South African sets a 400-meter record that no one saw coming

RIO DE JANEIRO — Wayde Van Niekerk started out in Lane 8, wide to the right of two Olympic champions, the kind of starting position for men who go home and beam with pride about just making the final. He could see no other runners in the men's 400 meters, and no one would suspect him. He hailed from South Africa, which had not produced an individual sprinting gold medalist since 1920. He employed as a coach a 74-year-old, white-haired Namibian great-grandmother.

Van Niekerk had run the fourth-fastest 400 time ever in 2015, but he put his feet in the blocks Sunday night as an afterthought in his own race, let alone compared with 100-meter legend Usain Bolt. He ended it second to no one. Wayde Van Niekerk of Cape Town, South Africa, ran once around an oval track faster than any man ever has before.

In the span of 43.03 seconds, Van Niekerk's life changed, his coach became an instant Internet celebrity and the fabled record Michael Johnson held for 17 years fell by a margin of 0.15 seconds. When Van Niekerk crossed the finish line ahead of silver medalist Kirani James of Grenada and American bronze winner LaShawan Merritt — both former gold medalists — he stared at the race clock, wiped his face and fell to his knees, barely able to process what he had done.

"To be honest with you," Van Niekerk said, "I never envisioned I would set the world record."

No athlete could steal the spotlight from Bolt, but Van Niekerk had at least managed to rent space under it. He went from unknown to co-star with the 100-meter gold medalist.

"My favorite event is the 200 meters," Van Niekerk said. "I'd love to race him."

Van Niekerk's ascension began two years ago, when he started working under a 74-year-old great grandmother named Ans Botha. She is a renowned figure in South American track, but Van Niekerk introduced to her a world stage, thanks largely to well-timed Daily Mail story that pinballed around social media Sunday night. Her runners call her Tannie Ans: Aunt Ans, in Afrikaans. Sprinter Akani Simbine, Van Niekerk's roommate in Rio, said he was afraid of her when they first met.

"She's very loving, you know," Akani Simbine said. "But when the track workouts need to be done, she makes sure you get them done. She makes sure that you get the message. But she gets excited. When she gets really excited, she lets out a big, 'Yes!' "

She may have let out the biggest one yet Sunday night. Van Niekerk started in lane eight as a product of running a qualifying time more than 44 seconds. But when he made the final turn, he held the lead. Other runners expected he would fall back, and instead his lead only grew, James and Merritt unable to keep pace.

"I thought somebody was going to catch me," Van Niekerk said. "I felt very alone at the end. I thought, 'What's going on?' "

"He was running blind, so he really didn't have anybody to cue off of," Merritt said. "It was just, when the gun goes off, take off. And that's what gets you 43.0."

Merritt's bronze — in a time that would have been good enough for gold in 2012 — still served as a sweet accomplishment. In 2008, Merritt conquered the track world in his event. He won gold in the 400 in Beijing in 43.75 seconds and snared another gold in the 4X400 relay. Just 22, Merritt owned a career's worth of accomplishment and much more time to add to it.

The wave of euphoria lasted less than 18 months. Between October 2009 and January 2010, Merritt tested positive three times for banned substances DHEA and pregnenolone. Sure of his innocence, or least the purity of his motivations, Merritt faced an odd choice: suffer humiliation and prove he had no malicious intent, or take the suspension quietly. Merritt chose the former.

Merritt publicly insisted the positive tests resulted from frequent usage of ExtenZe, an herbal sexual enhancement product sold at gas stations and convenience stores. He appealed his case before an arbiter, providing receipts from the purchases and even producing a clerk at the store he frequented. She vouched that Merritt bought the product all the time, and she knew because it was stored behind the counter.

The case Merritt built worked, to a point. The arbiter determined Merritt had not intentionally doped, so his name was cleared. But his suspension stuck because officials ruled him guilty of negligence. He wasn't branded a cheater, but Merritt still had to sit out 21 months at the end of a messy public ordeal that made him an easy target for mockery.

Upon his return, Merritt reclaimed his place among the best 400 runners in the world and positioned himself to defend his gold medal in London. And then during a marquee Diamond League event in May 2012, three months before the Olympics, Merritt tore his hamstring. He still qualified for London, but the injury forced him to pull out of the Games after running one preliminary heat.

In a sense, then, Merritt strode to the starting line Sunday night still defending a medal eight years after he won it — no one had yet beaten him in an Olympics he could compete in.

But he had never competed against Van Niekerk. Nobody had ever competed against a race like he ran Sunday.

"At this moment," Van Niekerk said, "I'm just grateful for everything that happened tonight."