Caster Semenya

Caster Semenya

Caster Semenya at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Nationality South African
Born (1991-01-07) 7 January 1991
Pietersburg (now Polokwane)
Residence South Africa
Alma mater North-West University
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 70 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Sport Running
Event(s) 800 metres, 1500 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) 400m: 50.40
800m: 1:55.28
1500m: 4:01.99
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  South Africa
Olympic Games
2016 Rio de Janeiro 800 m
2012 London 800 m
World Championships
2009 Berlin 800 m
2011 Daegu 800 m
All-Africa Games
2015 Brazzaville 800 m
African Championships
2016 Durban 800 m
2016 Durban 1500 m
2016 Durban 4x400 m relay

Mokgadi Caster Semenya Bronze OIB (born 7 January 1991) is a South African middle-distance runner and 2016 Olympic gold medallist.[1][2] Semenya won gold in the women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships with a time of 1:55.45 in the final. Semenya also won silver medals at the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Summer Olympics, both in the 800 metres. She was the winner of the gold medal in the 800 metre event at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[3]

Following her victory at the 2009 World Championships, it was announced that she had been subjected to gender testing.[2] She was withdrawn from international competition until 6 July 2010 when the IAAF cleared her to return to competition.[4][5] In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman included Semenya in a list of "50 People That Matter 2010".[6]

Early life and education

Semenya was born in Ga-Masehlong, a village in South Africa near Polokwane (previously called Pietersburg), and grew up in the village of Fairlie, deep in South Africa's northern Limpopo province. She has three sisters and a brother.[7][8] Semenya attended Nthema Secondary School and now attends the University of Pretoria as a sports science student.[2][9] She began running as training for soccer.[10]

External video
"Too Fast to Be a Woman The Story of Caster Semenya", Maxx Ginane
"Dorcas and Caster Semenya", P&G

Career

2008

In July Semenya participated in the 2008 World Junior Championships, and won the gold in the 800 m at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games with a time of 2:04.23.[11]

2009

Semenya in 2009

In the African Junior Championships Semenya won both the 800 m and 1500 m races with the times of 1:56.72 and 4:08.01 respectively.[12][13] With that race she improved her 800 m personal best by seven seconds in less than nine months, including four seconds in that race alone.[2][14] The 800 m time was the world leading time in 2009 at that date.[14] It was also a national record and a championship record. Semenya simultaneously beat the Senior and Junior South African records held by Zelda Pretorius at 1:58.85, and Zola Budd at 2:00.90, respectively.[15]

In August Semenya won gold in the 800 metres at the World Championships with a time of 1:55.45 in the final, again setting the fastest time of the year.[16]

In December 2009 Track and Field News voted Semenya the Number One Women's 800-metre runner of the year.[17]

2009 sex verification tests and controversy

Following her victory at the world championships, questions were raised about her gender.[2][14][18][19] Having beaten her previous 800 m best by four seconds at the African Junior Championships just a month earlier,[20] her quick improvements came under scrutiny. The combination of her rapid athletic progression and her appearance culminated in the IAAF asking her to take a sex verification test to ascertain whether she was female.[21][22] The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) says it was "obliged to investigate" after she made improvements of 25 seconds at 1500 m and eight seconds at 800 m – "the sort of dramatic breakthroughs that usually arouse suspicion of drug use."[23]

The sex test results were never published officially, however some results were leaked in the press and are widely discussed, resulting in claims about Semenya having an intersex trait.[24] It is not possible to verify those claims without official reports.[25]

In November 2009 South Africa's sports ministry issued a statement that Semenya[26] had reached an agreement with the IAAF to keep her medal and award.[27] Eleven months later, in July 2010, she was cleared again to compete in women's competitions.[28][29]

