Semenya, a story of perseverance and strength

IT COULD have gone so horribly wrong, another South African teenage talent fed to the wolves. That happened to Zola Budd, when the waiflike, barefoot track athlete was given a British passport of convenience and allowed to compete in the 1984 Olympics for a country that was a world apart from where she grew up in Bloemfontein.

Budd was pulled in every direction by those who wanted to get the most out of her – primarily England’s Daily Mail newspaper and the British government – and, while apartheid South Africa was being ostracised by the international community, Zola was given a ticket to run. Regrets, she’s had a few, and if she had her life over I bet she would have not wanted that “Great British” experience. It stripped her of her innocence in a foreign land.

When Caster Semenya burst on the scene in 2009, it had eerie parallels. One of South Africa’s weekly maga- zines decided to give Semenya a ‘makeover’ and labelled it, ‘Wow, Look At Caster Now!’ and declared, ‘We Turn SA’s Power Girl Into Glamour Girl – And She Loves It!’

Inside we saw images of Caster tottering on high heels. Coming on the back of a world championship win in Berlin creating news around the status of her gender, it was an attempt to climb aboard the Caster bandwagon and turn her into someone she wasn’t, and still isn’t.

Just 18 at the time, there was a chance of Semenya’s life, let alone her career, going off the rails. There was an occasion when she went to the restroom at a petrol station and was told by an attendant

‘T’sek!’ she told them. At the same function, Semenya posed for pictures with her wife, Violet Raseboya.

It’s a heart-warming story of perseverance and strength for the Olympic champion, whose name and character were dragged through the mud after that 2009 world title.

Now, when Semenya is featured on the covers of magazines, it’s usually a powerful image of celebration or, as a lifestyle magazine recently had her, in a white shirt and denims. That’s who she is, not a made-over circus act.

I had the privilege of being able to see Semenya away from the glare of cameras at the Rio Olympics. She was a committed Team SA member, sharing in the success of a squad that returned with 10 medals. On one occasion, in a lift in the athletes’ village on her way to lunch, she offered a ‘Howzit”, and remarked how happy she was after she’d watched triathlete Henri Schoeman on TV win a bronze medal.

There was every prospect of the international media bombarding her with questions and wanting to speak abouther gender, as opposed to the track, where she is the finest two-lap female runner in the world – and in time might even be the best over one lap and 1 500m as well.

Semenya, like a seasoned superstar, defused the situation with aplomb. She quickly got the media to talk about the on-track performances and seemed ready for a fight.

On her triumphant return, the Springboks and Team SA athletes passed one another in Sao Paulo and Semenya was seen chatting to Bok players and posing for pictures.

On the return flight she interacted with flight staff looking for ‘selfies’, and made those around her feel at ease. In a country full of extraordinary people and heroes, there are fewer bigger inspirations than Caster Semenya.