Gold in sight, Semenya has no time for gender debate

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s Caster Semenya is back and vowing to win an Olympic gold medal that could reignite the complex biological and ethical gender storm that once engulfed her life.

The athlete, who was at the centre of a bitter dispute over gender testing seven years ago, is favourite to win the women’s 800 metres in Rio next month.

Semenya shot to international stardom in 2009 when she won the 800m at the World Championships in Berlin.

But her victory triggered a storm of controversy when rivals questioned her gender.

She was forced to undergo medical tests and barred from the track for nearly a year, before returning to win silver at the 2011 World Championships and 2012 London Olympics.

Semenya, 25, is in the best form of her life, and confidently brushing off the past track disputes.

“I don’t have time for that,” she said when asked about the gender issue at the African Athletics Championships in Durban in June. “I am an athlete and I focus more on the issues that concern me: training, perform, eat, sleep. So that thing — you know, it’s not part of me.”

Semenya scored a gold hattrick at the African championships, winning the 1,500m and 800m titles and anchoring the 4x400m relay to first place.

In April she became the first person to take triple gold in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m races — all in a single day at the South African national championships in Stellenbosch.