Who is Wayde van Niekerk?
Wayde Dreamer van Niekerk is a South African sprinter who holds the 400 meter world record, 43.03 seconds, set from lane eight at the 2016 Rio Olympics, a time that broke a record that had stood for 17 years and announced one of the most gifted runners the sport has ever seen.
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Quick facts
- Born: Kraaifontein, Cape Town, South Africa
- Events: 200m and 400m
- Won Olympic gold: 400m, Rio 2016
- World record: 43.03 seconds, 400m (still standing)
- World Championship gold: 400m, Beijing 2015 and London 2017
- Coach (early career): Anna Botha, a 74-year-old great-grandmother and former sprinter, who pushed him toward the one-lap race when he wanted to be a high jumper
Their story
Van Niekerk was born in Cape Town to a former sprinter mother, Odessa Swarts, and arrived prematurely, requiring a blood transfusion shortly after birth. He took up running at eight and dominated the Western Cape, then gave it up at 12 to just be a normal kid, much to the disappointment of his mother and stepfather, Steven Swarts. He was 17 when he finally told his parents that running was what he wanted to do, and the family stepped up. He went on to study marketing at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.
What they have achieved
On August 14, 2016, at the Rio Olympic Games, Van Niekerk exploded from lane eight, won Olympic gold, and obliterated Michael Johnson's 17-year-old 400-meter world record with a breathtaking time of 43.03 seconds. Running from the outside lane, with no one ahead of him to pace off, made it all the more extraordinary.
That made him the only sprinter in history to have run sub-10, sub-20, sub-31, and sub-44 seconds at the 100, 200, 300, and 400 metres respectively. He also won the 400m and finished a close second in the 200m at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London, defying traditional sprinting paradigms.
Beyond the track
At the peak of his powers, disaster struck. In October 2017, while playing in a celebrity touch rugby match, Van Niekerk suffered a catastrophic knee injury, tearing his ACL and meniscus. The injury sidelined him for nearly two years, but he made a strong return to competitive athletics.
Van Niekerk, still the 400m world record holder almost a decade after Rio Olympics, confirmed that he ran his last one-lap race at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo Olympics. He opted against the 400m at Paris Saint 2024, where he exited in the semi-finals of the 200m. The record that made him famous still belongs to him.
He has adopted the moniker "Wayde Dreamer" on all his social media platforms, highlighting his pursuit of what many would consider magical. In his own words:
"I'm hoping my story can be inspiration for kids who go through difficulties, so they can continue on in the search for their dreams."
Follow-ups
The most inspiring athletes are the ones whose stories are bigger than their trophies, like N’Golo Kanté, who paid for a $5 million medical center in Mali for children and families who can’t afford care, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who shared one pair of sneakers with his brother; here are 100 of them from every sport and continent.
Read that one firstBuild something that outlasts the record.
Mary posts daily on CEEK for a community of people who are creating, building and figuring out what comes next.
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