He brought the house down at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro after producing one of the finest moments in the history of the Games.
The fact that Wayde van Niekerk shattered Michael Johnson’s iconic 400m world record last August, in an Olympic final where he was up against two rivals who had faster times than him in the heats and semi-finals, should’ve seen him being named as the IAAF Male Athlete of the Year.
But wait, there’s more – the manner in which Van Niekerk claimed his maiden Olympic gold added to the achievement. He was drawn in lane eight, which meant that he had to run his race “blind”, unaware of what LaShawn Merritt and Kirani James were up to in the inside lanes.
That didn’t stop Van Niekerk from running the race of his life to clock 43.03 seconds, all of 0.15 quicker than Johnson’s mark of 43.18.
Yet, he didn’t win the Athlete of the Year award, with Usain Bolt again named as the best on the planet after winning three golds (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay) in Rio. Personally, I would’ve gone for Van Niekerk, but one can accept the big Jamaican being acknowledged for a sixth time in an illustrious career.
But when it came to the Laureus Sports awards in Monaco on Tuesday night, Van Niekerk should’ve been a shoo-in for the Breakthrough of the Year award.
Apart from winner Nico Rosberg from Formula One, the other nominees were women’s 10 000m Olympic champion and world record-holder Almaz Ayana, Premier League champions Leicester City, the Fiji Sevens rugby team that won Olympic gold, and Iceland’s football side that reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2016.
The two serious contenders should’ve been Van Niekerk and Leicester City.
Questions were immediately raised about Ethiopian Ayana’s performance as she broke the controversial Chinese athlete Wang Junxia’s 1993 record by an astonishing 14 seconds. No other runner has come within 22 seconds of Junxia, who is alleged to have been part of an apparent orchestrated Chinese doping programme.
Ayana’s run in Rio was also only her second 10 000m competitive race, although she has denied allegations of doping since.
Fiji claim the World Series title virtually every season, and Iceland – they did capture the imagination of the global football public – only played in a regional competition and didn’t win it.
How can Rosberg be regarded as a “Breakthrough” contender? He is 31, has been in Formula One since 2006, and retired at the end of the season. He has tried for so long to become the champion, and now it’s finally happened. Also, while F1 racing is one of the most dangerous sports, a lot of the work is done by the team beforehand, and you’re often at the mercy of the car rather than your own skill.
Rosberg undoubtedly had the best car, with Mercedes winning the constructors’ title and teammate Lewis Hamilton ending second, just five points behind.
Unbelievably, Rosberg won the Laureus award!
Leicester City was a real fairytale story – true underdogs that rocked English football with their spirit and stamina to win their maiden Premier League title.
But again, as meteoric as their triumph was, it was in domestic competition, and they didn’t participate in other European competitions like runners-up Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City.
That leaves us with Van Niekerk. The kid from Kraaifontein, and now man from Bloemfontein, produced arguably the biggest sporting moment in 2016.
His performance was such that he should actually have been considered for the overall Laureus Sportsman of the Year award, which was won by Bolt for a fourth time.
Even the Jamaican legend was moved to tell the media afterwards that Van Niekerk should’ve been given the Breakthrough gong at the supposed “Oscars” of sport.
Some on social media have suggested that it’s an anti-South African thing that Van Niekerk wasn’t victorious, but I don’t even want to go there.
Must Wayde van Niekerk first beat Usain Bolt to win an international award? Oh wait, that might just happen later this year…