PICS: Wayde gets his gold medal

Published Aug 16, 2016

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Rio de Janeiro - Wayde van Niekerk finally got his hands on the medal he had worked towards for four years in the early hours of Tuesday morning (SA time).

To make the occasion more memorable for the 400m Olympic champion, the International Olympic Committee opted for Namibia's Frankie Fredericks to hand the South African his gold medal at the Olympic Stadium.

Fredericks and Van Niekerk have both been coached by the Olympic Games' latest sensation, Anna Botha.

The 74 year-old coaching phenomenon looked on proudly as her star pupils, past and present, shared a special moment on the podium.

Van Niekerk's meteoric improvement under Botha, affectionately known as 'Tannie Ans', has captured the imagination of international media, who are already looking at crowning him as athletics' biggest new star of the future, with Usain Bolt appearing in his final Olympic Games.

British radio station BBC Five Live held a talkshow asking listeners if he was ready to be crowned, given the platform that is set to be available, right through to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Bolt has already challenged his good friend to a race next year, provided they are both fit.

"I have always said that if I did the 200m again, I would love to have Usain in the same race," Van Niekerk said, accepting the intriguing challenge.

There is a rising chorus for the pair to duel over 300m. While Bolt is the fastest man in the world, Van Niekerk remains the only man to have done the triple threeat; breaking 10, 20 and 44 seconds, for 100m, 200m and 400m respectively.

One of the great revelations of the Olympic Games has been the unlikely bromance between the two champions.

While Bolt laps up the spotlight, Van Niekerk has taken a far calmer approach to life at the highest level.

Though their personalities are different, they have found mutual respect on the track.

With Van Niekerk a Liverpool fanatic, and Bolt a staunch Manchester United supporter, they certainly have a lot to debate.

The world will now wait to see if they can square off on the track in the near future.

Independent Media

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