Rio De Janeiro - GREY College's other Olympic superstar, Ryk Neethling, couldn't wait to see Wayde can Niekerk yesterday.
"I want to give him the Grey College handshake!," an ecstatic Neethling explained!
"I think this is the greatest achievement in the school's history. This is huge," Neethling said proudly of Van Niekerk's record-breaking night in the men's 400m.
"We've got a long history of producing great sportsmen. From all those Springbok rugby players, to the cricket captains we have produced like Kepler (Wessels) and Hansie (Cronje), right through to current Bok captain Adriaan Strauss.
"But what Wayde has done is bigger than that, I think. To break the record from where he was, it was just phenomenal!"
Neethling, who donated his gold medal from the Athens 2004 Games to the school in 2014, added that he remembers visiting the school when Van Niekerk was still a scholar, showing promise in track and field.
"I have gone back a few times, and one of them he was still there.
"I'd like to think there was a little bit of inspiration taken from there," Neethling chuckled.
What would have made the school equally proud was the manner in which Van Niekerk handled the clamour after the race, Neethling explained.
Neethling said he was not surprised that the school had a special assembly, with a rowdy war cry to mark their latest star alumni's moment on the global stage.
"We pride ourselves on that, and to see how he just quietly took it all in was just amazing!
"I can't wait to go and see him. I need to give him the Grey College handshake!" - Independent Media