Wayde van Niekerk smashed the 400m world record thanks to a great-grandmother’s coaching

Wayde van Niekerk obliterated the world record in the 400-meter race on Sunday, and he has a 74-year-old great-grandmother to thank for it.

Van Niekerk is trained by Ans Botha, who has been coaching track and field since the 1960s. The 24-year-old Niekerk is 50 years younger than Botha, who is affectionately referred to “Tannie Ans” (meaning Aunt Ans in the native tongue Afrikaans) by her students, but the partnership worked well enough for van Niekerk to run the 400-meter in 43.03 seconds, beating out Michael Johnson’s 43.18-second world record. Van Niekerk also beat Johnson’s 43.49-second Olympic record.

“They are exceptionally close, very connected, very trusting and respect each other enormously,” DB Prinsloo, a coworker of Botha’s, told the Daily Mail. “But she doesn’t put up with any nonsense from any of them. She has rules, standards and is very much into the discipline of training and competing. ”

Botha originally only coached her children, but she started tutoring other star runners. She began coaching van Niekerk three years ago and the results have been notable, as van Niekerk went from nearly breaking the world record in the Beijing World Championships last year to shattering it on Sunday.

Van Niekerk was South Africa’s flag bearer and the gold medal favorite to win the 400-meter dash. But no one could have expected the way he won it, breaking both the Olympic and world records.

“I wouldn’t say I’m afraid ... but I have such a big responsibility to get this athlete to develop to his full potential,” Botha said. “Also, I need to try to do my very best not to do something wrong that might break him.”

It’s safe to say she has nothing to worry about when it comes to her star student, before Sunday or after it.