News that the IAAF requested the test broke three hours before the 2009 World Championships 800 m final.[14] IAAF president Lamine Diack stated, "There was a leak of confidentiality at some point and this led to some insensitive reactions."[30] The IAAF's handling of the case spurred many negative reactions.[31] A number of athletes, including retired sprinter Michael Johnson, criticised the organisation for its response to the incident.[32][33] The IAAF said it confirmed the requirement for a sex verification test after the news had already been reported in the media, denying charges of racism and expressing regret about "the allegations being made about the reasons for which these tests are being conducted."[23][34] The federation also explained that the motivation for the test was not suspected cheating but a desire to determine whether she had a "rare medical condition" giving her an "unfair advantage".[35] The president of the IAAF stated that the case could have been handled with more sensitivity.[36]

On 7 September 2009, Wilfred Daniels, Semenya's coach with Athletics South Africa (ASA), resigned because he felt that ASA "did not advise Ms. Semenya properly". He apologised for personally having failed to protect her.[37] ASA President Leonard Chuene admitted on 19 September 2009 to having subjected Semenya to testing. He had previously lied to Semenya about the purpose of the tests and to others about having performed the tests. He ignored a request from ASA team doctor Harold Adams to withdraw Semenya from the World Championships over concerns about the need to keep her medical records confidential.[38]

Prominent South African civic leaders, commentators, politicians, and activists characterised the controversy as racist, as well as an affront to Semenya's privacy and human rights.[39][40] On the recommendation of South Africa's Minister for Sport and Recreation, Makhenkesi Stofile, Semenya retained the legal firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, acting pro bono, "to make certain that her civil and legal rights and dignity as a person are fully protected."[41][42][43] In an interview with South African magazine YOU Semenya stated, "God made me the way I am and I accept myself."[44] Following the furore, Semenya received great support within South Africa,[32][33] to the extent of being called a cause célèbre.[40]

2010

Semenya on the 2010 Diamond League circuit

In March 2010, Semenya was denied the opportunity to compete in the local Yellow Pages Series V Track and Field event in Stellenbosch, South Africa, because the IAAF had yet to release its findings from her gender test.[45]

On 6 July, the IAAF cleared Semenya to return to international competition. The results of the gender tests, however, were not released for privacy reasons.[4] She returned to competition nine days later winning two minor races in Finland.[46] On 22 August 2010, running on the same track as her World Championship victory, Semenya started slowly but finished strongly, dipping under 2:00 for the first time since the controversy, while winning the ISTAF meet in Berlin.[47]

Not being on full form, she did not enter the World Junior Championships or the African Championships, both held in July 2010, and opted to target the Commonwealth Games to be held in October 2010.[48] She improved her season's best to 1:58.16 at the Notturna di Milano meeting in early September and returned to South Africa to prepare for the Commonwealth Games.[49] Eventually, she was forced to skip the games due to injury.[50]

In September, the British magazine New Statesman included Semenya in its annual list of "50 People That Matter" for unintentionally instigating "an international and often ill-tempered debate on gender politics, feminism, and race, becoming an inspiration to gender campaigners around the world."[6]

2011

After the controversy of the previous year, Semenya returned to action with a moderately low profile, only running 1:58.61 at the Bislett Games as her best prior to the World Championships.[51] During the championships, she easily won her semi-final heat. In the final, she remained in the front of the pack leading into the final straightaway. While she separated from the rest of the field, Mariya Savinova followed her, then sprinted past Semenya before the finish line, leaving her to finish third.[52]

2012–15

Caster Semenya was chosen to carry the country's flag during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics.[53] She later won a silver medal in the women's 800 metres of these games, with a time of 1:57.23 seconds, her season's best. She passed six competitors in the last 150 metres, but did not pass world champion Mariya Savinova of Russia, who took gold in a time of 1:56.19, finishing 1.04 seconds before Semenya.[54] During the BBC coverage after the race, former British hurdler, Colin Jackson raised the question whether Semenya had thrown the race, as the time that had been run was well within her capability,[55][56] though it is worth noting that Semenya has only once in her life run faster than Savinova's winning time, when winning the 2009 World title,[57] and Savinova has been reported as sneering at Semenya's appearance.[24] In November 2015, the World Anti-Doping Agency recommended Savinova and four other Russian athletes be given a lifetime ban for doping violations at the Olympics.[58] The International Olympic Committee has not yet issued any disqualifications. If the IOC does disqualify Savinova and advances the finishers, Semenya could be awarded the gold medal.[59] The same Mariya Savinova also displaced Semenya from the gold medal in the 2011 World Championships.

