Rio De Janeiro - Overshadowed by his close friend’s world-record breaking feat, Akani Simbine did not mind the lack of interest in his own achievement on a mad night for South African track athletics.
Van Niekerk just finished posing for photos of his new 400m world record when Simbine was announced as part of a star-studded 100m final field.
Simbine beamed when his name was called out walking towards the start of the 100 metres race where he would be joined by Jamaican world-record holder Usain Bolt.
In that moment Simbine became the first South African male sprinter since Danie Joubert in Los Angeles 1932 to make it into final of the 100m dash at the Olympic Games.
Although there has been fears over his start, they seemed justified on the night as he rose to the occasion with the best reaction of all the fastest men in the world.
As the eight men sped towards the line Simbine looked good for a bronze medal but was pipped to the line finishing in a close fifth place.
Simbine finished three hundredths of a second behind third-place winner Andre de Grasse of Canada, who clocked 9.91 seconds.
Bolt crossed the line for his third consecutive Olympic 100m title in a time of 9.81s with America's Justin Gatlin crossing the finish second in 9.89s.
It could easily have been a fourth place with former Jamaican world champion Yohan Blake only 0.01 second faster over the line.
Clocking two sub-10 second times in as many nights, Akani demonstrated he had well and truly arrived as one of the world’s fastest men.
“I am really happy, I am just a bit disappointed that I lost that bronze medal, I had a look at the replay and I realised that I actually in third spot,” Simbine said.
“Remembering in the race I was running in third spot but I tightened over the last five metres, and that is where I lost it.
“I’m pretty happy with the place I got and the time I ran at the Olympics.”
Simbine said he was calm going into the athletics’ blue-ribband event as his first goal was to make the final.
“After the semi I though deal done I got into the final and now I just have to go and run, and taking it easy,” Simbine said.
Simbine went into the Olympic Games as the fifth fastest man in the world with the national record of 9.89 seconds he posted in Hungary last month.
Speaking of Van Niekerk’s world-record breaking and Olympic title clinching run, Simbine said he knew his friend would be able to reach that feat.
“Wayde is amazing, spending time three months with him every year, I knew he would be this great, and I always knew he could break the record,” Simbine said.
“He was targeting it but he didn't bring it up much because that's just adding pressure, he just knew what he needed to do and we believed in what he could do,” Simbine said.
“It was just a thing of he said he was going to break the world record and there he did it.” - Independent Media