Wayde van Niekerk, the eternal underdog - The Mail & Guardian

When he sits down for this interview, Wayde van Niekerk is a walking billboard for the soul-searching that seems to have taken over his life in recent times. The tops of his sponsored running shoes have the words “heart” and “mind” prominently inscribed on them. And the words “quiet storm” appear on his top, rounding off the evidence of the introspection that appears to be ongoing.

For someone as surprisingly addled, intense and burdened with expectation as Van Niekerk, this would have been torture regardless of the fact that he got married, spent more time with family and played as much PlayStation as he wanted. The idea of finding peace in the eye of a storm — quiet or otherwise — reinforces the idea that the devout Christian’s soft-spokenness and calm demeanour mask the fact that he can be a complex character riddled with doubt like the rest of us.Van Niekerk is famous for being the only man to win Olympic gold and set a world record from lane eight at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

“So I had to humble myself and build a lot of patience in terms of allowing my body to heal the way it wanted to. It’s a year later and I’m starting to feel more confident in my body and starting to feel as if I can race against the best in the world again.” The postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games to next year amid the global coronavirus pandemic favours Van Niekerk as he’ll have more time to get back to his best form. Unwilling to put himself under undue pressure by making his goals public while the Games loomed large, he is more forthright now that they are once again more than a year away.

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