Luck or destiny – Chad faces his moment of truth
RIO DE JANEIRO: As much of the clamour in Rio is about seeing records, it is also about recording sightings of stars who have come to define their respective sporting codes.
Yesterday, in the relative calm of the butterfly heats – in the day, which normally draws the curious rather than the colourful crazies of the night session – a gaggle of young girls sprinted up the stairs, then back down.
They were torn between watching Michael Phelps compete from their seats in the arena, or take their chances to catch a glimpse as he worked his way through the scrum.
In the end, they took their chance to see him in the fleeting flesh. Eyeball to eyeball, the American legend is a lot bigger than he appears before millions on telly.
He’s a threshing machine, and the purple bruises all over his body make him appear all the more battered. And bruised. And brilliant.
The purple markings are the results of a new recovery technique that the 19-time Olympic champion has employed over the last year. It’s called “cupping”, and involves heated cups being used to suck his muscles out after training, to speed up his rate of recuperation.
The side effects are the purple patches, but Phelps is not here for appearances. He’s here for history, with the 4x100m freestyle already adding another glittering chapter to the greediest collector of the most precious metal since South Africa’s gold rush.
Ironically, a South African golden boy stands in the way of Phelps’s quest for number 20. Chad le Clos, no longer the stranger of 2012, but the rival of the here and now, has been eyeing August 9, 2016, ever since the date was set.
The heist of London was one thing, but Le Clos wants to do it now, with all the world watching, to prove that it wasn’t luck, but his destiny.
The die is terrifically cast, and the stage is set for two of the biggest gladiators in the pool to square off in tonight’s 200m butterfly final. Both held back in the heats, and squeezed the gas a bit more in the semis. You can be sure that it will be full throttle in the final, though.
This matters. For reasons that are similar and incredibly different, but all tied to a chunk of yet more history.
Deep into the night, early morning by South African time, Le Clos will look to add Rio to his list of favourite cities, and perhaps ensure that clamour from the public is to catch a glimpse of Chad, the man who looked at Phelps in the eye, and didn’t blink.
Twice.