A real obstacle course. Expected in the first series of the 5,000 meters, the South African sprinter Caster Semenya finds on the night of Wednesday July 20 to Thursday July 21 the Worlds, in Eugene (Oregon).
Double Olympic champion over 800 meters (in 2012 and 2016), triple world champion over the same distance (2009, 2011 and 2017), the 31-year-old athlete had participated in her last worlds in 2017, in London. Five years later, in Eugene, Oregon, the sprinter whose androgyny triggered restrictive legal proceedings from the governing bodies, puts an end to a long crossing of the desert.
For the president of World Athletics (the former International Athletics Federation), Sebastian Coe, was categorical on Tuesday at a press conference: Caster Semenya “has the right to be here”. “If she decides to compete over a distance over which the restrictions do not apply [du règlement] it’s her choice, and she will be treated the same as any other athlete“.
Caster Semenya has become a symbol of the setbacks of hyperandrogenic athletes, whose organism has an excessive production of male hormones. She has been in a long standoff with the World Athletics since 2009, the year of her first world title in Berlin.
In 2019, she was banned from participating in international competitions ranging from the 400 meters to the mile (1,609 m) if she did not take treatment to lower her testosterone levels for a continuous period of at least six months. According to World Athletics, too high a rate gives the athletes concerned an unfair advantage in the female category. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest body in world sport, supported the decision in a judgment in 2019. The appeal of the double Olympic champion was dismissed a year later.
Refusing any treatment, the South African believes that the federation treated her like a “lab rats”. This is why she decided to change distance to bypass the new jurisdiction. In view of the Tokyo Olympics, Semenya tried to qualify for the heats of the 200 meters. In 2019, she took the start of five official races, achieving a best time of 23.50, far from the minimum required (22.80).
Caster Semenya also attempted the 5,000 meters to get to Japan. If she won the South African championship in 2019, her mark of 16’05”97 was 45 seconds behind the best time of that year.
However, three years later, the South African has improved her time. This season, she set a personal best in the 5,000m in 15’31”50. The time was not enough to reach the minima imposed by the World Athletics (15’10”00) for the Eugene worlds. Therefore, the 31-year-old athlete was not on the list, revealed on Twitter on July 1, of South African athletes sent to the United States this summer.
The final team that will be heading to the World Athletics Championships in Oregon later this month.#TeamSouthAfrica #WorldChamps pic.twitter.com/yWuN4ElWK8
— Athletics_SA (@AthleticsSA_) July 1, 2022
Caster Semenya nevertheless managed to win her ticket for Eugene, by integrating the list of registered players in extremis (PDF) due to withdrawals of higher-ranked athletes, a spokesman for the South African team told Reuters (article in English).
The one who was the flag bearer of her country at the London Olympics is not among the favorites on the track at Hayward Field. Among the 37 riders selected for the two qualifying rounds, 32 have set a better time than the South African this season. But the important thing is probably elsewhere: by participating in the Worlds, Caster Semenya has already succeeded in his race.