Caster Semenya’s first appearance at the world championships since 2017 saw her knocked out without a hitch or fanfare after finishing 45 seconds out of qualifying for Saturday’s 5,000-meter final.
At temperatures reaching 32 degrees Celsius, the South African finished 13th out of 16 runners in her heat in a time of 15 minutes and 46.12 seconds, almost a minute behind Ethiopian winner Gudaf Tsegay.
But then he gave an optimistic note. “I’m cooking,” he told reporters. “It was hot and I couldn’t keep up.
“I think it’s great to be able to run here. Just being able to finish the 5km, for me it’s a blessing. I’m learning and I’m willing to learn even more.”
Previously, Semenya had won the 800m world title three times, included in her last appearance in London 2017, but now she cannot hold 400m international events a mile unless she is taking medication to lower her testosterone levels.
That’s because, as a 46-year-old XY athlete with a difference in sexual development, the sports refereeing court has ruled that Semenya has an advantage over the female competitors she runs against.
In 2019, when his case reached Cas, he also stated that “athletes with 46 XY DSDs are‘ gonadal males ’, meaning they have functioning testicles that produce sperm and testosterone levels within the range normal male “.
There has been considerable sympathy for Semenya, as she was assigned as a woman at birth. However, the Case added that “athletes with a DSD will have exactly the same performance benefits over female athletes as non-DSD male athletes.” He then quantified this advantage as between 10 and 12% in current events.
Semenya’s appearance at these world championships came when the president of the world of athletics, Sebastian Coe, gave his clearest indication so far that the governing body would do more to protect women’s sport.
“We’ve always been guided by science, and science is pretty clear – we know that testosterone is the key determinant of performance,” he said.
“I’ve really just had more of these discussions with second-rate sociologists sitting there trying to tell me or the scientific community that there might be a problem. There aren’t any. Testosterone is the key determinant. of performance “.
Coe insisted it was her responsibility to “protect the integrity of women’s sport.”
“In our sport we have two categories: one is age and the other is gender,” he added. “The age because we think it’s better that Olympic champions don’t run against 14-year-olds in community sports. And gender because if you don’t have a gender separation, no woman would ever win another sporting event. “
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Elsewhere, on an otherwise unobtrusive day of action, Britain’s Aimee Pratt ran the race of her life to finish seventh in the women’s 3,000m final in 9: 15.64, breaking her national record. in three seconds in a race won by Norah Kipruto.
There was also an impressive performance from Matthew Hudson-Smith, who placed second in the men’s 400m, despite stomach issues on the home straight. The other Briton in the semifinals, Alex Haydock-Wilson, lost despite making a personal best of 45.08.
However, there was bad news for Britain as Max Burgin, who this year has run the fastest 800m in the world, was forced to retire before Wednesday’s qualifiers due to an injury.
