Van Niekerk receives highest national honour
President Jacob Zuma has honoured World and Olympic champion athlete, Wayde van Niekerk, with the highest award bestowed on South African citizens.
Van Niekerk was honoured with the Order of the Ikhamanga in Gold on the President's list of National Orders during a ceremony at the President's official residence in Pretoria.
The National Orders are awarded to “citizens and members of the international community who have contributed meaningfully towards making the country a free democratic and successful nation, united in its diversity”.
The citation read as follows:
Mr Wayde van Niekerk: "For his exceptional contribution to the sporting field of track running. His performance against all odds broke standing records of international legends and brought immense national pride".
Van Niekerk is a 400-metres World and Olympic champion and has been focusing extensively on the 200-metres of late in his quest to run the double at the World Championships in London later this year.
He is also the first and only person in history to run 100-metres in less than 10 seconds, 200-metres in 20 seconds, and 400-metres in 44 seconds.
He made his international debut at the 2010 World Junior Championships where he finished fourth in the 200m and ran in the 4×100m relay heats.
His breakthrough at senior level came at the age of 18 at the 2011 South African Athletics Championships, where he won the 200m title in a new personal record of 20.57 seconds.
He set a personal best of 46.43 seconds in the 400-metres and raked in a silver medallist in the 400 at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
He also represented South Africa at the 2013 and 2015 Athletics World Championships respectively.
At the 2015 World Championships he won the gold medal in the 400m.
At the 2016 Olympic Games he won the gold medal with a world record time of 43.03 seconds, beating the 43.18 seconds record set by Michael Johnson during the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain.
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre
The National Orders are awarded to “citizens and members of the international community who have contributed meaningfully towards making the country a free democratic and successful nation, united in its diversity”.
The citation read as follows:
Mr Wayde van Niekerk: "For his exceptional contribution to the sporting field of track running. His performance against all odds broke standing records of international legends and brought immense national pride".
Van Niekerk is a 400-metres World and Olympic champion and has been focusing extensively on the 200-metres of late in his quest to run the double at the World Championships in London later this year.
He is also the first and only person in history to run 100-metres in less than 10 seconds, 200-metres in 20 seconds, and 400-metres in 44 seconds.
He made his international debut at the 2010 World Junior Championships where he finished fourth in the 200m and ran in the 4×100m relay heats.
His breakthrough at senior level came at the age of 18 at the 2011 South African Athletics Championships, where he won the 200m title in a new personal record of 20.57 seconds.
He set a personal best of 46.43 seconds in the 400-metres and raked in a silver medallist in the 400 at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
He also represented South Africa at the 2013 and 2015 Athletics World Championships respectively.
At the 2015 World Championships he won the gold medal in the 400m.
At the 2016 Olympic Games he won the gold medal with a world record time of 43.03 seconds, beating the 43.18 seconds record set by Michael Johnson during the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain.
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre