Semenya finished in a time of 1:55.28 – a personal best and a new South African record. It’s about sports. When you walk out of your apartment, you think about performing.
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One of the losers complained that she had raced against a man. Semenya, then an 18-year-old from the countryside, was barred from meets for 11 months while she was subjected to a battery of sex tests.
Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi took silver in 1:56.49 with Kenya’s Margaret Wambui claiming bronze in 1:56.89.
And she did compete under those conditions in London four years ago, claiming silver.
“The field was very good and I’d just like to congratulate everybody who has been in this competition, even those who were in the semis our out in the first round”.
“I was coming down the home straight, we were not far away”.
But breaking it would bring more scrutiny, and the South African said: “We were not focused on breaking the world record, we were focused on being the best we can be and producing a good performance. It was fantastic to race with such great athletes”.
Following the introduction of those rules, Semenya’s times slipped, with many assuming she was taking medication to keep her testosterone levels within acceptable limits.
“I think it was a wise decision (to pull out of the 400m) because the heat was just insane”.
Semenya could feel spectators’ probing eyes on her as she shook hands with her opponents and pulled a fallen runner to her feet.
Just two hours before her race, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)’s president, Sebastian Coe, said again that the governing body will soon go back to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) to try to overturn a decision it took in July, 2015, that the IAAF should provide evidence proving exactly how much of an advantage hyperandrogenic runners had over everyone else.
A reporter jumped at the start of the press conference to ask all three athletes if they had been forced to take hormone suppressants at any stage of their careers. Let me make one other point really clear: she is absolutely entitled to be here. I mean a lot to my people. We’re not here to talk about the IAAF.
She said one of the first things she wanted to do was call her wife, Violet. “We’re not here to talk about speculation”. I can only focus on the support of my people. Many believe that left Semenya, and others, free to run with their very high naturally-occurring testosterone levels unchecked.
Caster Semenya received more cheers than stares when she ran to a convincing victory in the 800 meters at Olympic Stadium, which was a welcome change from the usual reaction she gets when she’s on the track. We know we’re quicker in the last 200 so we just had to utilise that.
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The South African media has been filled with articles defending her.
