Van Niekerk crossed the line a good five metres ahead of 2012 champion Kirani James and held his hands to his head in disbelief at his time before being embraced by the Grenadian, who took silver in 43.76.
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According to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), this gold medal is the first for South Africa in track events since the country’s readmission to world sport in 1992.
He beat James and Merritt at the World Championships in Beijing previous year, with all three going under 44 seconds, but qualified fifth fastest for the final in Rio.
Exploding out of the blocks in lane 8, Wayde van Niekerk didn’t see another runner in the entire Olympic 400-meter final.
‘That was a massacre from Wayde van Niekerk, he just put those guys away’. Van Niekerk managed around the 2.05m mark, but qualifying for the 2009 World Juniors in 200m saw him concentrate on sprinting.
“I believed it was possible”, the 24-year-old said.
“She has played a huge role in who I am today and kept me very disciplined and very focused on the role and who I need to be”, he told reporters.
“I’m really proud of him”, Bolt said. “I knew the time was going to be fast, [but] I didn’t think it was going to be 43.0 fast”.
Beamon broke the world record by 55cm – over half a metre – at high altitude. Johnson said. “It is something I thought I could do but never did”. It was the first 400m race in history that featured three runners under 44 seconds.
Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa is the new Olympic champion and world record-holder in the men’s 400m at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
With Usain Bolt, who’s openly Manchester United, retiring after Rio, it’ll be nice that athletics’ next superstar supports us instead of our rivals.
While gold was always on the agenda, it was his world record 43.03 seconds that shocked many in Rio.
“He keeps on going, so for me I wasn’t really surprised that he got it. I can say tonight that God is great”. I was so excited that we got the win over Arsenal.
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Bolt was quick to congratulate van Niekerk, with the latter revealing he had been inspired by the world’s fastest man during a training camp in Jamaica.
