South African Olympic champion Chad Le Clos recently revealed on Instagram that he missed two weeks of training and spent three nights in hospital due to bronchitis.
Le Clos updates fans on his condition as he was anticipating competing in this week’s Midmar Mile, an open water competition that the Chad Le Clos Foundation has partnered with in order to raise funds to advance the development of swimming in South Africa.
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“I have a little bit of news,” Le Clos said. “Unfortunately, I have been sick the last couple of weeks. I was going to compete at the Midmar Mile coming up this weekend in Durban. Unfortunately, I haven’t trained for the last two weeks.”
The 29-year-old South African said he returned to training earlier this week, and plans on being in attendance at the Midmar Mile on the weekend to support the competitors.
The competition will begin on Thursday, with both 8 and 16-mile races, along with a new charity relay challenge.
He posted a second video thanking the competitors for their support and for entering:
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Le Clos is four-time Olympic medalist, having won a breakthrough gold medal in the men’s 200 butterfly at the 2012 Games in London when he upset two-time defending champion Michael Phelps.
Le Clos won silver behind Phelps later in the competition in the 100 fly, and added two more Olympic silver medals in 2016 when he placed second in the 200 free and 100 fly in Rio.
Also a four-time long course world champion and 10-time short course world champion, Le Clos made his third Olympic appearance for South Africa last summer in Tokyo, finishing fifth in the 200 fly and 18th in the 100 fly.
His most recent international appearance came at the 2021 Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi, where Le Clos won silver in the 100 fly and bronze in the 200 fly.