Chad le Clos says his condominium in South Africa was destroyed by a deadly fireplace – the night time after the swimmer turned probably the most adorned athlete in Commonwealth Video games historical past.
Le Clos picked up his twenty first medal to overhaul Australia’s Emma McKeon because the athlete with probably the most medals in Commonwealths historical past, when South Africa took bronze within the males’s 4x100m medley relay in Glasgow final week.
It was the 34-year-old’s third medal of the 2026 Video games, having gained silver within the blended 4×100 medley and bronze within the males’s 4×100 freestyle relays.
Solely days later, Le Clos has revealed {that a} fireplace destroyed his dwelling of greater than a decade in Sea Level, Cape City and killed one in all his neighbours.
“It has taken me some time to course of this heartbreaking tragedy,” the 2012 Olympic gold medallist wrote on Instagram, exterior.
“On the night of 30 July, amid breaking the all-time Commonwealth file, a hearth began in my condominium block, which rapidly unfold to my dwelling. Sadly my dwelling, the place I’ve lived for greater than a decade, burnt down and there may be nothing left to salvage.”
Within the put up, Le Clos additionally paid tribute to his “neighbour of a few years” who died within the fireplace, providing his “deepest and most honest condolences” to the sufferer’s household and pals.
“No phrases can really ease a loss like this, however I hope the household is aware of that the ideas of a complete neighborhood are with them,” the Durban-born swimmer stated.
Based on stories, exterior, a 93-year-old resident died within the incident.
Le Clos added: “To my fellow neighbours whose houses and lives have been severely affected by this fireplace, please know that you’re not alone. This can be a tight-knit neighborhood and it’s in moments like these that we lean on each other.”
Le Clos, who famously beat Michael Phelps to win 200m butterfly gold on the London Olympics in 2012, stated he has launched a fundraising marketing campaign to assist his neighbours affected by the blaze.
Phelps was a 14-time Olympic champion and had not misplaced within the occasion since 2001 when the US icon was overwhelmed by Le Clos.
The South African gained his first Commonwealth medal in Delhi in 2010 on the age of 18 and now has seven gold, 5 silver and 9 bronze medals throughout 5 editions of the Video games.
Over his profession, he has gained 4 Olympic medals, 16 world titles, seven Commonwealth golds and 10 African titles.
