Caster Semenya’s long journey to Olympic gold must surely have been incredibly painful at times, but her victory in Rio early yesterday finally saw her rise above years of controversy and humiliation, and claim what is rightfully hers.
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The 25-year-old South African streaked away from Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Kenya’s Margaret Wambui, with Britain’s Lynsey Sharp finishing sixth in a personal best of one minute 57.69 seconds.
Briton Lynsey Sharp who was placed sixth in that race argued that the decision to overturn rules on testosterone suppression made competing against the women’s Olympic 800m champion, Semenya, and other hyperandrogenic athletes hard.
Semenya was cleared to compete by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 2010 after being sidelined for 11 months while she had tests. “It was just about being patient and doing what you do best”. I just focus on those things.
She said: “I have tried to avoid the issue all year”.
The gold medal brings South Africa’s tally at Rio 2016 to 10, their best medal haul since readmission to sport following apartheid, while equalling the country’s best medal tallies from Antwerp 1920 and Helsinki 1952.
As a gold medallist Semenya also received a specially struck a medal from the South African Minister of Sport and Recreation Fikile Mbalula amidst the airport celebrations.
That’s because The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that there was no clear evidence that athletes with hyperandrogenism have an unfair advantage over other athletes.
“She was born a girl and no amount of public humiliation can change her gender”, the women’s league said.
And the really good news is that the new Olympic champion is keen on making the 400m a part of her schedule.
American runner Paul Chelimo won an Olympic silver medal. “So I think I’ve lost around 30 hours of my time and the body is just dead (sic)”.
At her press conference, Ms. Semenya quoted the South African liberation hero, Nelson Mandela, who said that sports is a way of uniting people.
That Semenya did to perfection as she held back until the final bend when she unleashed her speed to take to the front and claim SA’s second gold of these Games. She has, understandably, always run from excruciatingly personal and intrusive questions about whether she was born with internal testes, no uterus and has high levels of testosterone – in short, absurd questions about matters that are nobody’s business but her own.
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In her own tweets, Ms. Semenya has been sharper in her retorts to her detractors.
