Antonie Nortje learnt to 'stand his ground' after falling in relay heats

Antonie Nortje learnt his lesson after falling in the 4x400m heats because of a collision, pushing over a French runner in the final at Stade de France on his way to breaking the national record on Saturday night.

“I guess I just learnt from the heat and this time I just stood my ground a little bit more,” said Nortje, who went down hard at the start of the third leg in the heats.

They got through to the final where he anchored the team of Gardeo Isaacs, Zakithi Nene and Lythe Pillay to fifth place in 2 min 58.12 sec, smashing the 2:59.21 record from 2011 by the team that featured Oscar Pistorius.

Nortje explained the French runner had got in the way of himself and another competitor on the back straight of the final lap.

“He came in, tried to cut in front of both me and Italy — if it was Italy, I can’t remember too well — but you know, it ended up bad for him this time, unfortunately,” said Nortje, known to his friends as Matt. 

A Frenchman hadn’t gone down so hard at the hands of a South African at Stade de France since the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals last year.

Asked jokingly if he had watched any instructional videos of Eben Etzebeth, Nortje countered with the same humour. “No, no, I just listened to his voice notes. He sent me some voice notes last night, so it worked out well.”

Nortje admitted it was a relief to get the record. “We had to listen to our relay coach [Paul Gorries] these past four years how incredible [the old] record was and now he can finally keep his mouth shut just a little bit — all respect to him, of course. It’s all jokes.”

“But [I’m] just thankful to have something as special as a South African record.”

Both Nene and Pillay dipped under 44 seconds on their legs, with Isaacs going 45.67 and Nortje 44.67.

The US won in a 2:54.43 Olympic record, with Botswana second in a 2:54.53 African record and Great Britain third in 2:55.83.

Pillay said the decision on the order of the team for the final had been a collective one, adding he had suggested that he and Nortje be dropped.

“Wayde wanted to run more than anything, Adrian [Swart, a reserve for the team] included, but due to circumstances he wasn’t able to.

“He warmed up with us. He’s probably waiting for us right now. Wayde was involved in every step of the race. His plan was to run the relay with us, the heat, the final. Both.

“I don’t want to disclose what’s not my information to disclose, but so far Wayde’s in a good space. I feel like our 4x400 relay squad is tighter than ever now.”

After finishing last in his 200m semifinal earlier in the week Van Niekerk had suggested he wasn’t in shape to run in the relay.

Isaacs, Nene, Nortje and Pillay won silver at World Relays in Bahamas in 3:00.75 behind Botswana.