It’s like Caster’s on wheels
She is the first South African to retain an Olympic Games title
Serial record-breaker Semenya is well on her way to being a global icon in her lifetime. Our conversation is taking place on the sidelines of the Discovery Leadership Summit, where she shares the stage with global influencers of the ilk of Patrice Motsepe, former US president Bill Clinton, his wife, former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Thuma Mina himself, President Cyril Ramaphosa.
I wonder out loud what, for Semenya, is the most pressing global issue.
“I’ll always touch more on education,” says Semenya, who graduated with a sports science degree from North-West University in March. That was just weeks after she blew to smithereens Zola Budd’s 1,000m record, which had stood for 35 years.
Starting a family
Education is Semenya’s passion because “we as Africans still have a long way to go”.
“There are steps we jump more in education. We forget to teach kids basic skills they need to be better in life.
“We focus more on achievement. Instead of getting them into simple things, you load them with unnecessary knowledge. For me it’s all about educating them in fundamental skills like listening and communication skills.”
She perceives unnecessary work with kids as being “like me, Caster Semenya, going to a primary school and telling kids about my achievements”.
“Why can’t I just tell them how I got there, what inspired me to get there? Not that this is the car I drive. That is a messed-up situation. Teach simple skills. What does it take to be a champion, a great leader, a good person? Respect, love, appreciating yourself, accepting yourself. Those build a person to become better each and every day. Obviously when you grow, if you don’t have those skills you will fail always.”
Are these the teachings she will one day want to pass on to her own children? She wants five.
Raseboya wants two. For the couple, starting a family is all about timing.
“Family you start when you know that you’ll have time for your kids. At the moment we’re too busy. If we were to start a family, maybe it would be in five years’ time, I don’t know.
“But of course it is between two people, two individuals checking the schedule and knowing if they’ll have time for their kids.
“We are not in a rush for life. We want to be consistent. We want to be ready. You don’t wanna have kids and you are not ready to raise them, or raise them in a wrong way. You’ve got to be certain. You can never tell, even tomorrow.”
Soccer dreams
Would her kids’ gender matter to Semenya?
“Gender? You know I prefer boys to girls.”
Why is that?
“Boys are easy to manage.”
Get out of here, Caster!
She lets loose a laugh and continues.
“Girls, you have a lot of work to do because you have to teach them a lot of things. Boys, it is easy to manage them because they are boys. Also they carry the legacy.
“I don’t want my girls to go away as I took Violet from her family. You understand? It is gonna break my heart to see that.”
So you are very possessive?
“I’m jealous when it comes to my things. But those are the things that you know you cannot control anyway. It is God’s will. When you start a family you just appreciate what you have.”
Semenya harbours hopes of playing for the senior women’s national soccer side, Banyana Banyana.
“I’m a footballer naturally. That’s where I started. If I get an opportunity to play, I’ll play.
“Whatever time I get I will visit a [Banyana Banyana training] camp just to show, just to share skills.
“If they think I’m fit to be in the team, of course I’ll be in. Unfortunately at the moment I’m still focused more on my athletic career. When I have time, of course I’ll join them.”
Does a busy bee like Semenya take time off and go on holiday with her wife?
“Holiday … I was in Durban in January. You see, holidays, they don’t pay bills. Nice time never stops. I’m living my life to the fullest.
“When I want to go to holiday I go, but at the moment I’m focusing on important things in my life. It’s all about building myself, building my brand.
“Wifey understands when we have time to go for holiday we go. But it is just a oneoff thing because we travel the world a lot, which is tiring.” Sometimes she travels with you? “Ja, I take her with sometimes. “When it comes to holiday it needs to be once in a while. It is just a waste of money which could have paid bills for someone to go to school and change lives. That’s what I believe.
“So holidays come once in a while. At the moment it is about building my family, helping the young kids to be better, building a household if I get a chance.
“We have a foundation, a club that obviously is all about success. Those are the things we are focusing on, it’s about building a legacy.
Semenya is immensely inspirational to millions around the world. Her haters are a drop in an ocean of her admirers, who see her as a strong woman who refuses to be broken.
She features in Nike’s anti-discrimination campaign alongside tennis superstar Serena Williams and US football legend Colin Kaepernick.
The campaign traces her life backwards and ends with the slogan: “I was born for this.”
How has her life changed, going from the dust of Ga-Masehlong village in Polokwane to the global podiums of the world?
