South Africa’s le Clos breaks Commonwealth Games medal record

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing Reuters, reported that South African swimmer Chad le Clos became the most decorated athlete in Commonwealth Games history after earning his 21st medal. The milestone came when South Africa finished third in the men’s 4x100-metre medley relay, with le Clos swimming the butterfly leg, late Wednesday at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The bronze moved the 34-year-old past Australian swimmer Emma McKeon on the all-time Games medal list. It was le Clos’s third medal of the 2026 event, following silver in the mixed 4x100 medley relay and bronze in the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay. His overall Commonwealth haul now stands at seven gold medals, five silvers and nine bronzes.

Le Clos’s Commonwealth record spans five editions of the Games. He first competed at Delhi 2010, where he won five medals as an 18-year-old, then added seven more in Glasgow in 2014, five on the Gold Coast in 2018 and one in Birmingham in 2022. After the relay, he described the night as emotional and credited his South African teammates, saying their support made the achievement especially meaningful.

The record adds to a career already defined by a major Olympic upset: le Clos beat Michael Phelps by 0.05 seconds to win the 200m butterfly at London 2012. He later won Olympic medals in Rio in 2016 and also competed in Tokyo and Paris. According to the report, le Clos has said he hopes to reach a fifth Olympics at Los Angeles 2028.