Wayde battled with self-doubt before Olympic final

Wayde van Niekerk celebrates after winning the gold. Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach

Wayde van Niekerk celebrates after winning the gold. Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach

Published Sep 2, 2016

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Johannesburg - Battling to keep his faith alive Wayde van Niekerk went into the Olympic 400 metre final hoping for any medal, never mind the gold or a world record.

By his own standards the world champion was almost sluggish in his heats and semi-finals compared to former Olympic champions Kirani James of Grenada and American LaShawn Merritt.

“I’ve always had huge respect towards them knowing what they are capable of but my main challenge was me,” Van Niekerk said.

“I gave myself the most mental pressure and stress, I remember during my heats and semi-finals, and I know I am wrong by doing this but I literally stopped believing in that gold medal.

“I thought I had lost it mentally, and if I look at my final it just once shows the grace and the power of the Lord.”

Behind the scenes Van Niekerk had been nursing niggling back and hamstring injuries which had been a knock to his confidence in the buildup to the Games.

Van Niekerk still went into the Rio Olympics ranked third in the world behind Merritt and James with a season’s best of 44.11 seconds from Bloemfontein in May.

Like a blinkered horse running out of lane eight, Van Niekerk finally found his mojo when it mattered most as he crossed the line in a new world-record time of 43.03 seconds.

Coming out of the bend he had a metre or so on James and Merritt but instead of fading Van Niekerk pulled away down the home straight knocking 0.15s off Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old record.

“My checklist for 2016 was perfectly executed, I had the opportunity to cross the finish line with a personal best and looking up to the big screens there was a world record,” Van Niekerk said in an interview arranged by sponsors Defy.

“I really feel the sky’s the limit, and anything is possible, I just broke a record everybody believed was impossible to break. So why not challenge myself even more, and try and achieve even more?”

Following the Olympics Van Niekerk opted out of further competition this season instead spending time doing sponsorship appearances, and seeing a doctor in Munich.

Van Niekerk had been in Munich twice over the last fortnight seeking treatment for his back and hamstrings with renowned doctor Hans-Wihelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt.

The German doctor has been treating Jamaican world 100m and 200m world record-holder Usain Bolt for most of his career.

“It has been a busy few weeks for me, last week I was in Munich, to see the doctor on the back and hamstring problem I had this whole year now,” Van Niekerk said.

“He sorted that out and I feel so much less tension in my hamstrings, they feel so much free and open.

“I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to go and see him ‘cause I felt an immediate relief. I actually wanted to go and run immediately after that (the Olympics) but I thought to myself it would be quite stupid. I’m healing and let’s use this opportunity to rest and heal.”

Van Niekerk said it was still a mystery how he managed to run as well as he did in Rio de Janeiro as the self-doubt due to the injuries weighed him down in his opening races.

“But when I got to the finals none of that existed, I think my emotions and my body just said ‘whatever, the job needs to be done let’s just do it’ and that is what I did,” Van Niekerk said.

“I can’t explain the finals because there was no plan, there was nothing, I was just going out there to run my heart out.

“I even had enough energy to run a victory lap so it is still something amazing, and something I’m so humbled about every time I see that race.”

Independent Media

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