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Wayde van Niekerk during the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. Photo outsourced from

Top 10 Facts about Wayde Van Niekerk

Wayde Van Niekerk was born on July 15, 1992 in Kraaifontein, cape town to Wayde Van Niekerk and sprinter Odessa Swarts. He married Chesney Campbell on 29 October 2017 and had one child together.

Van Niekerk is a South African track and field sprinter who competes in 200 and 400 meters. He is highly regarded and was once praised by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.

Van Niekerk is a big football fan and supports the Liverpool football club. He is also a devoted Christian and never misses out on an opportunity to profess his strong faith in God.

Learn more about Wayde Van Niekerk in these 10 facts.

1. Van Niekerk parents were sporty

Van Niekerk’s mother was a sprint and high jump athlete until she became pregnant, while his father participated in the high jump, rugby and sprinting.

He started participating in sports at a very young age and undoubtedly inherited this from his parents.

Due to his talent, after he finished primary school, he received a scholarship to the esteemed Grey College in Bloemfontein.

2. He wasn’t always interested in sprinting

Van Niekerk initial passion was high jump, but he started focusing on sprinting after qualifying for the 200 meters at the 2010 World Junior Championship in Moncton, Canada.

In 2012 after joining coach Botha, she helped him shape his sprint by putting him under a strict training routine and a lot of encouragement.

3. Van Niekerk is a university graduate

Van Niekerk attended Bellville Primary and Simonberg Primary until he had his mother move to Bloemfontein in 2005.

After the primary, he joined Grey College, where he first got the eye of athletic coaches because of his incredible speed while playing rugby. He later went to study marketing at the University of the Free State.

4. Wayde van Niekerk was the first man to win the Olympic 400M from lane 8

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Van Niekerk won a gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2016 summer Olympics with a world record of 43.03 seconds, breaking Michael Johnson’s record from 1999.

He became the only man to have won Olympic or world 400 meters from lane 8. Usually, runners from this lane don’t win because they are disadvantaged due to the staggered start.

His Olympic win set off racial debate after a tweet storm when colored South Africans celebrated his win by creating a hashtag #ColouredExcelence.

5. Van Niekerk competes in several categories

Van Niekerk competes and excels in several short distance categories, including 100m, 200m and 400m.

He became the 107th athlete to break the 10 seconds barrier in the 100m on March 12, 2016.

Currently, he is the only athlete in history to have run 100m in under 10 seconds, 200m in under 20 seconds and 400m in under 44 seconds.

In Bloemfontein van Niekerk clocked 19.94 seconds and 43.48 seconds in the 200 and 400meters and he also clocked 9.98 seconds in 100m.

6. Van Niekerk was the first world sprint champion from South Africa

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Van Niekerk is a South African track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 meters.

He started his journey at a young age and he was able to conquer the glory of three places as he started his career in Cape Town in his homeland.

As a South African sprinter, he won the gold medal at Beijing World Championship with a timing of 43.48 seconds and another gold medal in Rio. He was honored to be the flag bearer at the Rio Olympic Games opening ceremony.

Van Niekerk has engraved his name in gold in the record books of the sprinting world and is considered one of the greatest South African athletes.

At the age of 24, he had a huge achievement for any athlete by getting the flag bearer.

7. Wayde Van Niekerk cousins a rugby star

Athletes and sports run in their family bloodline. His distant cousin Cheslin Kolbe participated in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Cheslin Kolbe was a member of the South African seven team that won a bronze medal in the Rio, where Van Niekerk was also participating.

Kolbe and Van Niekerk’s running talent made them reach their sport’s pinnacle. Kolbe added the rugby World Cup title to the Olympic bronze medal as a member of the springbok team that beat England in the final Japan 2019.

Van Niekerk and Kolbe used to play rugby on the same team in juniors’ school and they could earn pocket money for every try they scored for the team.

8. Van Niekerk septuagenarian coach

Most of Van Niekerk success is accredited to his former coach Tannie Ans Botha who was in her mid-70s when her protégé won the Olympic gold medal.

He met Botha in 2012 when Van Niekerk was still a 20 old amateur vulnerable to complaining injuries.

Botha contributed to van Niekerk decision to specialize in the one-lap sprint event. Due to van Niekerk injuries, Botha advised him to move up in the distance as part of rehabilitation.

Van Niekerk started getting paid rich dividends, becoming the fastest man ever over one lap.

In 2021 Van Niekerk joined Coach Lance Brauman and his training group in the United States. The group has US 200m world record holder Noah Lyles and Bahamian Olympic gold medalist Shaunae Miller Uibo.

9. Van Niekerk is a South African track and field sprinter

Wayde Van Niekerk. Image from

Van Niekerk competes in 200 and 400 meters and is the current world and Olympic holder, which he broke in the Olympic finals.

In 2014 at the commonwealth games, Van Niekerk won a silver medal in the 400m and 2013, during summer Universide, he took a silver in the 4×400 meters relays.

He represented South Africa at the 2013 and 2015 world championships and won a gold medal in the 400mat 2015 world championship.

Van Niekerk became the first sprinter in history to have run 100 meters in under 10 seconds, 200 meters in under 20 seconds and 400meters in under 44 seconds in 2015.

10. Van Niekerk set a new 400m world record time at the Rio Olympic

In 2016 at the summer Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 400m event with a world record time of 4.05 seconds, breaking the previous record of Michael Johnson, which stood for 17 years.