400m world-record holder Wayde van Niekerk: I hate the 400m

Wayde van Niekerk has made a name for himself by running the 400m.

At the 2016 Olympics, he lowered Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old world record by .15 seconds to win the gold medal.

But the 24-year-old South African has a love-hate relationship with the distance.

“I hate the 400m,” he said to France’s Le Figaro, who provided an English transcript of the interview to NBC. “I hate it because I know what it does to my body. But I love it for what it does for my life.”

Van Niekerk has expressed an interest in the shorter sprints, the 100m and 200m. He trained with Usain Bolt, the world-record holder in both events, in Jamaica prior to the Rio Games. After Bolt won the Olympic 100m gold medal, he…