Gold Medallist Semenya Pulls Out of Junior WC in Canada
Beset with controversies, young athletic sensation South Africa’s Caster Semenya the reigning World 800-metre champion will not resume her career immediately after clearing gender tests that put her rising career on a hold. Her coach wants her to train more, and not expose herself to the rigours of the Junior World Championships in Canada later this month.
The newest African athletic hope was cleared to compete as a woman on Tuesday but she has not run competitively since undergoing tests at the Berlin world championships in August last year.
She attracted world wide attention after registering a time of one minute 55.45 seconds which was the fastest of 2009.
As the world set their eyes on an enthralling football World Cup final between Spain and The Netherlands at the soccer city stadium, Semenya underwent her training at a track in Johannesburg, the host of the World cup final.
The 19-year-old ran 600-metre fitness tests to determine if she was ready to compete again, after her long hiatus that was full of anxiety for the teenager, as she wondered if she would ever be allowed to run in international competitions.
During the training session conducted by her coach Michael Seme, she clocked over 95 seconds, around five seconds slower than the target he has set for her to compete in the Junior World Championships which start on July 19.
Despite the lag in timings, the youthful runner’s coach expressed optimism about her future claiming that her times down have made her stronger and more determined then ever and she would shrug of her rustiness soon.
Caster was away from the competition for eleven months, which is almost a year. The 18-year-old South African champ has no womb or ovaries and her testosterone levels are more than three times higher than those of a normal female, according to reports.
Her coach added he and the athlete’s support staff are just happy that she is set to return, however, her body needs to undergo a tough regime, so that she attains the level of her performances last year which made her an instant hit with her South African supporters.
"I don't think it's going to be a good plan especially, I am a coach, I must think about myself also, how can I send somebody to this competition, the 19th is too close, today is the 7th and the 19th, it's only a few days to the 19th. So it means that one is off, completely off. Canada is off," he concluded
Coach also thanked the governing body of athletics, the International Amateur Athletics Federation IAAF saying that their decision to allow Semenya back into competition was a welcome relief to him and his pupil.
"Oh, I am very happy, I am very happy. I can't question anything from IAAF, because it's a big federation and then they take their time, the way they do things it's up to them”.
The coach has praise for the support staff that helped them through the last one year, and felt that with out their support, Semenya might have not recovered from the humiliation of a gender test.
According to her coach, the first competition for her since her return could be the African Athletics Championships slated to take place in Nairobi, Kenya.
The event can be another baptism of fire for the teenager, as she could meet a tough challenge from 2008 Olympics 800-metre silver medalist Janet Jepkosgei of Kenya.
Tags: