Caster Semenya, the true golden girl of South African sport!
Under immense expectation from her nation, Semenya proved that she can handle the pressure on the biggest stage of them all when she timed her kick to perfection on the home straight to clinch the gold medal in a new South African record of 1 minute 55.28 seconds (1:55.28) in the 800m final on Saturday night at the Rio Olympics.
Running at 9.15pm Brazilian time (2.15am SA time on Sunday), Semenya pulled off a textbook race as she went to the front almost immediately to avoid the kind of mishaps that perhaps prevented her from winning gold at the 2012 London Olympics.\
Four years ago, Semenya stayed too long at the back of the pack and had to settle for a silver even though she sprinted around most of the field in the last 100 metres.
This time around, there were no such mistakes as Semenya took the lead at stages during the first lap, although Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba was in first position at the bell in 57.59 seconds.
Semenya bided her time even as Niyonsaba opened up a bit of a gap as they moved to the 600m mark, with the South African remaining calm under pressure as Kenya’s Margaret Wambui came up on the outside.
But as they took the final bend, Semenya put the hammer down and screamed past Niyonsaba, and ran the last 100m in full cry to break her SA record of 1:55.33 with a new personal best of 1:55.28.
Semenya shouted in delighted after crossing the line, and did her trademark “Cobra” celebration before being congratulated by Niyonsaba, who took the silver in 1:56.49, while Wambui claimed the bronze in 1:56.89.
It wasn’t a world record run, as Semenya ended exactly two seconds behind Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 1:53.28, which was set in 1983. But the 25-year-old can be well pleased with her efforts as she earned the medal that was supposed to be hers in 2012, and brought home Team South Africa’s 10th medal, which was the target before the Games started.
Congratulations to our golden girl, Mokgadi Caster Semenya!
@ashfakmohamed
Independent Media