11 August, 2017
Among the eight sprinters lined up at the start of the world 200 meters final and the 56,000 people in the crowd watching, only one man probably thought Ramil Guliyev would be the victor, and that was the Turkish athlete himself.
Van Niekerk said he was delighted with the performances of several other South Africans at the championships and the fact that his achievements have helped persuade others to take up the sport instead of opting for the more traditional ones of football, cricket or rugby.
He took care of the 400m easily earlier in the week but on Thursday night was denied the double by Turkey's Ramil Guliyev.
Kenya remain second on three gold, one silver and three bronze.
An extra element of spice had been added to the 200m final after Makwala was cleared yesterday to compete in the event by the IAAF following illness which forced him out of the 400m final.
So when the field assembled on the start line there was no doubt who the 60,000 fans in the stand were supporting, it was the man in lane six.
In the final, Makwala brought the crowd to its feet as he led marginally going into the finishing straight. "That's all I thought about when I go out there". "I will always pray to not face this again", Makwala said. "The lactic came. The 4x400m is next".
Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago also clocked 20.11 but had to settle for the bronze medal on photo finish.
"This is not a shock, but this does not feel real", said Guliyev, whose best performance coming into the world championships was a silver medal at the European championships previous year.
"The amount of respect I have shown each and every competitor, including Makwala, and for him to come out and mention my name amongst something fishy with the IAAF, knowing how hard I have been working". I delivered my best race at the right time.
"I was competing against some of the best athletes in the world, so it didn't bother me that the attention was on them. Maybe at the next competition everyone will look at me instead".
Nevertheless, van Niekerk, who was unusually emotional after the race, raising his arms in celebration when he heard he had finished second, said he believed his effort had been "successful".
"It was really a massive rollercoaster for me, this competition", he said.
"I thought I could get a medal, but I ran yesterday two hard races and it wasn't easy". A collection of medals from the Mediterranean Games, the Summer Universiade and the Islamic Solidarity Games did not mark him down for glory and even his silver at last year's European Championships came when most of the continent's top talent had skipped the event to concentrate on the Rio Olympics.
