At the Olympic Stadium today, she cruised to win her heat in just under two minutes – one minute 59.31 seconds.
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The careful reader will note there was a lot of hedging in the previous paragraphs, and that’s because Semenya has said very little about her physiology over the years.
Semenya’s lifetime best performances in 2016 have been scrutinised, with much criticism directed at her, even though she had nothing to do with the CAS ruling.
Harper, herself transgender, noticed she and other transgender athletes ran 12 percent slower when reducing their testosterone while transitioning from male to female.
Semenya had struggled to rediscover the form of her breakthrough year – some observers blaming the dip on medication to reduce the testosterone – but this season she has roared back to her best and came to Rio with the two fastest times of the year and unbeaten on the Diamond League circuit. It’s created an uncomfortable situation for many other runners. They were then suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2015.
“We have doping issues, but this is not on that level”.
While sixth-place runner, Italy’s Elisa Cusma said: “These people should not run with us”. “It’s not anybody’s fault”. The predominant view is that transgendered individuals should be permitted to choose the sex with which they feel most comfortable, regardless of what it says on their birth certificates.
“She is eligible to compete so we have to accept it at the moment”. It’s really not fair to her.
Others will see nothing but trouble, the almost-certain gold medalist competing with an unfair advantage.
The hashtag #HandsOffSemenya was trending on Twitter in South Africa on the weekend, with more than 17,000 tweets defending her right to compete as a cleared athlete.
“No amount of public humiliation can change her gender”, the statement read.
The court agreed, ruling the IAAF position “lacked sufficient scientific foundation”, forcing the organization to shelve is policy. They preferred to discuss their own heats, their own training and their own medal prospects. It also provides some inkling of what it must be like to be Caster Semenya. Her times fell off precipitously.
She’s the South African athlete who has been at the center of fierce controversy over whether she should be allowed to compete in women’s races.
In London 2012, Semenya took the silver medal in the 800m but was taking medication to lower testosterone levels. She knows there’s only so much she can do when the starter’s pistol fires. “This kind of scrutiny is inhumane and is a violation of Semenya’s human rights”.
It is believed that only Semenya’s coach and team-mates will be given access to her until she leaves Rio next week.
Clark continues, “I can only imagine how she felt as a young woman, the way people were talking about her and scrutinizing her and attacking her”.
“It’s probably something that needs to be revised after this”, she said.
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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 for Thursday’s semifinals.
