Wayde “The Dreamer” van Niekerk’s dream of successfully defending his 400m title at the Olympic Games in Tokyo came to an abrupt end in the semifinal of the event yesterday.
The world record holder was seen as the great hope for Mzansi’s second gold medal at this year’s Games.
But after years of battling a knee injury suffered in a game of touch rugby in 2017, the Kraaifontein speedster could only finish fifth in his semifinal, in a time of 45.14 after fading badly in the final straight.
That was well short of the legendary 43.03 he ran for the gold medal in Rio five years ago.
After the race, the crestfallen 29-year-old said: “Very disappointed with the run. I expect way more from myself, but it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to work out.
“It is what it is and we move forward.”
While Van Niekerk didn’t go into the reasons for his struggle for form and fitness, wife Chesney, who gave birth to a son last month, tweeted her support.
She wrote: “That was a victory lap. Imagine coming back after an injury and 3 years out? And still considered the favourite? Running again IS the victory.”
It was a bad day allround for SA as Wanda Nel was eliminated from the women’s 400m hurdles, after finishing seventh in her semifinal with a time of 56.35s.
Artistic swimming duo Clarissa Johnston and Laura Strugnell finished 22nd of 22 in the free routine prelims, ahead of today’s 2.30pm technical prelims.
TEAM SA IN TOKYO TODAY
Men’s Sports climbing
Christopher Cosser – Speed (10am), Bouldering (11am) and Leading (2.10pm)
Athletics
Men’s shot put qualification – Jason van Rooyen (12.15pm) and Kyle Blignaut (1.40pm)
Men’s 110m hurdles heats – Antonio Alkana (12.42pm)
Men’s 5000m heats – Lesiba Mashele