I WAS IN A DARK PLACE

THE voice on the Zoom call from Dubai is as cheery as ever. He’s sorry his camera is off, he says – he’s connecting via his phone and his battery is a bit low.

“But here,” he says, “I’ll switch the camera on for a few seconds just to show it’s me.”

This is the confident, friendly Chad le Clos we’ve all come to know and love – the golden boy of the pool, the most decorated Olympian in South African history, the human fish who defeated Michael Phelps at the 2012 Games to become the toast of the swimming world.

Chad looks and sounds so like his old self