On Monday morning at 3AM, thousands of South Africans woke to the agonising drum of alarm clocks, piercing their ears. At the same time, eight of the world’s top athletes ached from the burning in their legs to the searing pain in their lungs, as they gasped for air while their feet pounded against the track. But it would take a record-breaking 43.03 seconds for all that pain to turn to utter elation. Wayde van Niekerk was about to make history, break records and stun Olympic legends while becoming one himself.
The Kovsies Varsity Athletics star, who has taken part in nine Varsity Athletics events, became the first Varsity Sports athlete in history to win an Olympic gold. And he did it in astonishing fashion. Van Niekerk was just 7-years-old when sprinting legend Michael Johnson set the 400m record of 43.18 – a time that has seemed unattainable, even untouchable, for the past 17 years.
It was a race of champions in every way possible. Three of the best 400m athletes in the event’s history, all at their peak, were on their marks. Lashawn Merritt, the 2008 Olympic champion in Beijing, Kirani James, the defending Olympic champion (London 2012), and Wayde van Niekerk, the current world champion – all set.
“Three men at the peak of their powers, only one will touch history tonight,” said the commentator. And then it was go!
Lane eight is said to be the least favoured in the 400m. Starting ahead, having to run the outside and longest bends, while the rest of the sprinters make up ground on the inside, shorter lanes; you’re forced to run the race blind, with no reference or means of pacing yourself.
It’s the reason no 400m athlete has ever won the event from lane eight in the history of the Olympic Games. Until Wayde van Niekerk. History meant little to Van Niekerk, lane eight was just a number to him. So was Michael Johnson’s 43.18. He obliterated the world record and won by nearly six metres, and did so in lane eight.
Just look at that winning margin.
Incredible.https://t.co/Vd0AsfPNtu #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/1BTLS9eBPx
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 15, 2016
“It’s a performance to set the hairs at the back of your neck tingling. We’ve never seen anything like it!” said the commentator, as Van Niekerk stunned the world.
Usain Bolt was seen, reacting in disbelief as he watched Van Niekerk smash the world record, while waiting to make history of his own in the 100m.
Usain Bolt's reaction to #WaydeVanNiekerk's WR 43.03 (breaking #michealJohnson's 43.18s) in the 400m final #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/sLTIvizrUH
— Fazmeer Rasheed (@fazmeerdj) August 15, 2016
“When he got the world record it was like ‘wow’,” said Bolt. “I’m really happy for him, really proud of him, he did extremely well.”
“He was someone I was trying to gauge off of but he just wouldn’t slow down,” said James, who finished second in the 400m. “That’s what happens in the 400 – in the last 100 usually guys slow down a bit but he just kept going. And when you keep going like that obviously a world record is going to fall.”
Michael Johnson, whose 17-year-old record tumbled, heaped praise on the South African.
Congratulations @WaydeDreamer to you and your coach! Well done and deserved. Olympic Gold and World record. I know the feeling! #Rio2016
— Michael Johnson (@MJGold) August 15, 2016
“I have never seen anything like that,” Johnson said. “It is amazing. That was a massacre by Van Niekerk. This young man has done something truly special. He could go under 43 seconds – I tried and failed. That was some style he broke it in.”
And Van Niekerk, who became the first athlete to go sub-10 in the 100, sub-20 in the 200m and sub-44 in the 400m earlier this year, isn’t done yet.
“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.”
Van Niekerk has inspired not only a nation, but aspiring athletes worldwide. And for all those who will take part in the 2017 season of Varsity Athletics, he has paved the way for dreams to be realised, and done so with a golden path.
400m Men’s Final records broken:
– First time in history all three 400m medallists have run a sub-44 time.
– Van Niekerk first athlete in history to win Olympic 400m final from lane eight.
– New world record of 43.03.
– First South African Olympic 400m champion in 96 years (Bevil Rudd, 1920).
The world reacts:
