All four Westville Old Boys in the South African swimming team at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow won medals. King of the pool was Chad Le Clos, who won an impressive seven medals, equaling the record for the highest number of medals won in the pool at a Commonwealth Games set by Australian swimmer, Ian Thorpe, in 2002. Each of the other three Westville Old Boys, Leith Shankland, Clayton Jimmie and Calvyn Justus, won two medals each.
Chad, who matriculated from WBHS in 2010, had set his sights on winning seven medals. He achieved this milestone, when he competed in the final of the 4×100 medley relay, in which South Africa won bronze. Earlier on the same evening, Chad won bronze in the 200m individual medley final.
Chad won two golds medals at the Games, one each in the finals of the 100m and 200m butterfly races. In both races he set new Games Records. He became the first swimmer to win both these races in the same edition of the Commonwealth Games since 1952.
Chad also won a silver medal in the 4X100m freestyle final, and bronze medals in each of the 50m butterfly and 4X200m freestyle finals.
At the conclusion of this competition Chad takes his total medal tally won at Commonwealth Games up to twelve medals, following his five medals won four year ago at Delhi.
Leith Shankland, who matriculated from WBHS in 2009, won silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay, and bronze in the 4X100m freestyle relay. He also earned the distinction of competing in the final of the 100m freestyle race, finishing in 7th place.
Clayton Jimmie, who matriculated from WBHS in 2013, won silver in the 4x100m freestyle race, by virtue of competing for South Africa in the semi-final of the race. In a similar fashion he won bronze in the 4x100m medley race. He also earned the distinction of competing in the semi-finals of the 100m freestyle race.
Calvyn Justus, who also matriculated from WBHS in 2013, won silver in the 4x100m freestyle race by virtue of competing for South Africa in the semi-final of the race. He won bronze in the 4x200m freestyle race in the same way.
Mention must be made of Graham Hill, also a Westville Old Boy, who was head coach of the South African team at the Commonwealth Games. He has played an integral part in training all of the South African swimmers.
The staff and pupils of WBHS congratulate Chad, Leith, Calvyn and Clayton on their incredible performances at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. We wish them well as they prepare for the challenges ahead, most notably the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.