![Rio 2016: Wayde van Niekerk just won gold but his track star mother would have never had the same opportunity | The Independent | The Independent Rio 2016: Wayde van Niekerk just won gold but his track star mother would have never had the same opportunity | The Independent | The Independent](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2016/08/16/10/wayde-van-neikerk-rio-400m-gold.jpg?quality=75&width=982&height=726&auto=webp)
Rio 2016: Wayde van Niekerk just won gold but his track star mother would have never had the same opportunity | The Independent | The Independent
![2016 Rio Olympics -- Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa wins men's 400-meter final in world-record 43.03 seconds 2016 Rio Olympics -- Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa wins men's 400-meter final in world-record 43.03 seconds](https://a1.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2016%2F0814%2Fr113877_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg)
2016 Rio Olympics -- Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa wins men's 400-meter final in world-record 43.03 seconds
![Tokyo 2020 - Wayde Van Niekerk: Rio 2016 champion happy just to progress to semi-finals after injury struggles - Eurosport Tokyo 2020 - Wayde Van Niekerk: Rio 2016 champion happy just to progress to semi-finals after injury struggles - Eurosport](https://imgresizer.eurosport.com/unsafe/2560x0/filters:format(jpeg)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2021/08/01/3189730-65349868-2560-1440.jpg)
Tokyo 2020 - Wayde Van Niekerk: Rio 2016 champion happy just to progress to semi-finals after injury struggles - Eurosport
![Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 13 August 2016. Athletics, Wayde Van Niekerk (RSA) competing in the men's 400m semi-finals at the 2016 Olympic Summer Games Stock Photo - Alamy Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 13 August 2016. Athletics, Wayde Van Niekerk (RSA) competing in the men's 400m semi-finals at the 2016 Olympic Summer Games Stock Photo - Alamy](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/HMFB45/rio-de-janeiro-brazil-13-august-2016-athletics-wayde-van-niekerk-rsa-HMFB45.jpg)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 13 August 2016. Athletics, Wayde Van Niekerk (RSA) competing in the men's 400m semi-finals at the 2016 Olympic Summer Games Stock Photo - Alamy
The Olympic Games on Twitter: "Congratulations, Wayde van Niekerk (#RSA) on winning gold and breaking the WR in men's 400m! #Athletics #Olympics https://t.co/prczOWrKgh" / Twitter
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