Rio 2016: 10 best individual displays at the Olympics

#10 Wayde Van Niekerk (Republic of South Africa)

Wayde Van Niekerk put South Africa firmly on the sprinting map

Wayde Van Niekerk is the first South African sprinter ever to claim gold in the Men’s 400m event in Athletics. A distance which has been historically dominated by the Americans in recent years, Wayde Van Niekerk shocked everyone when he won the World Championships in 2015 by defeating the likes of LaShawn Merritt (USA) and Kirani James (Grenada) and set himself up as the man to eat in the Olympics.

But at Rio 2016, the man from Cape Town pushed it a step further and broke the 25-year strong World Record in the event held by the great Michael Johnson with a time of 43.03 seconds which is nearly 0.2 inside the world record pace and 0.5 seconds inside the Olympic record pace. By being the fastest man around a circle of the racetrack, Van Niekerk has marked his name into Olympic folklore with his performance at Rio.

Medals : 1 Gold (Men’s 400m Athletics)

World Record : Men’s 400m Athletics (43.03 Seconds)