Going for gold tonight: Caster Semenya |
Caster Semenya will bring South Africa to a halt tonight,
just as Chad Le Clos did a week ago in the swimming pool. And, just like her butterflying
compatriot, Semenya is EXPECTED to win gold over 800m at the Olympic Stadium in
London.
That we should put that kind of pressure on a woman who has
been through so much is both unfair and typical of this rainbow nation, where
so much is expected by so many from so few in the sporting world.
But the lass from Limpopo herself appears unfazed. Just this
morning, after an emphatic semi-final win of 1:57.67 on Thursday night, we
read: “I was a bit nervous but this British crowd makes me feel at home and
reminds me of good memories. I have to stretch out on the last 100m.
“It’s about putting on the spikes and just running. The time
I ran makes me very confident. It’s about running your own race, you have to
think of yourself and about yourself. You have to run a good time to get into
the final and that’s what I did. I'm happy with that.
“Sometimes, if you want to run a good race, you have to
forget about everybody, just think about your own race because it can disturb
you.”
If there are any gods left on Mount Olympus, Caster – the fastest
qualifier for tonight’s final – will see off reigning Olympic champion Pamela
Jelimo of Kenya and dangerous Russian Elena Arzhakova who have both been in far
better form than South Africa’s favourite athlete in the build-up to London
2012.
The complex story of Mokgadi Caster Semenya is perhaps
summed up best by the girl from Ga-Masehlong herself. She says: "God made
me the way I am and I accept myself."
Most South Africans, having seen the pain she went through
at close quarters, would agree with that statement. So many foreign watchers
are only too keen to ignore the subtlety of such self-examination.
It was when Semenya exploded on the world stage at the 2009 World
Championships in Berlin, with a scorching time of 1:55.45, that Caster became a
household name… and her life was ruthlessly picked apart.
With nobody to protect her, with the world’s media
desperately seeking lurid details, somebody leaked the news that Caster Semenya
had been subjected to gender testing just THREE HOURS before the World
Championship final.
Lamine Diack, the IAAF president, admitted to a “leak of
confidentiality” and insisted his organisation had been “obliged to investigate”
because Caster had improved by 25 seconds at 1500m and eight seconds at 800 m
"the sort of dramatic breakthroughs that usually arouse suspicion of drug
use."
As international anger at Caster’s exposure grew, the IAAF
denied racism and claimed the test was not about suspected cheating but to
discover is she was suffering from “a rare medical condition". Though the
IAAF later apologised and let Caster keep her medal and prize money, Wilfred
Daniels, Semenya's coach, resigned saying Athletics South Africa (ASA)
"did not advise Ms Semenya properly". Then, in September 2009, ASA President
Leonard Chuene admitted he too had subjected Semenya to gender checks, but hadn’t
explained the true purpose of the tests to the runner.
With no scientific investigation, no real justification,
Caster was withdrawn from international competition until 6 July 2010 – and
only then did the IAAF clear her to return to competition with no cogent explanation
for the ordeal she had been forced to go through.
Her parents and grandparents in Fairlie near Polokwane were
subjected to endless questioning about her teen years as “a tomboy”, her
headmaster at Nthema Secondary School was pounced on when he admitted she had
worn trousers rather than a skirt in grade 11. All this was seen as evidence of
something that rigorous science had emphatically disproved.
Semenya returned to take silver at the 2011 World
Championships and has been working at the Pretoria University High Performance
Centre – which produced world-record breaking breast-stroke golden boy Cameron
van der Burgh and the Oarsome Foursome – to put herself back on top of the
world of two-lap running.
Tonight we will see the results of that effort. And find out
just how strong Caster Semenya is. Let nobody raise the issue of gender if Semenya
is crowned the world’s 800m queen again tonight.
I would just like to say, this was clearly the doing of a pathetic ASA. They accepted no responsibilty. But that in the past, Samenya is great, she deserves to be here the most of all. I hope she does us and especially herself proud. Maybe she can rub her medal is ASA's face, a pathetic excuse for an goverment body.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way Caster ran the semis, she was oozing confidence and that's what she's been lacking lately thanks to that embarrassment she suffered. Maria Mutola did a great job with her and the result is very much apparent. Later tonight when she wins the gold and she will, it will be a nice gesture of thanking her tormentors.
ReplyDeleteIts been a while since our National Anthem has been played at London 2012 ,its about time in Caster we trust indeed
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