Wayde Van Niekerk - The next icon of Athletics!!!!

Every sport needs an icon. An icon who motivates youngsters to take up the sport. An icon who draws in crowd and the sponsors. An icon who shows how winning is done. An icon who attains immortal status through sheer performance. Athletics is a perhaps the first sport that mankind has known. Running, jumping, throwing etc. Through time many other sports have been discovered or innovated, Athletics has stood the test of time. And it commands blue riband status in any multi-sport event.

Having said that the sport wouldn't have reached these levels if not for certain legends who graced the track and the field and proved to be the best for many years. Starting with Jesse Owens, Emil Zatopek, Said Aouita, Florence Griffith Joyner, Haile Gebrselassie, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Zola Budd, Hicham El Guerrouj, Carl Lewis, Heike Dreschler, Daley Thompson, Yelena Isinbayeva, Wang Junxia, Sergey Bubka till more recently Mo Farah and Usain Bolt this sport has seen quite a few icons who've raised their hand and ruled the world with their power, grit, tenacity and consistency.
With Usain Bolt limping out of what was an anti climatic end to an otherwise chequered career, fans would be wondering as to where their next hero would come from.

Aficionados are betting on Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa to be the next icon. An extremely talented sprinter, he's the current record holder and the World Champion over 400 metres and a former champion in the 200 metres sprint. In 2016 he became the first, and to date, only, sprinter in history to have run the 100 m in under 10 seconds, the 200 m in under 20 seconds and the 400 m in under 44 seconds.

What remains to be seen is if he'll turn out to be as consistent as others did before him. If the last 4 years are any indicators this athlete is tipped to go a long way and grab the seat vacated by Bolt.