Mokgadi Caster Semenya is a South African middle-distance runner and world champion.
Semenya won gold in the women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships with a time
of 1:55.45 in the final.
Semenya also won silver medals at the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Summer Olympics,
both in the 800 metres.
Following her victory at the 2009 World Championships, it was announced that she had been subjected
to gender testing.
She was withdrawn from international competition until 6 July 2010 when the IAAF cleared her
to return to competition.
In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman included Semenya in a list of "50 People That
Matter 2010".
Early life and education Semenya was born in Ga-Masehlong, a village
in South Africa near Polokwane, and grew up in the village of Fairlie, "deep in South
Africa's northern Limpopo province."
She has three sisters and a brother, and is said to have been a tomboy as a child.
Semenya attended Nthema Secondary School and now attends the University of Pretoria as
a sports science student.
She began running as training for soccer.
Career 2008
In July Semenya participated in the 2008 World Junior Championships, and won the gold in
the 800 m at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games with a time of 2:04.23.
2009 In the African Junior Championships Semenya
won both the 800 m and 1500 m races with the times of 1:56.72 and 4:08.01 respectively.
With that race she improved her 800 m personal best by seven seconds in less than nine months,
including four seconds in that race alone.
The 800 m time was the world leading time in 2009 at that date.
It was also a national record and a championship record.
Semenya simultaneously beat the Senior and Junior South African records held by Zelda
Pretorius at 1:58.85, and Zola Budd at 2:00.90, respectively.
The International Association of Athletics Federations says it was "obliged to investigate"
after she made improvements of 25 seconds at 1500 m and eight seconds at 800 m –
"the sort of dramatic breakthroughs that usually arouse suspicion of drug use."
The IAAF also asked Semenya to undergo a gender test after the win.
News that the IAAF requested the test broke three hours before the 2009 World Championships
800 m final.
IAAF president Lamine Diack stated, "There was a leak of confidentiality at some point
and this led to some insensitive reactions."
In August Semenya won gold in the 800 metres at the World Championships with a time of
1:55.45 in the final, again setting the fastest time of the year.
Gender test Following her victory at the world championships,
questions were raised about her gender.
The IAAF's handling of the case spurred many negative reactions.
A number of athletes, including retired sprinter Michael Johnson, criticized the organization
for its response to the incident.
Prominent South African civic leaders, commentators, politicians, and activists characterized the
controversy as racist, as well as an affront to Semenya's privacy and human rights.
The IAAF said it only made the test public after it had already been reported in the
media, denying charges of racism and expressing regret about "the allegations being made about
the reasons for which these tests are being conducted."
The federation also explained that the motivation for the test was not suspected cheating but
a desire to determine whether she had a "rare medical condition" giving her an unfair competitive
advantage.
The president of the IAAF stated that the case could have been handled with more sensitivity.
In an interview with South African magazine YOU Semenya stated, "God made me the way I
am and I accept myself."
She also took part in a makeover with the magazine.
On 7 September 2009, Wilfred Daniels, Semenya's coach with Athletics South Africa, resigned
because he felt that ASA "did not advise Ms. Semenya properly".
He apologized for personally having failed to protect her.
ASA President Leonard Chuene admitted on 19 September 2009 to having subjected Semenya
to gender tests.
He had previously lied to Semenya about the purpose of the tests and to others about having
performed the tests.
He ignored a request from ASA team doctor Harold Adams to withdraw Semenya from the
world championships over concerns about the need to keep her medical records confidential.
On the recommendation of South Africa's Minister for Sport and Recreation, Makhenkesi Stofile,
Semenya retained the legal firm Dewey & LeBoeuf who are acting pro bono "to make certain that
her civil and legal rights and dignity as a person are fully protected."
Following the furore over her gender, Semenya received great support within South Africa,
to the extent of being called a cause célèbre.
In November 2009 South Africa's sports ministry issued a statement that Semenya had reached
an agreement with the IAAF to keep her medal and the prize money.
The ministry did not say if she would be allowed to compete as a woman but they did note that
the IAAF's threshold for when a female is considered ineligible to compete as a woman
is unclear.
In December 2009 Track and Field News voted Semenya the Number One Women's 800 metre runner
of the year.
2010
In March 2010 she was denied the opportunity to compete in the local Yellow Pages Series
V Track and Field event in Stellenbosch, South Africa, because the IAAF had yet to release
its findings from her gender test.
On 6 July, the IAAF cleared Semenya to return to international competition.
The results of the gender tests, however, were not released for privacy reasons.
She returned to competition nine days later winning two minor races in Finland.
On 22 August 2010, running on the same track as her World Championship victory, Semenya
started slowly but finished strongly, dipping under 2:00 for the first time since the controversy,
while winning the ISTAF meet in Berlin.
Not being on full form, she did not enter the World Junior Championships or the African
Championships, both held in July 2010, and opted to target the Commonwealth Games to
be held in October 2010.
She improved her season's best to 1:58.16 at the Notturna di Milano meeting in early
September and returned to South Africa to prepare for the Commonwealth Games.
Eventually, she was forced to skip the games due to injury.
In September, the British magazine New Statesman included Semenya in its annual list of "50
People That Matter" for unintentionally instigating "an international and often ill-tempered debate
on gender politics, feminism, and race, becoming an inspiration to gender campaigners around
the world."
2012 Caster Semenya was chosen to carry the country's
flag during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
She later won a silver medal in the women's 800 metres of these games, with a time of
1:57.23 seconds, her season's best.
She passed six competitors in the last 150 metres, but did not pass world champion Mariya
Savinova of Russia, who took gold in a time of 1:56.19, finishing 1.04 seconds before
Semenya.
During the BBC coverage after the race, former British hurdler, Colin Jackson raised the
question whether Semenya had thrown the race, as the time that had been run was well within
her capability, though it is worth noting that Semenya has only once in her life run
faster than Savinova's winning time, which was when winning the 2009 World title.
Personal life and honors Semenya received the bronze Order of Ikhamanga
on April 27, 2014, as part of Freedom Day festivities.
Semenya denied reports from the Daily Sun that she had paid lobola to the family of
Violet Raseboya, telling The Sowetan that she was focused exclusively on her studies
and athletics, with no wedding planned.
See also Gender verification in sports
References Explanatory notes
^ The IAAF ceased compulsory tests in 1992 but retains the right to test athletes.
Gender verification was dropped from Olympic sports in 1999 as the issue was delicate and
scientifically complicated.
The verification involves "an endocrinologist, a gynaecologist, an internal medicine expert,
an expert on gender and a psychologist" and takes several weeks.
This is not the first time the IAAF has asked for gender verification although generally
the athletes maintain their privacy.
Citations
External links Caster Semenya profile at IAAF
Interview with Semenya after the 2009 World Championship 800 m Semi-final Part 1, Part
2 YouTube "Where's the Rulebook for Sex Verification?",
New York Times, 21 August 2009