Further recognition and accolades continue to roll the way of Anna "Tannie Ans" Botha, the veteran coach responsible for the meteoric rise of world and Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk.

Botha is set to jet off to Italy on Thursday where she has been invited to address women coaches at a European athletics coaches summit this weekend.

"When I received this invitation from the European Athletics Union, I couldn't believe it because it is such a big event.

"I told my director at Kovsies [University of Free State] that this is too big for me, I can't do it and she said 'Tannie, if you can get the international recognition, then grab it with both hands, you can do it'," said Botha, who turns 75 in December.

The two-day international festival of athletics coaching will offer a debrief of the Olympics, as well as unpack the components of track and field such as sprints, which is Botha's forte.

The gesture follows a few days after telecoms company T-Systems - which sponsors Van Niekerk - launched a learnership programme in her honour on Friday. The initiative will focus on disabled youth.

With nearly five decades of coaching experience, Botha - who has been with Van Niekerk for four years - only gained global fame after she guided the 24-year-old sprinter to the world title at last year's IAAF World Championships in China.

But it was at the Rio Olympics in August where Van Niekerk's record-breaking run of 43.03 seconds enhanced the Nambian-born mentor's status among the top sprinting coaches.

It is not surprising that Van Niekerk and his Kovsies teammates praise their coach at every opportunity.

"It's an inspiration not only for me but for the rest of us to have Tannie, who at 74 produced a world and Olympic champion," said Van Niekerk, who has been nominated for the IAAF World Athlete of the Year.