"He didn't even know if he was going to be able to run" - Michael Johnson recalls Wayde van Niekerk breaking his 400m world record at 2016 Olympics

Michael Johnson heaped praise on Wayde van Niekerk for breaking his 400m world record at the 2016 Olympics.

Van Niekerk won the gold medal in the 400m at the 2016 Summer Olympics with a world record time of 43.03 seconds, breaking the record Johnson set in 1999.

In a video shared by World Athletics, Johnson reminisced about Van Niekerk's 2015 World Athletics Championship performance. He said when watching the South African compete in 2015 made him believe that he had the potential to break his 400m world record.

"He's got potential. This is the guy that could break the world record. Because you should have seen the way he ran his race. Now he had to be carried out on a stretcher afterwards," he said.

Four-time Olympic gold medalist Johson set the 400m world record in 1999 with a time of 43.18 seconds. He took pride in having the record for so long but stated that he always knew he won't hold on to it forever.

"It's an accomplishment that is always been special to me and that will always be mine, that I did that and I broke it as opposed to you know, holding the world record forever," he expressed.

Johnson stated that he did not expect Van Niekerk to break the record at the 2016 Olympics as the field was loaded with strong contenders and the 31-year-old had not performed well in the semifinals.

He also revealed that Van Niekerk later told him that he was unsure about his ability to run at his best before the race.

"He didn't even know if he was going to be able to run," Johnson stated.

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Wayde van Niekerk's career achievements

Wayde van Niekerk posing with a board showing his 400m world record at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

While Wayde van Niekerk made history at the 2016 Rio Olympics, he did not have a straight path to glory. The semifinals at the event did not go well for him, which lead to him taking the eighth lane in the finals.

However, van Niekerk managed to overcome all obstacles and clinch the 400m gold with a 43.03s effort.

Apart from that, he has also been a world champion twice, winning the gold medals in 2015 (Bejing) and in 2017 (London). He also won a silver medal in 200m in London. Additionally, the 31-year-old has a Commonwealth Games silver medal to his name from the 2014 event in Glasgow.