Wayde’s triumph

WHEN he runs on the global athletics tracks, it’s as if Wayde van Niekerk wants to show the world how humans can compete in sport when they have no chains. He runs because he knows the happiness of participating in international sport, the pride of representing a democratic South Africa and knowing your talent’s worth, which Wayde believes is God-given.

Wayde hasn’t said much publicly, which reveals his social justice consciousness. That he is socially aware and has a social justice consciousness, there’s no doubt.

You can see this in the personality of the athlete who is a global superstar.

Wayde is very much aware of the struggle in people’s lives, in society and in sport. He knows about his mother Odessa’s sprint prowess in 1980s South Africa, being born oppressed and participating in sport for freedom.

Wayde concentrates on his future. But his participation in, and achievement, on the world athletics stage is always a reminder about the past; the horrendous apartheid past that discriminated against oppressed athletes.

For the oppressed who participated in anti-apartheid sport, Wayde’s spectacular world record-breaking feats and global titles help soften the pain and hurt of the lost time in our lives when we sacrificed and fought for freedom in our lifetime.

Wayde demonstrates the abundance of talent out there. He also shows that talent must be developed, nurtured and supported. Today, Wayde runs with pride for South Africa, knowing the past that got him to where he competes internationally, an opportunity denied to his champion sprint athlete mother.

Today, he runs with no chains, just the freedom of his talent and desire to discover his worth.

But perhaps he also carries with him that piece that’s always remembering his mother for sacrificing her sports life, so he could one day represent himself without chains.

Unknowingly, Wayde’s phenomenal athletics achievements have repaid over and over the debt owed to those who unselfishly contributed to freedom from apartheid and opportunities to participate internationally.

This is because it’s again demonstrated that discrimination should never be allowed in sport, ever again in South Africa. Talent must be developed and supported.

Wayde wants to be known as a South African athlete.

For those of us still connecting the dots of the past to the present, Wayde represents the anti-apartheid sports struggle being worth it. He will always be the son of an anti-apartheid sport mother. Cheryl Roberts Cape Town