CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Olympic champion swimmer Chad le Clos says his home in South Africa was destroyed in a fire a day after he became the most decorated athlete ever at the Commonwealth Games.
Le Clos said in a post on his Instagram account on Tuesday that his apartment in Cape Town was one of several in the block to be gutted in a fire on July 30 while he was at the games in Glasgow, Scotland.
The 34-year-old South African won a record 21st Commonwealth Games medal a day before the fire with a bronze in the men’s 4×100-meter medley relay.
“On the evening of 30 July, amidst breaking the all-time Commonwealth record, a fire started in my apartment block, which quickly spread to my home,” le Clos posted. “Sadly my home, where I’ve lived for more than a decade, burnt down and there is nothing left to salvage.”
Le Clos offered his condolences on the death of an elderly man in the apartment block fire in the oceanside suburb of Sea Point. He said the man had been his neighbor for many years. Le Clos said his foundation would raise money to help other neighbors rebuild their homes.
Le Clos claimed Olympic gold in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2012 London Olympics and has won four Olympic medals and 16 world titles in total.
Glasgow was his fifth Commonwealth Games, and he has said he plans to compete at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
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