'Tannie Ans' nominated for Coach of the Year award

Cape Town - She stole the hearts of the world back in August, and now Ans Botha is being recognised for her achievements back on South African soil. 

Better known as 'Tannie Ans', Botha is the 74-year-old coach of Wayde van Niekerk, who smashed American Michael Johnson's 17-year-old 400m world record at the Olympics in Rio this year. 

As a result, she has been nominated in the 'Coach of the Year' category at this year's SA Sports Awards.

Van Niekerk's run was considered by many experts to be the best of the Games, and an already remarkable story was about to get even crazier when the world learned who his coach was. 

Botha, speaking after Van Niekerk's historic run of 43.03 seconds, said that breaking 43 seconds was on her mind before the race. 

Tannie Ans, who works out of Bloemfontein, says that she has a few more sprinters under her watch who are capable of delivering big things.

Sports minister Fikile Mbalula announced the nominees on Monday morning, and Van Niekerk was one of the first to congratulate his coach.

The SA Sports Awards will take place on November 27.

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— Wayde van Niekerk (@WaydeDreamer) October 31, 2016