Caster praises SA ‘legends’
WAYDE VAN NIEKERK “conquered and is now a legend”, according to Caster Semenya, who is about to launch her own bid for a gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
Semenya took to Facebook yesterday to extend her well-wishes to Van Niekerk, long jump silver medallist Luvo Manyonga and a number of other South African athletes who excelled in Rio.
The 25-year-old middle-distance star will begin her attempt to go all the way in her second Olympic Games today in the first round of the 800m at 3.55pm SA time. The semifinal takes place on Thursday night (Friday. 2.15am SA time), with the final scheduled for Saturday night (Sunday, 2.15am SA time). Semenya is the red-hot favourite for the gold medal, having set a new South African record of 1min 55.33sec at the Monaco Diamond League on July 15, which is the fastest time in the world this year, while she is unbeaten in 2016.
But having won a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, she will not be taking anything for granted.
Before getting on the track, though, she expressed her delight with her athletics teammates’ performances.
“Wayde van Niekerk on his World Record. You came, you conquered and now you a legend. Who would have thought that a South African would ever hold the 400m Men WR???”
“Luvo Manyonga, great Long Jump display, congrats on your PB as well.”
Semenya also acknowledged Team South Africa’s five medallists from the other sports. “All you guys made RSA proud. The pride of Africa! Children of a great nation # UnlimitedCobra # TeamRSArise.”
RIO DE JANEIRO: A young athlete competing at the Rio Games always considered herself to be a girl just like the others, a girl who loved to run. Then the governing body of track and field told her she was different, so different that her track career could be over.
Marked “confidential” and signed “best sporting regards”, the letter outlined a choice for the athlete: Open herself up to a panel of medical experts who could recommend surgery or chemical treatment to reduce her testosterone levels, or stop competing.
She had fallen foul of the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) rules aimed at providing a fair playing field for women by keeping out athletes with high testosterone, a naturally occurring strength-building hormone.
The IAAF’s medical director at the time told track authorities in the athlete’s country that blood and urine tests detected testosterone levels that were “abnormally high”. The suspected cause, wrote Dr Gabriel Dolle, wasn’t doping but another hot-button issue likely to flare in the Rio Olympics’ final week: hyperandrogynism.
Had the athlete not been a runner, she might never have known of her condition. The athlete was stunned, her then coach said.
“She couldn’t understand. It was shock. I said ‘you’re not alone. There are others’.”
Thus started a months-long process of trips to foreign clinics for batteries of tests and potentially life-changing choices.
Another athlete has become the unwilling face of this complex and sensitive issue. Caster Semenya, will race and likely win gold in the 800.
Believed to be hyperandrogynic, outed as physiologically different without her consent when she won the world title in 2009, the South African’s dominance has again pushed to the fore divisive questions – such as whether allowing women to compete with testosterone is fair, and whether the hormone’s attributed effects are significantly greater than other natural gifts, like height for basketball players.
The Associated Press (AP) will not name the athlete, her country or give details that could identify her. She is focusing on competition in Rio de Janeiro and told AP her story is “personal and private”.
However, the IAAF letter and AP’s interview with the coach, who was intimately involved in her eventual decision to agree to testosterone-curbing treatment, shed unprecedented light on the inner workings of the process that at least 14 women have gone through since the federation introduced it in 2011.
Having not withstood a legal challenge brought by another female athlete, India’s Dutee Chand, the IAAF regulations are now on hold, suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) since July 2015.
During the IAAF process, the athlete could not compete; the coach covered her absence from races by lying that she was injured. The first IAAF-requested tests required a trip to another nation’s capital, where she was met by Dolle, and was followed by two trips to a clinic in Nice, France, the coach said.
“I didn’t want her to go alone. She didn’t speak French very well. I was afraid she wouldn’t understand,” the coach said. “I said, ‘before you take any medicine, call me. Don’t take anything’.
“The doctors say, ‘it’s for her good’. And I thought to myself, ‘she’s fine as she is’.”
Subsequently, Dolle offered two choices: surgery or medicinal treatment. The coach urged the athlete not to go under the surgeon’s knife. “But, she said, ‘since I love this sport, I’ll take the medicine’.”
When the IAAF eventually allowed the athlete to resume competing, she was delighted. But CAS only suspended the regulations, rather than overturn them entirely, giving the IAAF until July 2017 to produce evidence that high testosterone gives hyperandrogenic women a significant performance advantage.
Before you take any medicine, call me. Don’t take anything