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Cape Town - Chad Le Clos' 200m butterfly Olympic victory over swimming legend Michael Phelps has been voted SA's sporting highlight of 2012 by Sport24 users.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Le Clos denied American Michael Phelps's bid for a 200m butterfly treble by a hair's breadth, as he relentlessly reeled in Phelps and plunged past him at the finish to win in 1:52.96 and claim the gold medal.
Phelps, who had led at every turn in a quest to become the first man to win the same Olympic swimming event at three successive Games, was just five-hundredths of a second back in 1:53.01.
GALLERY: Memorable moments of 2012
GALLERY: Le Clos' golden moment
Phelps had dominated the 200m butterfly for a decade. He owned the four fastest times in history and his world record of 1:51.51 is more than one second faster than the second-best performer in history.
The Proteas beating England to claim the ICC Mace, was a distant second favourite for SA's sporting moment of the year.
In our poll on the Sport24 website, readers were asked the following:
From a South African perspective, what was the sporting highlight in 2012?
These were the results:
20% - Chad le Clos' gold and silver medals at the London Olympics
15% - The Proteas beating England to move to No 1 and claim the ICC mace
14% - The Proteas' Test series victory in Australia
13% - WP beating the Sharks in Durban to win the Currie Cup
12% - Hashim Amla setting a new SA Test highest score record (311*) against England
10% - Ernie Els winning the Open Championship
6% - The SA Under-20 team winning the IRB Junior World Championship
3% - SA's gold medal in the men's lightweight four at the London Olympics
2% - Heyneke Meyer replacing Peter de Villiers as Bok coach
2% - The rise of Vernon Philander
1% - Gordon Igesund succeeding Pitso Mosimane as Bafana coach
1% - Cameron van der Burgh's gold medal in the 100m breaststroke at the London Olympics
1% The Boks' unbeaten end of year tour of the northern hemisphere
To win his gold medal, Chad Le Clos had to defeat the greatest Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, in the legend's strongest event (AFP Photo)
Check out Sport24's Facebook page or send us a Tweet.
Visit our MySport24 page and email your views, pictures and videos and any sport-related matter to sport@news24.co.za and we will hit the publish button!
At the 2012 London Olympics, Le Clos denied American Michael Phelps's bid for a 200m butterfly treble by a hair's breadth, as he relentlessly reeled in Phelps and plunged past him at the finish to win in 1:52.96 and claim the gold medal.
Phelps, who had led at every turn in a quest to become the first man to win the same Olympic swimming event at three successive Games, was just five-hundredths of a second back in 1:53.01.
GALLERY: Memorable moments of 2012
GALLERY: Le Clos' golden moment
Phelps had dominated the 200m butterfly for a decade. He owned the four fastest times in history and his world record of 1:51.51 is more than one second faster than the second-best performer in history.
The Proteas beating England to claim the ICC Mace, was a distant second favourite for SA's sporting moment of the year.
In our poll on the Sport24 website, readers were asked the following:
From a South African perspective, what was the sporting highlight in 2012?
These were the results:
20% - Chad le Clos' gold and silver medals at the London Olympics
15% - The Proteas beating England to move to No 1 and claim the ICC mace
14% - The Proteas' Test series victory in Australia
13% - WP beating the Sharks in Durban to win the Currie Cup
12% - Hashim Amla setting a new SA Test highest score record (311*) against England
10% - Ernie Els winning the Open Championship
6% - The SA Under-20 team winning the IRB Junior World Championship
3% - SA's gold medal in the men's lightweight four at the London Olympics
2% - Heyneke Meyer replacing Peter de Villiers as Bok coach
2% - The rise of Vernon Philander
1% - Gordon Igesund succeeding Pitso Mosimane as Bafana coach
1% - Cameron van der Burgh's gold medal in the 100m breaststroke at the London Olympics
1% The Boks' unbeaten end of year tour of the northern hemisphere
To win his gold medal, Chad Le Clos had to defeat the greatest Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, in the legend's strongest event (AFP Photo)
Check out Sport24's Facebook page or send us a Tweet.
Visit our MySport24 page and email your views, pictures and videos and any sport-related matter to sport@news24.co.za and we will hit the publish button!
