{"id":12978,"date":"2022-08-01T13:03:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T13:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma"},"modified":"2022-08-01T14:08:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T14:08:24","slug":"record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma","title":{"rendered":"Record-setting South African swimmer Chad le Clos driven to ‘get back on top’ after trauma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Angola. <\/strong><\/span>Swimming superstar Chad le Clos says his mental health was “thrown into a lively state” prior to a history-making comeback at the Commonwealth Games.<\/b><\/p>\n

South Africa’s most successful Olympian became the joint most-decorated Commonwealth Games athlete of all time after collecting a record-equalling 18th medal on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Le Clos’ latest podium placing – a silver in the 200m butterfly – was his first in international competition since experiencing a personal trauma 18 months ago.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old will not disclose the nature of the incident but Le Clos wants others to know the value of seeking professional support.<\/p>\n

“It took me about seven or eight months to speak to somebody and I think that was a bit too late [as] it took a while for me to get back to normal,” he told BBC Sport Africa.<\/p>\n

“Certain things affect people in different ways and you have to be strong to seek some help and talk to someone.”<\/p>\n

Le Clos experienced his trauma in January 2021, six months prior to the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

“The Games were nothing for me – they felt like nothing for me. I don’t count that as an Olympics for me,” he said.<\/p>\n

Le Clos ‘in good spirits’ now<\/b><\/p>\n

Several iconic swimmers have spoken of their mental health challenges in recent years, with Australian Ian Thorpe discussing a diagnosis of depression and American Michael Phelps sharing how he manages anxiety and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

“My experience was a bit different but, yeah, there’s a lot of things that happen outside the pool,” Le Clos said.<\/p>\n

“I had some troubles, I was in a pretty dark place. This was something that happened last year and threw me into a bit of a lively state. I wish I could take back the last two years.<\/p>\n

“I was very lucky to have a great sports psychologist to help me get through a lot of things and of course my family were there.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a very hard year and a half, but I’m good now, I’m in good spirits. I’m happy, healthy and mentally I’m good. All the guys out there: just get help if you need it, don’t feel ashamed.”<\/p>\n

Le Clos insists his only focus now is winning races again after New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt narrowly edged gold in Sunday’s 200m butterfly final at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

“It hurts,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I thought I had enough in me to fight through to the end but the atmosphere in there was phenomenal and I knew someone was coming back at me, I just didn’t know who.<\/p>\n

“Today (Sunday) was the 10-year anniversary of me beating Phelps at London 2012 so it’s a bittersweet moment but I’ll be back. Getting back on top is all I care about now.”<\/p>\n

Le Clos made his Commonwealth Games debut in Delhi in 2010 and now has seven gold medals, four silvers and seven bronzes.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Angola<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Angola. Swimming superstar Chad le Clos says his mental health was “thrown into a lively state” prior to a history-making comeback at the Commonwealth Games. South Africa’s most successful Olympian became the joint most-decorated Commonwealth Games athlete of all time after collecting a record-equalling 18th medal on Sunday. Le Clos’ latest podium placing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":12977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[233,337,329],"class_list":["post-12978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-angola","tag-angola"],"yoast_head":"\nRecord-setting South African swimmer Chad le Clos driven to 'get back on top' after trauma - Angola<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Swimming superstar Chad le Clos says his mental health was "thrown into a lively state" prior to a history-making com ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Record-setting South African swimmer Chad le Clos driven to 'get back on top' after trauma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Swimming superstar Chad le Clos says his mental health was "thrown into a lively state" prior to a history-making com ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Angola\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-01T13:03:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-01T14:08:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_34.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Record-setting South African swimmer Chad le Clos driven to ‘get back on top’ after trauma\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-01T13:03:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-01T14:08:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma\"},\"wordCount\":521,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/angola\/sites\/65\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_34.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Angola\",\"Angola\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/angola\/all-news\/record-setting-south-african-swimmer-chad-le-clos-driven-to-get-back-on-top-after-trauma\",\"name\":\"Record-setting South African swimmer Chad le Clos driven to 'get back on top' after trauma - 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