Classy Van Niekerk made a serious Olympic statement
“I FEEL it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes” goes Wet Wet Wetw's hit Love Is All Around – and it is a song that would also have been appropriate when Wayde van Niekerk lined up for the 400 metres in Madrid on Saturday night.
You see, Van Niekerk does this little trademark move just before he goes down into the blocks – he raises his arms aloft and wiggles his fingers.
And perhaps he did “feel it in his fingers and toes” that he was going to finally run a qualifying time for the Tokyo Olympics.
Van Niekerk did his thing before the start, and despite the best efforts of the commentator to spoil the moment by continually referring to the 400m world record-holder as “Van Nie-verk” throughout the race, the South African showed his class to set a time of 44.56 seconds.
Never mind the fact that he lost out to Colombian Anthony Zambrano right at the end – the winner ran 44.51 – Van Niekerk will be glad that he got the qualifying monkey off his back.
The 28-year-old has had a difficult period over the last few months.
Having already put that long-term knee injury behind him and survived a 25-day Covid-19 isolation stint in Italy last season, he would've hoped that 2021 was going to be his year.
Van Niekerk even made the big shift from his long-time coach Ans Botha in Bloemfontein to Lance Brauman in Florida, but his departure to the United States was delayed as he awaited clearance to travel.
And once he got to compete in Boston, he pulled up with a hip issue
that meant his participation in Tokyo was in serious doubt … until now.
He told the World Athletics website after his Madrid performance that it was “mission accomplished”, and that he hoped to improve before the Olympics.
Van Niekerk will continue his training at his Gemona, Italy base over the next few days before running in Lucerne, Switzerland.
He is not yet sure whether he will take part in the 200m or 400m race, as he can still qualify for Tokyo in the shorter distance.
He is South Africa's main athletics medal hope in the 400m at the Olympics, though. So, while his 44.56 time ranks him eighth in the world this year, it is considerably shy of American Randolph Ross' world lead of 43.85.
Knowing Van Nierkerk's ability, though, he is well capable of running a sub-44 second time before going to Japan, whether it's in Lucerne or another meeting in Europe.
He already made a serious statement in Madrid, and a sub-44 time before Tokyo would remind his rivals of just who the champ is …