Wayde van Niekerk

Wayde van Niekerk was born nearly three months early, at twenty-nine weeks, and doctors were not sure he would survive. His mother, Odessa Swarts, was herself a talented sprinter who had been barred from competing internationally under apartheid. Years later, on August 14, 2016, her son ran the 400 meters at the Rio Olympics from lane eight, the worst lane on the track, where a runner cannot see his rivals, and broke Michael Johnson's seventeen-year-old world record with a time of 43.03 seconds.

He was born on July 15, 1992, in Cape Town, South Africa, at 12:55 in the morning; his mother later recalled the time on Twitter. Cancer holds his Sun, which lands in the third house, tied to early surroundings and siblings. Cancer is the sign most closely tied to the mother, and a Cancer Sun describes someone whose identity is rooted in family. Van Niekerk has always credited his mother for his talent and drive, saying that he runs partly for the chances she was denied.

Aries is his rising sign, which suits a sprinter perfectly. Aries is the sign of speed, competition and explosive starts, and an Aries Ascendant gives a direct, energetic approach to life.

His Moon is in Capricorn and shares the tenth house, where achievement is measured, with Saturn, retrograde in Aquarius. Capricorn is disciplined and patient, and Saturn in the tenth describes success built on long, unglamorous effort. Van Niekerk's coach for much of his career was Ans Botha, a great-grandmother in her seventies when he broke the world record, and their partnership became one of the most endearing stories of the Rio Games.

Mercury and Venus in Leo lie in his fourth house, which concerns home and roots. Leo adds pride, and van Niekerk has carried South African pride with him; he became a national hero after Rio.

He is the only man to have run the 100 meters in under ten seconds, the 200 meters in under twenty and the 400 meters in under forty-four. He won world championship gold in the 400 meters in Beijing in 2015 and again in London in 2017.

Mars in Taurus sits in his second house, describing strength and endurance, and Jupiter in Virgo falls in his fifth house of play. In October 2017, at the peak of his career, he tore ligaments in his knee while playing in a celebrity touch rugby match. The injury and complications kept him out of top-level competition for years, and he has spoken about how hard it was to rebuild his running.

Uranus and Neptune, both retrograde in Capricorn, fall in his ninth house of travel and wider horizons, describing a career lived on the international circuit with unexpected changes of direction. The Cancer Sun ran for his mother; the Aries Ascendant gave him the speed to do it.