Wayde van Niekerk: A Legend
Introducing beBee to the greatest athlete ever from South Africa – Wayde van Niekerk.
I watched the Olympic Games in disbelief on Sunday. Wayde set a new world record in the 400m running an astounding time of 43.03 seconds - smashing the seventeen year old record of Michael Johnson of the USA.
Wayde drew the outside lane in the final race. The most difficult lane to run in as one cannot see competitors and regulate your pace against the others. On the outside he decided to run as hard as he can from the start, to finish in an historic win more than five metres ahead of the second athlete.
After the nights’ events, Usain Bolt was seen breaking off mid-way in an interview to run over to Wayde and congratulate him. The picture of Usain Bolt embracing Wayde must be one of the iconic pictures of this year’s games.
Wayde showed early promise at school as an athlete and was equally good at soccer. It was only when he enrolled at the University of the Free State a few years ago that he came under the training wing of Ans Botha. She saw the burgeoning talent and said: "I begged him to focus only on athletics".
Botha is a legend herself. A seventy-four year old great grandmother who has been coaching the varsity athletes for the last few decades. She said of Wayde’s Olympic performance: “This medal was planned three years ago.”
Another feat of Wayde not so widely known. Earlier this year he became the first ever sprinter to have completed the 100m under 10s, the 200m under 20s and the 400m below 44s. His times of 9.98s, 19.94s and now 43.03s is again an achievement that eclipses the times of Michael Johnson.
Wayde is the fastest man ever over the trio of sprinting events.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics once said: “The Olympic games were created for the exaltation of the individual athlete”.
South Africa exalts in Wayde van Niekerk, the new world record holder in the 400m and the greatest all round sprinter ever in the history of athletics.
Photo credits:
heraldsun.com.au
alchetron.com
enca.com
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Comments
Gert Scholtz
6 years ago #14
CityVP Manjit
7 years ago #13
Gert Scholtz the story becomes more and more interesting as I peel all its many onion layers and added to that layer now is the story of Niekerk's mother - Odessa Swarts who was an athlete herself but could not compete for South Africa because of all of that which surrounded apartheid including sanctions http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/odessa-swarts-wayde-van-niekerk_us_57b1ebc6e4b007c36e4f6dab If only Nelson Mandela was alive now, he would have embraced this story the way he saw the significance of the Rugby World Cup https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/08/nelson-mandela-francois-pienaar-rugby-world-cup For me what is important is not the World record because records can be broken, or the Ans Botha story because that can simply be our need for a feel good story, or the Odessa Swarts story because of our natural inclination to right a wrong - it is the story of that which encapsulates Nelson Mandela's book title "The Long Walk to Freedom" or in other words the very gracious way Odessa Swarts speaks of her sons victory here http://www.iol.co.za/olympics-rio-2016/waydes-olympic-glory-what-his-parents-have-to-say-2057506
Gert Scholtz
7 years ago #12
CityVP Manjit
7 years ago #11
Dear Lisa, I do have tip my hat to Wayde also because athletes will distance themselves from troubled people when it can affect their brand image, but Wayde was also inspired by Oscar Pistorius. He is friends with Pistorius and acknowledges his awful crime but he has not abandoned him and distanced himself - instead he acknowledges Pistorius's contribution and not condemn his friend to a lifetime of social judgement. One cannot have a movie worthy script without the moral dilemma http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio-2016/2016/08/14/wayde-van-niekirk-lashawn-merritt-usa-track-and-field-mens-400-meters-final-results/88737134/ here Wayde's thinking is not the norm, it is thinking fit for the 21st Century. Here you need to read the story of Mimi Silbert from San Fransisco and what inspired her to create the Delancey Street Foundation http://www.delanceystreetfoundation.org/circle.php such thinking is not the "lock them up and throw away the key", it is thoughtful and yet the practice Silbert deals with prisoner rehabilitation back into society is not some wall flower, but highly disciplined and based on tough expectations in a era where the psyche of incarceration has made the American prison system a cheap form of labour for corporations and for corporate ownership of the existing prison system. Moreover such a movie should not become another Disney feature film - it is best filmed as a serious look at who we are as humanity and what humanity is in the 21st Century, with the backdrop of unethical financial practices in sports and the illegal use of drugs to create athletes as machinery of media and equally the gold-digger mentality it also inspires a.k.a. the sad story of Marion Jones. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/7184067.stm Then we give full value to the measure of what I find here and strike up not a moralistic view but a human one.
Lisa Gallagher
7 years ago #10
CityVP Manjit
7 years ago #9
Oh! this makes this already feel good story richer by imaginable margins - absolutely loved learning about the Ans Botha story, it is movie worthy to the point that if someone had made a movie about this before, no one would ever believe the plot - but it has happened and it is very, very real. I checked out https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/16/ans-botha-74-coach-wayde-van-niekerk-400m-world-record-rio-olympics + http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/meet-the-74-year-old-great-grandma-who-coached-400-meter-star-to-gold_us_57b187d3e4b071840411cf86 - amazing, amazing woman and her superb protege.
Mamen 🐝 Delgado
7 years ago #8
Wonderful lesson!!!! Kudos to her! 💫
Gert Scholtz
7 years ago #7
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #6
Donald 🐝 Grandy PN
7 years ago #5
Dean Owen
7 years ago #4
CityVP Manjit
7 years ago #3
Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸
7 years ago #2
Mamen 🐝 Delgado
7 years ago #1