“This is all about the 800m we ran today”.
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No doubt all eyes will be on her – not only to see what all the controversy is about, but to see if Semenya can beat the world record of 1:53.28, set 33 years ago by Czechoslovakian Jarmila Kratochvilova.
“It was just fantastic to run with great athletes like these”, she said.
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.
“Excuse me, my friend”, she said.
“I have daughters and I know how I would feel if this was being played out in the way that some people have been trying to play it out”. I have done well. They are proud of me. I was doing it for my people, the people who support me. She has grown sick of the scrutiny.
However, many including Sebastian Coe insist that Semenya should only compete if she takes hormone-suppressing drugs.
She added that sport should be about unifying people instead of discriminating against one another. “I am so happy to have done that”. And that was the main focus.
The IAAF and Athletics South Africa (ASA) were heavily criticised for the insensitive manner in which Semenya’s intersex condition was handled.
Indeed the issue was put to all three women, and whether they have been subjected to any testing of testosterone levels, or if they had been enforced to take medication to reduce it in the past, and if so how they felt about it.
But she did not make it through the 100m heats, and the IAAF is most concerned about the impact of hyperandrogeny in the middle- and long-distance events.
Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi was second in 1:56.49 and Kenya’s Margaret Wambui third in 1:56.89.
Radcliffe said Semenya was “not cheating” but something needed to be done to ensure she did not benefit from her elevated testosterone levels.
Which seemed a odd formulation, given the IAAF’s own mismanagment of Semenya’s case, especially at the World Championships in 2009, when she was outed as “intersex”, a label which she never seems to have actually used about herself, but has stuck ever since. I refused to answer questions from any other media on the topic.
Semenya replied: “Tonight is all about performance”. We’re not here to talk about the IAAF.
Indignation was swelling in Semenya’s breast. Beitia looked the most relaxed on the field as she smiled and waved her spirit fingers before each jump.
“I was coming down the home straight, we were not far away and you can see how close it is”. It is all about sport.
“I think you can see the relief on my face”.
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“But to run faster than I ever had before in the Olympic final is the best I could do”.
