‘We did it for Chad’: SA team backs Le Clos as he equals Commonwealth Games record

Le Clos should have a chance to close out his Commonwealth Games career with a 21st medal on Wednesday night. Though he wasn’t with them in the pool, Erin Gallagher said the SA 4x100m mixed medley relay team had Chad le Clos on their minds when they turned out in the final at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Tuesday night. He did not compete in the final, with Gallagher, Pieter Coetzé, Michael Houlie and Aimee Canny setting an African record of 3:42.61 to secure silver, but Le Clos received a medal after participating in the first-round heats. In the process, 34-year old Le Clos earned his 20th medal at the quadrennial multi-sport showpiece, equalling the overall career record haul held by Australian swimmer Emma McKeon. Last week, the former Olympic champion had claimed the men’s record of 19 medals achieved at the Games. “We did it for Chad. We wanted to get that 20th medal for him,” Gallagher said after the final. Chasing 21st medal Le Clos could take the record from McKeon in the men’s 4x100m medley relay final on Wednesday evening, provided he is selected for the medal contest after being rested in the heats. If he does step on the podium again, it would be an appropriate ending to what has been a remarkable career history at the Commonwealth Games. He made his debut at the Games in Delhi in 2010, earning five medals, and he went on to secure seven medals in Glasgow in 2014. And though it seemed his career was winding down at later editions, he continued to rake in medals, claiming five in Gold Coast in 2018, one in Birmingham in 2022, and two thus far at the ongoing spectacle in Glasgow. If he can earn one more podium place, it would be a cherry on the cake to celebrate his remarkable longevity.