Janeth Jepkosgei wins women's 800m Diamond Trophy
Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya took a slim one point lead into the women’s 800m Diamond League final race today. Alysia Johnson of the United States and Mariya Savinova of Russia entered the final race tied for second.
The winner of the final race would clinch the 800m Diamond Trophy. During the season event wins give four points to the athlete, but in the finals those points are doubled. The doubling of the points gave four more athletes a chance to claim the Diamond Trophy including Halima Hachlaf of Morocco. Hachlaf however was unable to finish the race and remained in fourth place in the overall standings.
Japkosgei, 800m silver medallist at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, won the women’s 800m Diamond Trophy with a first place finish today and a time of 1:58.82. Mariya Savinova took second in the race, and in the overall standings, with a time of 1:59.49. She finished five points behind Japkosgei in the race for the Diamond Trophy. Alysia Johnson of the United States finished fourth in the race, but was able to take third in the overall standings.
Caster Semenya of South Africa, who has recently been allowed to compete again by the IAAF after gender testing, took third place with a time of 1:59.65. This is the first race Semenya has lost since her come back. Last week she won the World Championships in Berlin with a time of 1:59.90 seconds. It was her first Diamond League competition, and she ended the season with two points and in seventh place.
“Even if she is a female, she's on the very fringe of the normal athlete female biological composition from what I understand of hormone testing,” said Diane Cummins of Canada after Semenya’s victory in Berlin. “So, from that perspective, most of us just feel that we are literally running against a man.”
At least two athletes have now proven that they can beat Semenya.
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