South African Olympic Talent Showcased on Global Stage
African Voices Playmakers airs on CNN International Saturday 27th July 2024 at 0830 SAST
In the latest episode of African Voices Playmakers, CNN’s Larry Madowo meets two South African Olympians hoping to achieve glory in Paris.
First, South Africa’s most decorated Olympian, swimmer Chad Le Clos, who hopes to defy the odds to achieve his second gold in the 100-metre butterfly event at this year’s Games, and then South African Skateboarding prodigy, Boipelo Awuah, who withdrew from her event at the Tokyo 2020 Games due to an injury and who is now looking for redemption.
In his fourth Olympic games, Le Clos says: “I go against the current, chasing Olympic glory.”
The South African famously inched a victory in the 200-metre butterfly final against the most successful Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps. He explains, “When I walk into any race, even now, I look at the guy in the eye and I’m ready to fight to death. I’m ready to die for that race. So that’s the truth. And that’s how I was as a kid. That’s how I am today at 32. And I believe that’s the reason I was able to beat Phelps, because I showed him the utmost respect by showing him no respect.”
The swimmer continues, “That was always just the general sense of how I approached every race. There was no game plan. It was just dive in, be as close as you can as anybody in the world. […] Later on, I had to learn a lot of technique and I had to learn a lot of finesse. But in the end, that’s my core background and that’s what made me swim butterfly.”
Le Clos’ journey has been riddled with ups and downs, especially during Covid-19 and the Tokyo Olympics which prompted him to hit the reset button, “Chad Le Clos 2.0 was born in roundabout October 25th 2022. Right from there, I dominated the world cup in my events, went into the world championship with a lot of confidence.”
He tells CNN, “I think the sacrifice part is probably the most important to get started, you need to have the discipline, the sacrifice to achieve anything in life. That was the easiest part for me as a youngster. It became the hardest part life became very real, because with winning Olympics, you develop a drug that’s hard to even put into words.”
At home, Le Clos occupies his mind mentoring young South African talent, stating, “The Chad Le Clos Foundation came around in the last 18 months or so where that’s been a huge blessing for me to be able to give back to underprivileged kids.”
He hopes to top the podium once again with a new training coach, concluding, “I think for me, back then I just swam because it’s all I kind of knew. And now there’s a lot of other things that I know are not in the back of my mind, but I know what an Olympic medal or Olympic gold medal means to the country, means to myself, means to my family, means to my sponsor, means for everything in my, let’s say, in the Chad Le Clos bubble.”
Next, Madowo joins skateboarder Awuah who became South Africa’s youngest Olympian at 15 years old, earning her the nickname ‘the diamond of Kimberly.’ “The first diamond was found in Kimberley so any success story that comes out of Kimberley I believe has the diamond linked to their name, and that’s how I kind of got the nickname ‘diamond of Kimberley’,” she explains.
Making her debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the South African skateboarding sensation tells CNN, “My biggest goal for Tokyo was just to perform on that big stage, and for the female skateboarders in South Africa to see one of their own performing at that level. I really felt like that would give them hope. Even if I wasn’t going to win a medal, by just being there and skating and showing them that it is possible.”
But Awuah’s dreams were shattered, fracturing her pelvis whilst doing a 50-50 grind. Reflecting on what this has meant for her, she says, “The fact that I wasn’t able to skate, and I had gotten that far, and I wasn’t able to do what I was there for really broke my heart, but it motivated me also to come back stronger and better.”
Qualifying in Dubai last April, the skateboarder says, “To be representing skateboarding, it feels amazing, because skateboarding to the world is still something new, and I can see how people are really excited about this sport.”
As for how she is feeling about performing the same trick that nearly crushed her Olympic aspirations, Awuah confesses, “It still scares me a bit, I’m not gonna lie. So it’s kind of like a mental battle.” But, she adds, “I’m not going to leave it out for the next Olympics, I have to do it.”
The South African has spent most of her life skating with and competing against men, stating, “The female skate scene in South Africa and Africa as a whole, it’s still growing and developing, and I would really like for more female skateboarders to get into this sport without feeling intimidated from the guys.”
Awuah tells Madowo, “My main goal past the Olympics, is just helping a lot more skateboarders achieve their goals. And I see myself owning a skate academy five years from now where athletes who want to be Olympians can come and train.”
She concludes, “What inspires me is just seeing how people receive my story and what I do, how much they appreciate it, that’s what inspires me every day. To keep continue skating, to push myself, and to just chase my dreams.”
African Voices Playmakers airs on CNN International at the following times:
Saturday 27th July 2024 at 0830 SAST and 1200 SAST
Sunday 28th July 2024 at 0430 SAST and 1900 SAST
Monday 29thJuly 2024 0400 SAST
Saturday 3rd August 2024 at 0830 SAST and 1200 SAST
Sunday 4th August 2024 at 0430 SAST and 1900 SAST
https://edition.cnn.com/specials/africa/african-voices-changemakers
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