FASTER SEMENYA
‘Whatever happens, I’ll be the best’
The first time I saw Caster Semenya on television I thought she was a boy. Remote in hand, I actually pressed the rewind button to make sure that my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. They weren’t. The 800m Olympic and Commonwealth champion herself is quite used to this happening. In a Being Caster Semenya interview on BET last year, she laughed about how the love of her life made the same mistake when they first laid eyes on each other. “We met in a restroom in 2007. She was a runner and was being escorted by doping officials. She thought I was a boy and said ‘What is a boy doing in here?’ ” We meet in an interview room at the Sandton Convention Centre for the first time since our last conversation in 2016. Back then she was wearing a brown leather bracelet, a gift from her wife, Violet Raseboya, engraved with the words “I love you”. Where is the bracelet, I ask. “I don’t need it,” she responds. But you said you wear all it the time, I retort.
“Yes, I did, but now I don’t need it any more because I have this,” she says matter-of-factly, raising her left hand to show the ring. “This is a better symbol.”
How significant that the interview happens on November 1, the day the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had pencilled in for the implementation of controversial — read “rubbish”— new rules on high testosterone levels in female athletes.
Thick-skinned Semenya is nonchalant about this gross violation of a person’s right to express their talent in the way they were born.
“To be honest, there is nothing that they are doing to me. Those are their opinions. Obviously there is a legal matter and there are some things that we can’t discuss.”
The IAAF postponed implementing the new rules by five months after Semenya challenged them at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“As a human, I’m courageous. I’m a positive person. The fight is not for me but the upcoming generation,” she says.
“I don’t wanna walk around a village or go across Africa and see the dreams of the young ones shattered, you understand.
“To be honest, this is no longer about me.
“I’ve lived life, I’ve achieved everything I want in life and I can still achieve, you understand. So this is all about those young girls that can be denied the opportunity to pursue their dreams. You have to understand it is all about them.”
As a human, I’m courageous. I’m a positive person. The fight is not for me but the upcoming generation. I don’t wanna walk around a village or go across Africa and see the dreams of the young ones shattered
It’s all about hard work
I remind her that during our previous interview at the Potchefstroom University track she told me that, growing up, she entertained thoughts of becoming a soldier. In her inimitable way, Semenya is waging this war against the suits on the track.
“It is all about action. They always say actions speak louder than words. I’m an athlete. I perform. I produce results. I work hard.
“So that is an example. It shows that for me talking does not help because it is just talking. Those are just words someone can just say. What is it that you’re doing?
“For me it is all about hard work. I train, produce results and I’ll be the best. And that’s what I want for the kids. They need to do the same thing. Work hard and become the best they can be.”