Princess Charlene of Monaco was spotted wiping tears from her face during the playing of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica as Le Clos stood proudly on the podium, according to the Daily Mail.

Charlene, a former Olympic swimmer herself, was in the stands with her husband, Prince Albert, supporting the 20-year-old in the men's 200m butterfly race.

Le Clos beat American Michael Phelps by a mere 0.05 seconds.

The newspaper reported that the princess later joined the Le Clos family for the medal ceremony.

The royal couple had housed the South African swimming team at their vast facilities in Monaco to help them prepare for and acclimatise ahead of the London Olympics.

Another member of Team South Africa, Oscar Pistorius, got his first taste of an Olympic gold medal yesterday when he touched the one belonging to Le Clos.

"I saw him in the lift this morning . and he had his medal around his neck," said Pistorius.

"I asked him: 'Where are you going?', and he said, 'To the dining hall.'"

"You're taking the medal with you?" asked Pistorius.

"I haven''t taken it off since yesterday," replied Le Clos.

"He slept with it around his neck. I don't know what's going to happen when he has another event," laughed Pistorius.

"He's probably going to have to swim with it strapped on his back."

UK singer Lily Allen gave an idea of Bert Le Clos's excitement after his son's win by tweeting on Tuesday: "Wow le Clos's dad on the seat behind me. Lots of tears here. He just said he could die now." - Additional reporting by David Isaacson