South African swimmer Chad le Clos has split from longtime coach Graham Hill.
“Graham Hill has done a great job as my coach for 14 years,” Le Clos said in a statement. “We have achieved a lot together at every level of the sport: The Olympics, The World Championships, The Commonwealth Games and The FINA World Cups.
However, having considered everything, I have decided to end our agreement and will now start looking to find a new structure for 2017.
For the rest of the 2016 season, I will work by myself. Every athlete has to take responsibility for his or her own career and I feel ready to try a different approach.”
Le Clos, 24, earned zero gold medals at the Rio Olympics after upsetting Michael Phelps for the London 2012 200m butterfly title.
Le Clos also swept the 100m and 200m butterflies at the 2013 Worlds and won the 100m butterfly at the 2015 Worlds, with Phelps absent from both meets but their rivalry only growing with verbal barbs.
In Rio, Le Clos took silver in the 200m freestyle and shared silver in the 100m butterfly with Phelps and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh. He was fourth in his trademark event, the 200m butterfly, with Phelps recapturing the Olympic crown.
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