“I don’t think my life has changed. I’ve just changed how I do things.
“Obviously each and every day I learn. I want to be better. I learn through human behaviour. I just look at a situation and say, OK, I don’t wanna do things this way, I want to do them this way.
“You have to differentiate [she struggles with the word and laughs herself silly] between good and bad, right and wrong.
“I’ve been here for 10 years. In that 10 years I had to grow, it is all about maturity.
“We have learnt a lot in terms of how we treat people, how we want to be treated … respect. How to love, accept, appreciate.
“Building a brand, my friend, you need to be patient and consistent and not rush to be big.
“It is not about being big but producing results, building long-term relationships, loyalty.”
As we wrap up our conversation, I’m curious about what book she is currently reading.
“Book? I don’t read a lot of books, to be honest.” Why?
“Because I feel like sometimes when I read books I’m living someone’s life. I’m that kind of person who looks at herself and lives life. It is about what I want in life and want to achieve. I read the Bible.”
What’s your favourite verse?
“The Lord is my shepherd. I fear no-one.”
I fear no evil?
“Yes, that one.”
We are not in a rush for life. We want to be consistent. We want to be ready. You don’t wanna have kids and you are not ready to raise them
● Caster Semenya was named Female Athlete of the Century by Tuks Athletics this week, but the truth is her reign extends far beyond the realm of the 100-year-old sports club.
There were more contenders for the male prize, with 400m hurdler LJ van Zyl getting the nod over the likes of long-jumper Luvo Manyonga and high-jumper Jacques Freitag.
Van Zyl never won world championship golds like the other two, but he was the first South African to win two medals at a single world championship, taking 400m hurdles bronze and 4x400m silver at Daegu 2011.
The next SA athlete to do that was Semenya at London 2017, winning 800m gold and 1,500m bronze.
Van Zyl doesn’t hesitate when asked to name SA’s greatest athlete, across both genders. “Caster. It has to be,” he said.
“Whether you are measuring in terms of records or medals, it’s Caster.”
Her greatest feat as a South African, arguably, was settled in a courtroom this year when the bid by Mariya Savinova of Russia, the 2011 world champion and 2012 London Olympic gold medallist, to overturn her disqualification for doping was dismissed.
Semenya, the runner-up in both races, was upgraded to gold. Her Olympic enhancement, along with her 800m gold at Rio 2016, meant she became the first South African to retain a Games title, albeit retrospectively.
Since sprinter Reggie Walker claimed SA’s first Olympic gold at London 1908, nobody has returned to the top of a games podium four years later.
There is also tragedy that arises from this state of affairs — that Semenya was robbed of the chance to achieve what could have been one of the great track victories.
Normally known for leading from the front in the 800m, Semenya was second from the back after the first lap of the final.
She then delivered a remarkably powerful second lap, overhauling all her rivals with the exception of Savinova. Semenya pipped the then bronze medallist Ekaterina Poistogova, another Russian, by 0.3sec — what a dramatic victory that would have been, or should have been.
The 2011 world championship upgrade meant she also retained her 800m crown from the previous showpiece at Berlin 2009.
That makes Semenya one of three South Africans to do that, alongside high-jumper Hestrie Storbeck (2001 and 2003) and 400m king Wayde van Niekerk (2015 and 2017).
Semenya owns every South African record and best from 400m to 1,500m, and she has two Olympic golds, three world championship golds and a bronze, and an impressive array of other silverware.
The women’s world 800m record is in her sights, as is perhaps her dream of winning two Olympic titles at Tokyo 2020, in the 800m and either the 400m or 1,500m.
But that could depend on the outcome of her legal action against the IAAF for its planned rules to force athletes with hyperandrogenism to lower their naturally occurring high levels of testosterone.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland, which effectively upgraded her 2011 and 2012 golds, will decide on the matter.
If Van Zyl is right — and he probably is — that Semenya is already SA’s greatest track and field athlete of all time, what she does between now and the end of her career will determine her position among the country’s pantheon of sporting greats.
That’s the mythical realm where she goes up against the likes of former striker Benni McCarthy, cricketer AB de Villiers, Springbok star Victor Matfield and breaststroke queen Penny Heyns.
Take your pick. The person in possession right now is probably golfer Gary Player, with nine major titles from 1959 to 1978.
But Semenya isn’t far behind.
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