Wayde Van Niekerk: 5 Interesting Facts About South Africa’s World Record Holder

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Wayde van Niekerk is loved not only in South Africabut all around the world.

The Olympic and Worldrecord holder has become a household thanks to his sprinting exploits, but injury curtailed his meteoric rise.

After setting a new meeting record in his last Diamond League run, van Niekerk is looking to return to being the best in the world at the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Budapest later this year.

Ahead of the showcase in Hungary in August, Sports Brief looks at five interesting facts about the South African sprinter.

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A love for athletics runs in the van Niekerk household. Despite Wayde focusing more on the high jump in his early sporting doubts, there was a strong belief that he would follow his parents into sprinting.

Van Niekerk’s father, Wayne, played rugby, did high jump and was a sprinter, while his mother, Odessa, was also a track athlete.

As noted by News24, van Niekerk’s mother held more than six sprint records across high schools and clubs at both provincial and national levels.

It’s not only Wayde’s parents that made a name for themselves with their sports success; his cousin did as well.

The sprinter is related to Springbok player Cheslin Kolbe, and the duo played rugby together as youngsters.

As noted