2015 testosterone rule change

The IAAF policy on hyperandrogenism, or high natural levels of testosterone in women, was suspended following the case of Dutee Chand v. Athletics Federation of India (AFI) & The International Association of Athletics Federations, in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, decided in July 2015.[60] The ruling found that there was a lack of evidence provided that testosterone increased female athletic performance and notified the IAAF that it had two years to provide the evidence.[61]

2016

On 16 April, Semenya became the first person to win all three of the 400m, 800m, and 1500m titles at the South African National Championships, setting world leading marks of 50.74 and 1:58.45 in the first two events, and a 4:10.93 in the 1500m, all within a nearly 4-hour span of each other.[62][63]

On 16 July, she set a new national record for 800 metres of 1:55:33.[64] On 20 August, she won the gold medal in the women's 800 metres at the Rio Olympics with a time of 1:55.28.[65] Immediately after the race Lynsey Sharp, finishing sixth, broke in tears on the rule change saying “Everyone can see it’s two separate races so there’s nothing I can do,”[66] while fifth-placed Joanna Jóźwik reportedly claimed that she was the "first European" and "second white" to finish the race.[67][68]

Some commentators expressed concern about Semenya's testosterone levels, following her win. Eric Vilain, a medical geneticist, said in an interview, “if we push this argument, anyone declaring a female gender can compete as a woman... We’re moving toward one big competition, and the very predictable result of that competition is that there will be no women winners.”[69] Other commentators, such as bioethicist Katrina Karkazis, point to statements by losing competitors as evidence of discriminatory treatment.[68]

Semenya set a new personal best for the 400m of 50:40 at the 2016 Memorial Van Damme track and field meet in Brussels.[70]

Personal life and honours

In 2012 Semenya was awarded South African Sportswoman of the Year Award at the SA Sports Awards in Sun City. Semenya received the bronze Order of Ikhamanga on 27 April 2014, as part of Freedom Day festivities.[71]

Semenya is married to her long-term partner, Violet Raseboya.[72][73] The couple married in a traditional ceremony.[73]

