Caster Semenya advances easily in 800 heats
RIO DE JANEIRO — Caster Semenya showed why she is the overwhelming medal favorite in the women’s 800 meters, cruising through the opening round and into Thursday’s semifinals at Olympic Stadium with the top time in her heat and sixth-best time overall.
Semenya, who ran 1:59.31 — laying back in the pack until the final stretch and then moving smoothly to the front — owns the world’s fastest time (1:55.33, which is nearly 3 seconds faster than anyone else) and three of the top four times this season.
The USA's Ajee Wilson and Kate Grace also advanced to the semifinals.
Semenya's Rio Games debut now complete, there is little doubt that the 25-year-old South African will once again take center stage as one of the most controversial figures in track and field.
Semenya is female: She was legally recognized as female at birth and identified as female.
She also has a medical condition called hyperandrogenism, resulting in higher-than-normal testosterone levels.
The topic of Semenya’s condition became international news in 2009, when the 18-year-old — then largely unknown — dominated the field at the World Championships, leading the International Association of Athletics Federation to force Semenya to undergo a gender test.
The test, which was supposed to confidential but quickly went public, revealed that Semenya is intersex, a term the human rights arm of the United Nations uses for people who are born with sex characteristics “that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.”
The IAAF then sidelined Semenya for 11 months before she returned to the track in 2010; four years ago, at the 2012 London Games, she took silver in the 800.
The IAAF also has rules that limit the amount of natural testosterone allowed for female athletes, though a recent decision by the Court Arbitration for Sport — which cited insufficient evidence that this elevated level boosts performance — temporarily abolished the regulation pending an IAAF appeal.
Afterward, Semenya walked through the mixed zone underneath Olympic Stadium without stopping to speak with reporters, opting not to address the inevitable questions that dog her appearances on the international stage.
TRACK AND FIELD AT THE RIO OLYMPICS