Wayde van Niekerk was in tears before his historic 400m victory at the Rio Olympics last month worrying about injury niggles that affected him throughout the Games. The track star disclosed this on his return to South Africa yesterday morning, where he was greeted by cheering fans, proud parents, a fast car and a R1-million cheque. He was presented with an Audi R8 at OR Tambo Airport and later a R1-million incentive for breaking the world record by another sponsor, T Systems. Van Niekerk won Olympic gold in a 43.03sec world record in one of the standout performances of the Games last month.But he admitted in an interview yesterday that he had doubted himself because of hamstring and back pains that had plagued him in the heats and semifinals.“I was literally in tears before my race [just before warm-up],” he said.“Working for so many years on this big race and I’m feeling pain. Nobody wants that. “[I was] starting to doubt myself,” added Van Niekerk, saying he would have settled for any colour medal. “I was really happy with a bronze medal when I went down on my marks at the starting blocks.”Van Niekerk said he felt like two different people. “The guy on the track is way more aggressive, confident and believes in himself so much more. “And then you get me off the track — every second day I’m doubting this and I’m thinking of all these different aspects that could pull me down, but as soon as I get in my blocks I get a totally different mindset, that I’m not going to lose.”After the Olympics Van Niekerk returned to his training base in Italy and from there went for treatment in Germany with Usain Bolt’s doctor, Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt.“I still have quite a lot of discomfort in my back but I think it’s part of the healing process. I had quite a lot of needles and injections …  “I just need to go back home and get it treated with flushes and be as good as new soon.”Van Niekerk confirmed he wanted to double up next season, but when asked if it would be the 400m and 200m, he replied “it’s going to be a surprise to everyone”. The plan is to do 100m and 200m races in South Africa before picking up the 400m overseas...