'Obliteration': Clyde Lewis needed medical help mid-interview after 400m IM triumph
Clyde Lewis made it to the wall to win gold in the 400m IM, had enough energy to climb onto the lane ropes to salute the crowd ... but that was where he ran out of petrol.
After a draining swim in one of the most-demanding events on the program, the 20-year-old from Brisbane almost collapsed during his poolside interview before he was given medical assistance.
Lewis needed some help from an official to limp over to the camera but could only say one word when he got there: "Obliteration."
That said everything. Seven's poolside interviewer Nathan Templeton asked Lewis a number of times whether he wanted to talk, then called for a chair to help him out as he struggled to recover.
Templeton then called off the interview to let Lewis seek assistance he left everything - and more - in the pool to claim victory in the event for Australia for the first time for 14 years.
A quick rest and a refreshment later and Lewis was on top of the podium to hear the anthem and get his medal, before he returned to finish the chat, or start the chat.
"I feel great now, just needed a drink. I was red-lining halfway through the freestyle, I don't even remember much from that last 50m," Lewis said.
Lewis is a big character but a clear talent in the water. He sliced nearly four seconds off his personal best to touch the wall in a 4:13.12s, holding off Scotland's Mark Szaranek as the crowd drove him home through the pouring rain.
That sort of time is about five seconds adrift of serious medals on the world stage but it would be enough to get him into an Olympic final. With Tokyo two years away, there's little reason Lewis can't be a force at the next Games.