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Semenya on track to cast off gender controversy

Photo/FILE

The 20-year-old Semenya stormed to victory in the 2009 World Athletics Championships but was cast into limbo soon after because of allegations over her true gender.

Oslo

Caster Semenya has bucked the controversy over her gender and has now targeted a successful Diamond League campaign in the run-up to the bid to defend her World 800m title in August.

The 20-year-old stormed to victory in the 2009 World Athletics Championships but was cast into limbo soon after because of allegations over her true gender.

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The South African was revealed to be a hermaphrodite after the leaking of test results following her 800m win in Berlin.

The incident generated anger from the South African public and the IAAF in April introduced new eligibility rules for women athletes with excessive male hormones, a medical condition known as hyperandrogenism.

Semenya was cleared to compete as a woman in July 2010, nearly a year after she shot to prominence.

“It wasn’t easy to come back after the IAAF ban, but this was the goal,” Semenya admitted ahead of Thursday’s Bislett Games in Oslo, the fifth of the 14-leg IAAF Diamond League series.

Second fastest this year

The race on Thursday will be Semenya’s third of the season: she won an IAAF Challenge event in Dakar and then finished second at the Diamond League race in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday.

“The first 150 metres were too slow, and I made some other minor mistakes,” she said of her Eugene outing, undertaken despite a 34-hour trip to the United States.

She however managed to dip under the 1:59 mark, which made her second fastest in the world this year.

And she seems to be slowly getting back on track to the amazing form she displayed in 2009 when she clocked a jaw-dropping personal best of 1:55.45 in winning the World gold.

“In Oslo, I want to remain below 1:58, maybe 1:57, but everything happens with an eye on the World Championships in South Korea.”

Semenya faces a tough outing at Bislett – including former World champion and Olympic silver medallist Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya.

Admitting she will have to work on her endurance ahead of the Worlds and the Olympics, she acknowledged that defending the world title was on her radar.

(AFP)

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