The moment that all of South Africa had been waiting for since Wayde van Niekerk won was to see Caster Semenya in action, and the national record-holder didn’t disappoint at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday.
Semenya was measured and took her time on the first lap, but roared away on the home straight to power to victory in her first-round 800m heat at the Joao Havelange Olympic Stadium.
She looked relaxed on the warm-up track before her race, going through her drills while sporting a white cap and shades.
And she took that cool vibe on to the track as well as it was classic Semenya, adopting her “old” tactics of checking out the opposition first and how quickly they were going, while she was happy to tuck herself in on the inside at around fourth or fifth position.
It was Kazakhstan’s Margarita Mukasheva who led from the front for the first 400m, and took the bell in 58.23. She was still ahead at the 600m, but that is when Semenya struck, making her trademark move to the outside and burning up the track in the last 100 metres.
With tough qualification rules dictating that only the top two advance to Friday’s semi-finals (2.15am SA time), plus the eight “fastest losers”, Semenya was in no mood to have to wait and see what happens in the other heats.
The 25-year-old sped away in the last 50m to win Heat 2 in 1:59.31, with American Ajee Wilson second in 1:59.44.
Semenya’s tactics were reminiscent of those adopted by Van Niekerk in his semi-final, when he cruised around the track to finish second and conserve his energy for the final.
Semenya’s SA record of 1:55.33 is also the fastest time in the world this year, and she is the outright favourite to win gold in the final, which takes place on Sunday at 2.15am SA time.
But before that, she has to take care of business in the semi-final, which is on Friday 2.15am SA time.
She is likely to change her strategy to the one she has used throughout 2016, where she runs at the front and avoids any possible “trouble” and jostling with her rivals.
Semenya won silver at the 2012 London Olympics, and is primed to go one step further in Rio. Her journey has begun successfully, and she knows that the entire nation is willing her on to become our golden girl.
Meanwhile, Elroy Gelant took matters into his own hands to make sure that he goes through to the 5 000m by running from the front for most of his heat on Wednesday.
Gelant was fortunate in that he ran in the second heat, so he knew exactly what time was required to qualify for Sunday’s final (2.30am SA time).
The top five in the heat go through automatically, along with the five “fastest losers”.
The sixth-placed athlete ran a time of 13:26.63, so that was the target Gelant and his competitors aimed for.
The SA record holder went to the front from the start and led the field for the first 3 000m in warm conditions at the Olympic Stadium, and even when the likes of American Paul Chelimo and Ethiopians Muktar Edris and Dejen Gebremeskel charged forward in the last two laps, Gelant had enough left in the tank to finish seventh in 13:22.00.
Willem Coertzen began his journey in the decathlon in the morning session, placing seventh in his 100m heat in 11.12, and 11th in the long jump with a best distance of 6.98m.