3. Champion-Maker – Ans Botha, Coach and mentor, 74

An Olympic gold medal and a world record – in the same race? It doesn’t get any bigger. And for South Africans, Wayde van Niekerk’s Rio Olympics performance will go down as one of our greatest-ever sporting achievements, after he broke Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old 400m world record on his way to victory.

In the stands was Tannie Ans Botha, Van Niekerk’s 74-year-old coach, whose delighted face was broadcast across the world as the shy Van Niekerk became the toast of Rio. It was South Africa’s first sprinting gold for almost a century, and much of his success has been attributed to her mentorship.

So unglamorous is Botha that as Van Niekerk celebrated, she attempted to get through the crowds to congratulate him.

“There was security, and they just wouldn’t let me through!” she told the New York Times.

Botha was the one who encouraged Van Niekerk to focus his attention on the 400m, after suffering injuries training for the more intense 200m event – his favourite. It wasn’t easy – even now, Van Niekerk still prefers the shorter sprints to the longer one-lapper.

But Botha is more than just a coach. Her motherly but firm manner is how she deals with her small band of athletes in Bloemfontein, and she’s known not to tolerate late arrivals and slacking off.

A former sprinter who grew up in Namibia, Botha has been head coach at the University of the Free State since 1990, and has spent 50 years coaching some of South Africa’s best running talent – including athletes such as Thuso Mpuang, who won bronze and silver at the World Student Games in 2009 and 2011.

“She’s an amazing woman,” Van Niekerk told RW earlier this year. “She’s played a huge role in what I am today. I’m grateful I could trust in her work, and I think it speaks for itself.

“What she’s achieved as a coach… I’m just thankful to be part of the history she’s made.”

We are too!

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