PARIS -- Olympic 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk expressed his eagerness to come back, claiming he is "100% ready" to return to action when the COVID-19 lockdown lifts, in an interview recently.

Speaking about his injury trauma of the past two years, the 400m world record holder, who has been out of action with a knee injury since 2017, revealed that there were days when he couldn't walk.

"I have learned to differentiate between bad pain when I am on the brink of injuring myself and pain where I just need a day or two of rest and recovery."

"I had to learn to listen to my body more, and I thank my coaches for listening to me when I am in that situation. You get a lot of coaches who would have pushed athletes through that pain, but my team was very patient," he added.