Paris 2024: Olympic swimmer Lewis Clareburt commits to reviving his Olympic TikTok content

Kiwi swimmer Lewis Clareburt confirms he’ll be back on TikTok in Paris this year, giving fans an inside look at the Olympic Games.

The 24-year-old’s popular daily diaries from the 2020 Tokyo Games showed what went on behind the scenes.

Despite missing out on a medal, he came away with more than 100,000 followers and 5 million likes on the app.

@lewis_clareburt

free @asics shoes in the Olympic Village! #olympicspirit #tokyo2020 #olympics

♬ Smooth Operator (TikTok Remix) - Pandora's Box

He told the Herald he planned to use social media again this year to provide insights into his experiences and fill the void he perceived from his childhood.

“The reason I started filming during the Olympics last time was because, when I was a kid, I really loved the Olympics and I loved watching the Olympics, but we only got to see the Olympics from the perspective of the media or watching the athletes actually race.

“I wanted to show it from the athlete’s perspective – the Village and all the stuff that you don’t really see.

“I feel like it resonated with the world because they got to see what we were doing and I was just showing the little 12-year-old Lewis what he wanted to see.

“I wanted to see the food hall.

“I’d had heard stories that they had McDonald’s there [but] unfortunately, there was no McDonald’s when I went.

“All the little things, you know the food was definitely high on the priority list and then the free stuff.

“We got a new phone, some headphones, we got a pair of shoes.”

The butterfly and medley specialist anticipates he’ll get to share and experience a refreshing shift in the atmosphere.

Lewis Clareburt is looking forward to a big spectator and media presence in Paris after the Covid-hit Tokyo Games. Photo / Photosport

Having navigated the Covid-affected Tokyo Games, he hopes the spectators and media presence in Paris will add another dimension.

“It makes me excited.

“This is the first time I get to do that in front of everyone. It’s not just people behind a TV screen or a camera so I’m excited to see what it’s going to be like.

“It’s going to be a lot busier for sure – the Olympics when I went it was empty, you know, it was just athletes.

“So this year I’m expecting there to be thousands of people in the stands because I know they’re already sold out pretty much.

“I’m just expecting it to be huge, to be noisy, it to be overwhelming ...”

He’s already noticing changes after it was announced that masses of condoms have been made available to the athletes.

The intimacy ban in place at the 2020 Games has been lifted for Paris, leaving the Olympic Village stocked with 300,000 condoms.

“When I went in Tokyo, I didn’t see any,” Clareburt said.

“I’m not sure if that was because it was during Covid and they didn’t want people to interact.”

The Wellingtonian, who ditched his base in the capital for Auckland in October, shares the universal ambition of every athlete at this year’s Olympics – to claim a coveted medal.

He won gold in the 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and hopes to find similar success in Paris this July.

Lewis Clareburt with his gold medal for the men's 400m individual medley at the Commonwealth Games in 2022. Photo / Photosport

“I’d love to be on the podium.

“I mean, ultimately a medal is what I live for and what I train for.

“You could call that a bare minimum, but ultimately I just have to swim as fast as I can and if that gets me on the podium then it’s a dream come true.”

Bonnie Jansen is a multimedia journalist in the NZME sports team. She’s a keen footballer, passionate about women’s sport and was part of the Te Rito cadetship scheme before becoming a fulltime journalist.