Rio de Janeiro – Wayde van Niekerk stunned the world to take South Africa’s first gold medal of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games early this morning.
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Van Niekerk’s time is made all the more remarkable by the fact his world-record run came from lane eight.
“Achieving what I just did now, I think the sky’s the limit”.
Johnson set the previous world record of 43.18 at Seville, Spain, in 1999. “When you keep going like that obviously a world record is going to fall”.
“I am still a bit amazed and I still have to pinch myself about what just happened”.
Grenada’s defending champion Kirani James finished second in 43.76 and America’s LaShawn Merritt, the gold medal victor in Beijing in 2008, came third in 43.85.
Van Niekerk marked himself as the leading contender for Rio when he led home Merritt and James with an exceptional run to win gold at last year’s world championships in Beijing, where the podium again all ran under 44 seconds.
“There are guys who have inspired me, Usain Bolt, Michael Johnson, they’re unbelievable guys and I’ve learnt from them”. Everyone loves Bolt, but his football team always clouded him ever so slightly – but thankfully van Niekerk has his head screwed on!
“Oh My God!” exclaimed Johnson to BBC One. “And I’m really grateful for the blessing he’s continued to give me in my life. I wasn’t in the best of shape but I really wanted to be in that race”.
In his Adidas ad, “Speed Takes Dreams”, Van Niekerk talks about what it took for him to be where he is today.
Asked whether he’d be annoyed at Bolt getting the headlines, the South African replied: “Not at all!” Usain Bolt will be retiring soon.
This year, he became the first sprinter to run the 100 below 10 seconds, 200 under 20 seconds and 400 in less than 44 seconds before deciding to concentrate on the longest distance in Brazil..
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“I’m just trying to decorate my achievements as an athlete as much as I can and put my right foot forward each time I hit the track”.