In October 2016, the IAAF announced that Semenya was shortlisted for women's 2016 World Athlete of the Year.[74]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Birth certificate backs SA gender". BBC News. 21 August 2009. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Slot, Owen (19 August 2009). "Caster Semenya faces sex test before she can claim victory". The Times. London. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  3. ↑ "Rio Olympics 2016: Caster Semenya wins 800m gold for South Africa". bbc.com. BBC. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Semenya cleared to return to track immediately". Associated Press. 6 July 2010. Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  5. ↑ Kessel, Anna (6 July 2010). "Caster Semenya may return to track this month after IAAF clearance". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  6. 1 2 "Caster Semenya – 50 people that matter 2010". Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  7. ↑ Abrahamson, Alan (20 August 2009). "Caster Semenya's present and future". Universal Sports. Archived from the original on 23 August 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  8. ↑ "Athletics-Olympic hope Semenya runs fastest 400 metres of year". 18 April 2016.
  9. ↑ SAfrican in gender flap gets gold for 800 win 22 August 2009, By RYAN LUCAS, Associated Press Writer
  10. ↑ Prince, Chandre (29 August 2009). "Hero Caster's road to gold". The Times. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  11. ↑ "Young SA team strikes gold". Independent Online. 16 October 2008. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  12. ↑ Ouma, Mark (2 August 2009). "Nigerian Ogoegbunam completes a hat trick at Africa Junior Championships". AfricanAthletics.org. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  13. ↑ Ouma, Mark (31 July 2009). "South African teen Semenya stuns with 1:56.72 800m World lead in Bambous – African junior champs, Day 2". IAAF. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Tom Fordyce (19 August 2009). "Semenya left stranded by storm". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  15. ↑ South African teen Semenya stuns with 1:56.72 800m World lead in Bambous – African junior champs, Day 2 IAAF, 31 July 2009
  16. ↑ "800 Metres Women Final Results" (PDF). 19 August 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  17. ↑ Track and Field News, Vol 8. Number 59, 22 December 2009.
  18. ↑ Women's world champion Semenya faces gender test CNN, 20 August 2009
  19. ↑ "Semenya told to take gender test". BBC Sport. 19 August 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  20. ↑ Ouma, Mark (2009-07-31). South African teen Semenya stuns with 1:56.72 800m World lead in Bambous - African junior champs, Day 2. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-22. Archived 2009-09-08.
  21. ↑ https://www.iaaf.org/news/news/statement-on-caster-semenya
  22. ↑ Smith, David (2009-08-20). Caster Semenya sex row: 'She's my little girl,' says father. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2009-08-22.
  23. 1 2 David Smith, "Caster Semenya row: 'Who are white people to question the makeup of an African girl? It is racism'" The Observer, 23 August 2009
  24. 1 2 Padawer, Ruth (June 28, 2016). "The Humiliating Practice of Sex-Testing Female Athletes". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  25. ↑ Caster Semenya 1:56.44 Women's 800m | Zurich Diamond League. Retrieved on 2016-09-10.
  26. ↑ Caster Semenya Strong Finish Women's 400m | Brussels Diamond League. Retrieved on 2016-09-10.
  27. ↑ Jere Longman "South African Runner’s Sex-Verification Result Won’t Be Public" The New York Times, 19 November 2009
  28. ↑ "Caster Semenya given all clear after gender test row". July 6, 2010.
  29. ↑ "Caster Semenya coasted to victory in the Monaco meeting". July 16, 2016.
  30. ↑ Hart, Simon (24 August 2009). "World Athletics: Caster Semenya tests 'show high testosterone levels'". The Times. London. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  31. ↑ Linda Geddes, Scant support for sex test on champion athlete New Scientist, 21 August 2009.
  32. 1 2 "Semenya dismissive of gender row". BBC Sport. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  33. 1 2 "South African unite behind gender row athlete". BBC News. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  34. ↑ "SA to take up Semenya case with UN", The Times SA, 21 August 2009
  35. ↑ "SA fury over athlete gender test". BBC Sport. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  36. ↑ "New twist in Semenya gender saga". BBC Sport. 25 August 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  37. ↑ "S. Africa gender row coach resigns". BBC News. 7 September 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  38. ↑ Serena Chaudhry (19 September 2009). "South Africa athletics chief admits lying about Semenya tests". Reuters. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
