But thankfully there’s now a Van Niekerk, South Africa’s latest record breaking Olympic gold medallist.
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Manchester United have their fastest fan in superstar Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt but the Liverpool Club now has its fastest fan too in Wayde van Niekerk.
The South African government took the lead in congratulating Wayde, then Minister of Sports joined in.
Van Niekerk helped Team South Africa rise to seven medals, adding to the silver medals of Chad Le Clos (two), Cameron van der Burgh, Luvo Manyonga, Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling, and the bronze from Sevens rugby side.
He’s the first man ever to run under 10 seconds for the 100m, 20 seconds for the 200m and 44 seconds for the 400m.
After the race, Van Niekerk said: “I have dreamed of this since forever, since I was a kid. I wasn’t really surprised he got it”, Bolt said. “I wasn’t in the best of shape but I really wanted to be in that race”.
“He’s the one that blessed me with this talent”. I am just glad things went my way.
I believed it was possible.
Van Niekerk was, understandably, all smiles after the race, and revealed it wasn’t just his gold medal-winning performance that had him delighted.
He says his family’s presence at the games made all the difference.
“I’m still a bit amazed, I still have to pinch myself with what just happened”.
“Well at this moment my heart is still pounding, it’s still very unreal. It is something I thought I could do, but never did”. The 24-year-old finished in 43.03 seconds, 0.15 quicker than the time Johnson clocked in Seville in 1999.
He believes that Van Niekerk has more potential at his very young age, and that he could be the next star once Usain Bolt retires.
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The American witnessed his 17-year-old record fall in Brazil first-hand and was blown away by the South African.
