ARENA CONTINUES PARTNERSHIP WITH OLYMPIC & WORLD CHAMPION CHAD LE CLOS

24 May 2022

arena is pleased to announce it has renewed its sponsorship of South African swimming icon, Chad Le Clos. The 30-year-old butterfly and freestyle veteran has been part of arena’s elite team since 2010, and is now contracted through the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

“I’m proud to continue my long standing partnership with Arena as we lead up to the Paris 2024 Games,” said Chad. “Having worked with them since 2010, they’ve been a great support over the years, and as they continue to develop world leading technology and products, I couldn’t imagine wearing any other suit.”

Chad’s career started taking off in 2010, his final year at high school, when his butterfly and IM performances stood out at the Youth Olympics in Singapore, the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, and the World Short Course Championships in Dubai. But it was his London Olympics performances, and the 200m butterfly in particular, that catapulted him into swimming’s headlines as he out-touched Michael Phelps in the now-famous 200m butterfly final. He also won a 100m butterfly silver medal in a tie with Yevgeny Korotyshkin, repeating the effort four years later in Rio in the Olympics’ first-ever three-way tie as he touched simultaneously with Phelps and Lászlo Cseh.

The 6 years following London was a purple patch for Chad. Amongst other triumphs, at the FINA World Championships he swept the 100m & 200m butterfly titles in 2013 (Barcelona), and won the 100m title in 2015 (Kazan), and the 200m butterfly title in 2017 (Budapest). At the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and Gold Coast respectively, he won the 100m-200m butterfly double at both, and added the 50m butterfly title in 2018. He swept all 3 butterfly titles at both the 2014 and 2016 World Short Course Championships in Doha and Windsor respectively, as well as the 200m freestyle title in 2014. He is the most successful swimmer in the history of the FINA Swimming World Cup series, having been the overall men’s winner 4 times (2011, 2013, 2014, 2017).

Chad was the world short course record holder of the 100m butterfly for 6 years (2014-2020) and the 200m butterfly for 5 (2013-2018), was FINA World Swimmer of the Year twice (2014, 2018), African Swimmer of the Year from 2012 to 2019, and was honoured to carry the South African flag at the Tokyo Olympic Games. He is already the most decorated swimmer in Commonwealth Games history, and if he adds just 1 medal at the 2022 edition in Birmingham, we will tie for the Games’ most successful athlete of all time.

10 years on from his breakthrough moment, Chad is impressively still chasing – and setting – new records. That’s a mighty long time to be at the top of your game, and with this year’s World Championships in Budapest and the 2024 Paris Olympics in his sights, it’s highly likely he will yet add to his growing legacy.