rugby and football. “You go further down… (to swimming), I don’t know how well they are supported.” This was four years after le Clos had upset Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly for a stunning gold at the London Olympics.A decade on, top South African swimmers, from Pieter Coetzee to Erin Gallagher, pushed through not only to chase gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, but to drive le Clos to becoming the joint most medalled CWG athlete ever