That didn’t make it any less impressive, or any less contentious.
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South Africans say Caster Semenya has put her critics in their place. “And she must keep running!” We’re not here to talk about IAAF, we’re not here to talk about some speculations. It’s not about being muscular.
Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi received a silver medal and Margaret Wambui of Kenya a bronze.
Since her arrival in the world of athletics, Semenya has been subjected to criticism and tests over her gender.
With 150m left she made her move, calmly accelerating clear to take the lead as the race for silver and bronze unfolded behind her.
“The coach told me to be patient, wait for the right moment”, Semenya said.
“We know we are quicker in the last 200m, we just have to utilise it. We just have to utilize it”.
South Africans were celebrating with Semenya for flying the South African flag high.
In short, a paragraph that could not even begin to do justice to the injustice, the questions, the whispers, the doubts, the finger-pointing, the name-calling and Byzantine cruelty that Semenya has had to wade through since she announced herself to the world by winning the 800-meter world title as an 18-year-old in 2009.
Later, it was discovered they had high levels of testosterone in their system – either it was fed to them or they weren’t women at all. Previous year she did not reach the final of the World Championships in Beijing, but the appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) of an Indian athlete, Dutee Chand, came to her aid. The Court of Arbitration for Sport decided in Chand’s favor, saying it was “unable to conclude that hyperandrogenic female athletes may benefit from such a significant performance advantage that it is necessary to exclude them from competing in the female category”.
Semenya has been at the centre of a raging controversy in recent years because of her naturally occurring condition, hyperandrogenism, which causes elevated testosterone levels.
Many also believe it left Semenya, an outstanding athlete, unbeatable.
A South African athlete won a gold medal in the women’s 800 meter race. She also produced her trademark celebration: She pulled her arms up and flexed her bicep muscles, then brushed her hands across her shoulders – the way she brushed off her rivals.
Semenya never looked in trouble, biding her time after a 57.59-second opening lap.
“I don’t think it detracts”, she said about the focus on her identity and personal life, according to a report by the Independent.
Shabangu said government was proud of all South African athletes for giving their best.
In Rio, France’s Justine Fedronic, who failed to qualify for the 800 final, said she had sympathy for Semenya’s situation but did not consider competing against her a fair fight.
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Scientific research on this complex and sensitive issue acknowledges that many other factors are at play, biological and environmental, which makes it hard to single out the effect of a hormone.
