Caster Semenya: controversial gender agenda to divide opinion at Rio Olympics

IF Caster Semenya blitzes the women’s 800m field in Rio - as she is expected to - the South African will leave a conflicted world to wade through the moral minefield behind her.

Caster Semenya smashes the women’s 800 metres final field at the Doha IAAF Diamond League meeting.

MYSTERIOUS South African Caster Semenya has been tipped to win the Olympic 800m by 20 metres and leave a conflicted world to wade through the moral minefield behind her.

Former world champion Semenya has been the subject of career long discussion about her gender with tests taken in 2009 revealing she had no womb or ovaries but internal testes and extremely high levels of testosterone.

Athletics introduced a rule which placed a ceiling on the testosterone levels of female competitors and those over it were required to lower their levels with special treatment.

But the rule has been challenged and placed on hold for two years, leaving Semenya to race as she is.

Her recent results have been staggering.

She has run the fastest two 800m times in the world this year and won the South African 400m, 800m and 1500m titles within four hours without even looking fully extended.

Experienced athletics coach and journalist Mike Hurst, who broke the story of her gender tests, expects the South African to be a devastating force in Rio.

“Now that the reins have been removed she could win the women’s 800m by 20m and break the world record at the Games,’’ Hurst said.

“If she is fair dinkum and forgets to hold back which I think she has for couple of years I think we about to see her deliver on her potential.’’

Caster Semenya smashes the women’s 800 metres final field at the Doha IAAF Diamond League meeting.

Hurst’s reference to Semenya “holding back’’ includes her incredible silver medal run in the 800m at the London Olympics.

There was so much talk about her gender in London that it was heavily rumoured she did not want to win the race and face further gender scrutiny.

Her performance only added to this theory when she stormed home from last to take silver, giving the winner an impossible start.

The athlete who beat her, Russia’s Mariya Savinova, has since been banned for life for taking drugs.

Hurst said authorities had been “damned if they did or damned if they didn’t’’ shape the rule book around her and it was a highly complex issue for which there was no perfect solution.

Caster Semenya finished second at the London Games.

“It is not her fault. She was born that way. The philosophy should be one of sport for all but at what point do they draw the line of classication?

“Ruling out people who have physical advantages creates problems. You don’t rule out Liz Cambage in basketball because she is six foot eight. She has an advantage over just about everyone in the sport.

“The difference with this girl is that she does appear to have a huge testosterone level even though it is naturally occurring.

“At the last Olympics she did not want to set the hounds loose but there is nothing stopping her now.’’

Originally published as Caster Semenya: controversial gender agenda to divide opinion at Rio Olympics