Rio de Janeiro - Leaving behind a wake of destruction, Wayde van Niekerk dismantled the long-standing 400m world record with every heart-pounding step he took from the outside lane for his Olympic title.
In the 43.03 seconds Van Niekerk covered the one lap, he produced South Africa’s best ever performance on the track and one of the greatest moments in the history of the Games.
Annihilating iconic American sprinter Michael Johnson’s previous record from Seville in 1999 by 0.15sec, Van Niekerk became the first South African since 1975 to set a world athletics mark. Back then, John van Reenen broke the men’s discus throw world record before conceding it later that year.
Van Niekerk wrote a new chapter for South African athletics racing from the unfavourable eighth lane not knowing where the chasing pack was.
“I can’t even tell you what happened in the race. I think when I got the finish line, I was expecting one of them to catch me. I’m still amazed and I still have to pinch myself about what happened,” Van Niekerk said.
He covered the first 100m in 10.7 seconds before he got into his stride to go sub-10 over the second quarter with at time of 9.8 seconds.
He shot out of the bend with a split of 10.5 before the lactic acid kicked in to see him covering the final 100 metres in a slow 12 seconds.
“Yeah, I thought someone was going to catch me, because I felt very alone and I was like what’s going on, what’s going on?’
“It gave me so much motivation to keep on pushing and as I got to the finish line I just dove for it and right after that I said don’t sit, don’t sit’. So I went on my knees and thanked the Lord and right after that I went to my family and thanked everyone for tonight.”
Van Niekerk had left two of the fastest men over the one-lap sprint metres behind, with defending champion Kirani James of Grenada finishing in 43.76 with LaShawn Merritt of the United States bagging bronze in 43.85s.
“He was somebody I was trying to gauge off of but he just wouldn’t slow down. He just kept going and when you keep going like that, obviously a world record is going to fall,” James said.
“It was not just a world record, the fastest Olympic time out of lane eight was Alleyne Francique when he did that in 2004 (44.66s). So for him to come in and do that, a second and a half faster, I think that’s just incredible.”
Earlier this year Van Niekerk established himself as the first man to run sub-10 seconds over 100m, sub-20 seconds over 200m and sub-44 seconds over 400m.
Van Niekerk promised himself he would not collapse onto the track they way he did when he won the world title in Beijing last year.
In becoming the Olympic champion, Van Niekerk knocked 0.45 seconds off his previous best from last year’s IAAF World Championships.
Talks of Van Niekerk possibly breaking Johnson’s 17-year-old record started gaining traction after he clocked the sixth fastest time of all time.
He came painstakingly close to becoming the first man to dip below 43 seconds, missing the mark by 0.03s.
After some time of reflection, Van Niekerk dared to dream big as he exclaimed “the sky is the limit”.
“Achieving what I just did, I think the sky is the limit. There is no way I’m going to limit myself,” he said, the South African flag proudly hanging down his shoulders.
Van Niekerk also took time to acknowledge his 74-year-old Tannie’ Ans Botha, who has become a darling of the international press.
“She is an amazing woman, she’s played a huge role in where I am today,” Van Niekerk gushed. “She’s really kept me very disciplined and very focused and I’m just grateful that I could trust in her work and I think it speaks for itself.”
The Star