Semenya ran a well-controlled race, attacking on the final bend to take the lead and comfortably hold off her nearest rivals to win in 1min 59.31sec to qualify automatically for tonight’s semifinals.
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As an 18-year-old, Ms Semenya won gold at her first world championships in 2009, destroying the rest of the field by more than two seconds.
Caster Semenya began her bid for what is set to be one of the most controversial gold medals of the Rio Olympics by breezing into the 800 metres semi-finals on Wednesday.
The news outlet reports that the runner has no womb or ovaries.
Semenya’s determination to keep competing has also provoked discussions about exactly whose rights are being trampled here: Semenya’s? “We hope she continues and runs faster than she did today”. Is there any comparison between Semenya’s inherent edge and, say, the height and long strides invested on Usain Bolt by the gene pool?
She finished in 1 minute 59.31, going sub-2 minutes while going well below full pace for most of the race. For me she is not a woman.
Officials at Rio 2016 are concerned that hostility towards 25-year-old Caster Semenya could spill over into violence. The presence of women with excessive testosterone levels – the natural drug aid that makes men so much stronger and faster – gives them a big advantage in athletics, but is it any different than the advantages other athletes have with any genetic anomaly? “She should not be penalized for hers”, he said.
Nearly everyone will see a controversy that could have – should have – been dealt with years earlier, an issue largely unresolved for seven years now, leaving Semenya to twist in the wind through no fault of her own.
However an appeal by Indian runner Dutee Chand, who also has hyperandrogenism, saw the rule axed in 2015 with the Court of Arbitration in Sport declaring there was insufficient evidence the condition could single-handedly propel athletes to victory. This time round she seems totally committed to doing her best.
Only in July next year will we know whether athletics has been able to prove its case in favour of testosterone thresholds.
Semenya’s Twitter account is littered with references to her critics and the 2012 Olympic silver medallist appears to be using them as motivation in Rio.
All we can say is God’s speed Caster and we’ll be rooting for you all the way.
“I am not a fake”, she told the BBC previous year.
The Edinburgh hope knew what she wanted – and vowed to get it – after watching Kelly Holmes’s eyes bulge in astonishment when she pulled off her Olympic double in Athens 12 years ago. “I just tried to hang on and tried to feel my body first so I was comfortable, I tried to just get in the top two and tried to win so I would be safe for the semi-finals”.
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Ireland’s Ciara Everard said: ‘From what I’ve seen, people are complaining about it, and perhaps the ruling needs to be revised, but it’s a very sensitive issue so needs to be dealt with very sensitively’.
