Caster Semenya rarely speaks to the press. In the hysteria that followed her controversial world title win in 2009, the media have not always been kind to the young South African runner and she has, understandably, been happier away from the spotlight.
It was a rare moment, then, when the 20-year-old held court voluntarily this week, among a small gathering of journalists in Oslo, before competing in the Diamond League series in the Norwegian capital on Thursday night.
The low-key press conference was attended almost exclusively by Scandinavian journalists who, respectful of Semenya’s privacy, were careful not to probe too intrusively into her past.
Semenya spoke so softly that those assembled struggled to hear. “Can you try to speak up?” asked the press-conference host. “Can’t she use a microphone?” asked Semenya’s agent, Jukka Härkönen, who sat Âprotectively alongside his athlete.
Slowly, as Semenya spoke about her sport, about training and the challenges she faces this year in attempting to recapture her 2009 form when she ran a phenomenal personal best of 1:55.45 seconds, the world champion began to relax. But at the first mention of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) — the governing body that implemented her 11-month competition ban and was heavily criticised for its handling of her case — she retreated. “Pardon?” she said. The journalist tried again. “How was your motivation to go on with the training after the IAAF put a ban on you?”
Semenya’s response was prefaced by a long exhalation of air. Finally, she spoke. “It wasn’t easy for me,” she said. “My manager, my training partners were on my side. They always wanted me to come to train but I didn’t want to come to train. I told them, ‘Why should I come to train for something that I don’t know? I can’t come to train when I don’t know if I’m going to run.’ But they always told me to come, my coach was always phoning me, each and every morning and afternoon.
“I told him: ‘If I’m coming back, that’s when you can call me, but if not, don’t call me, I’ll just come sometimes.'”
Keeping the fame away
Semenya said she helped out at coaching clinics organised by her coach, Michael Seme, at her Pretoria base, but that returning to training in such uncertain circumstances was a huge emotional challenge. “Sometimes it wasn’t good. Sometimes I was sad, sometimes happy. Just on and off. Always I felt welcome. It’s just, you know, sometimes as a human being you cannot always be happy. You do good things, you do bad things, people talk.”
People talk and with talk comes notoriety. In spite of not being allowed to compete Semenya became a household name. Even arriving in Oslo this week she was deluged with requests for pictures and autographs. Celebrity is something she has learned to tolerate, more than she may ever embrace.
“I need to keep that fame out of me,” she says, her brow furrowed at the thought. “While I’m training, I forget about that. To me, I can be famous in sports. But I cannot say it means a lot to be famous, being famous is something I don’t like. I’m quite a shy person when it comes to stuff like this [press conferences] sometimes. But I’m enjoying it [more] now, I’m used to it, taking pictures, autographs. It’s good to be well known. Everywhere I go it’s the same thing — autographs, pictures.”
From the moment Semenya won the 800m world title in Berlin a leaked IAAF memo about her gender turned into a story that went around the world. Semenya, 18 years old at the time, was denied the celebration that, ordinarily, accompanies a gold medal. Instead, she was ushered away from the public glare and the winners’ press conference took place without her – an eerie absence, barely explained.
Almost two years later Semenya has dealt with a suspension, a very public return in July last year and a constant stream of questions about her ordeal.
‘Just look at her’
On Thursday evening Semenya competed in a field that included all three medallists from the 2009 world championship: Semenya, the runner-up and former world champion, Janeth Jepkosgei, and Britain’s bronze medallist, Jenny Meadows. Mariya Savinova, the world indoor champion, who sneered “just look at her” when asked about Semenya’s gender in 2009, also joined the field.
If Semenya felt even slightly nervous about facing such a group in her third race of the season she did not let on. Instead, she talked only of times — not placings — in her bid to defend her world title in South Korea this year. “Running a fast time is good, it’s better than winning,” said Semenya, who finished second in Eugene, Oregon, last weekend, behind the Jamaican Kenia Sinclair, posting the second-fastest time in the world this year, of 1:58.88 seconds. “You can win with a slow time, to me it doesn’t mean anything. I like running a fast race more than a slow race.”
While there has been talk of her doubling up over 800m and 1500m in 2012 — she hopes to compete at least once over the longer distance this year — Semenya’s main target for this season is to defend her world title in Daegu. “Defending a world title is not easy,” she said. “The 800m is a little bit tricky, it can be fast, it can be slow, it depends who is fit here” — she taps her head — “mentally”.
“I think I’ve got a chance to defend the title, but somebody else will want to win. I’ll be happy if I go back to the podium. It doesn’t matter if it’s silver or bronze, as long as I’m back there.”
While Semenya focuses on her career, in South Africa the fallout from her controversial suspension rumbles on with renewed force. It will be some time, it seems, before the episode can finally be laid to rest. —