  39. ↑ Dixon, Robyn (26 August 2009). "Caster Semenya, South African runner subjected to gender test, gets tumultuous welcome home". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  40. 1 2 Sawer, Patrick; Berger, Sebastian (23 August 2009). "Gender row over Caster Semenya makes athlete into a South African cause celebre". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
  41. ↑ Dewey takes up Semenya case in IAAF dispute – Legalweek Magazine
  42. ↑ Dewey & LeBoeuf to advise Caster Semenya – The Times Archived 25 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  43. ↑ Dewey & LeBoeuf Retained to Protect Rights of South African Runner Caster Semenya – press release from Dewey & LeBoeuf.
  44. ↑ "Makeover for SA gender-row runner". BBC News. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
  45. ↑ "Semenya announces return to competitive running". NBC Sports. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  46. ↑ Yahoo News, 18 July 2010: Semenya easily wins again in Finland
  47. ↑ AP article Archived 24 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  48. ↑ CBC, 21 July 2010: Semenya has eyes on Commonwealth Games
  49. ↑ Sampaolo, Diego (10 September 2010). Howe, Semenya, and Yenew highlight in Milan. IAAF. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  50. ↑ "Injured Semenya pulls out of Commonwealth Games", The Hindu, 29 September 2010:
  51. ↑ "2011 Oslo Bislett Games Results". letsrun.com. letsrun.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  52. ↑ "2011 Oslo Bislett Games Results". letsrun.com. letsrun.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  53. ↑ "Caster Semenya rightly chosen to bear South Africa's flag at opening ceremony". CBS Sports. 22 July 2012.
  54. ↑ "Caster clinches silver medal". Sport24. 11 August 2012.
  55. ↑ "Semenya: 'I tried my best': South African silver medallist hits back at allegations she did not try to win 800-metre race at the Olympics". Al Jazeera. 14 August 2012.
  56. ↑ "Olympic Games – Semenya denies trying not to win Olympic title". Yahoo Sport. 14 August 2012.
  57. ↑ "All-time women's best 800 m". Track and Field all-time. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  58. ↑ Gibson, Owen (9 November 2015). "Russia accused of 'state-sponsored doping' as Wada calls for athletics ban". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  59. ↑ "IOC ready to strip medals from Russians". TSN.
  60. ↑ Court of Arbitration for Sport (July 2015). CAS 2014/A/3759 Dutee Chand v. Athletics Federation of India (AFI) & The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) (PDF). Court of Arbitration for Sport.
  61. ↑ Branch, John (27 July 2016). "Dutee Chand, Female Sprinter With High Testosterone Level, Wins Right to Compete". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2016. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, based in Switzerland, questioned the athletic advantage of naturally high levels of testosterone in women and therefore immediately suspended the practice of 'hyperandrogenism regulation' by track and field's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations. It gave the organization, known as the I.A.A.F., two years to provide more persuasive scientific evidence linking 'enhanced testosterone levels and improved athletic performance.'
  62. ↑ "Semenya makes history at nationals". Sport24. 16 April 2016.
  63. ↑ "Caster Semenya South African National Olympic Trials 1500 meters results". Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  64. ↑ "Rio Olympics 2016: Caster Semenya wins 800m gold for South Africa". bbc.com. bbc.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  65. ↑ "Rio Olympics: Caster Semenya Leaves No Doubt in 800". Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  66. ↑ "Rio 2016: Caster Semenya victory in 800m reduces Team GB athlete Lynsey Sharp to tears". 23 August 2016.
  67. ↑ Critchley, Mark. "Fifth-placed runner behind Semenya 'feels like silver medalist' and glad she was the 'second white'". The Independent. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  68. 1 2 Karkazis, Katrina. "The ignorance aimed at Caster Semenya flies in the face of the Olympic spirit". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  69. ↑ Macur, Juliet (2015-07-28). "The Line Between Male and Female Athletes Remains Blurred". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  70. ↑ "Results: 2016 Memorial Van Damme / Brussels Diamond League Results - LetsRun.com". LetsRun.com. 2016-09-09. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  71. ↑ "Zuma presents National Orders in Pretoria". eNCA. 27 April 2014.
  72. ↑ "Caster Semenya has stirring words for her critics after winning women's 800m". Sydney Morning Herald. August 21, 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
  73. 1 2 "WATCH: Caster on love, Rio and playing for Banyana". The Sunday Times. April 24, 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
  74. ↑ "Nominees announced for World Athlete of the Year". IAAF. October 18, 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Caster Semenya.


Olympic Games
Preceded by
Natalie du Toit		 Flagbearer for  South Africa
London 2012 		Succeeded by
Wayde van Niekerk
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.