It’s the fourth gold medal for Farah, 33, who now ranks as Britain’s greatest Olympic track and field athlete of all time.
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Semenya didn’t just win the gold medal in the women 800 metres final. Since her emergence in 2009 as the world champion in the women’s 800m event, she has been shoeboxed as “hyperandrogenic” and “intersex”, and described as “breathtakingly butch” by the New Yorker Magazine.
Semenya, likely while taking the hormone medication, wins silver in the 800 meters at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, behind Russia’s Mariya Savinova. “It was just about being patient and do what you do best”.
And with that, Semenya made as much of a statement as anything she just achieved on the track.
Caster Semenya of South Africa celebrates winning gold in the women’s 800m victory ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, August 21, 2016. The tests – likely to verify Semenya’s sex and also to measure her testosterone levels – led to her being declared ineligible to compete for 11 months.
She also commended Sunette Viljoen on her silver for women’s javelin, and Henri Schoeman on his men’s triathlon bronze.
But the gold medal went to 37-year-old Ruth Beitia of Spain who came out of retirement four years old to realize her dream.
Niyonsaba earned silver (1:56.49) and Margaret Wambui of Kenya won the battle for bronze (1:56.89).
“Caster at this stage I would see her competing well into the future, she is a huge star not only in SA but in the world and everyone would be backing her”, said Mosibodi Whitehead, Kaya Fm sport editor.
“We are very proud of Caster Semenya”.
The IAAF has already signalled its intention to challenge the CAS ruling from previous year that allowed Semenya and other athletes with high testosterone levels to compete in Rio without having to take suppressants.
There had been talk of Semenya smashing the world record here, though Czech Jarmila Kratochvílová’s 1:53:28 – which is haunted by suspicions of foul play and is the longest-standing record – proved insurmountable. It kills them.” Then she added her own words: “You try to give me stress… “She was born a girl and no amount of public humiliation can change her gender”, the women’s league said.
Yet Sharp seems more certain that the overturned rule cinched her loss, and others’ losses too. I know I can go faster but I’m still happy with that performance. “I was doing it for my people, the people who support me”, Semenya is quoted as saying.
Largely silent through the storm of controversy, Semenya voiced her thoughts on Sunday before the race. You just need to set a great example. I had a lot left at the end, but I don’t know if that means I ran it right or had too much left.
Semenya says she believes sports can and should unite people.
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Asked how she was feeling to have the gold medal around her neck Semenya said: “It’s fantastic – I can’t wait to get home”.
