Caster Semenya opens up about her battle to compete

South African runner and gold medalist Caster Semenya said she viewed the gender speculation since 2009 and the testing by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) as a personal attack.

The middle-distance runner spoke as a keynote at the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) Conference held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) on 26 September.

Semenya rose to prominence in 2009, not just for winning gold at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany, but also due to the widespread speculation about her gender.

Caster Semenya asked to take gender test

People called for Semenya to undergo gender testing after routine athlete screenings revealed high testosterone levels.

Her record-breaking 800m run in Berlin intensified speculation about her gender and raised questions about her eligibility to compete as a woman in future events.

At the CLEA conference, Semenya was asked whether she considered the speculation and subsequent hearings a personal attack. She responded with a firm yes and explained her reasoning.

“It was definitely a personal attack. I often say that when you do good, people will often have an opinion. As a woman, it’s a disgrace for a man to have the right to decide how women should be.

“It’s a personal attack because at the beginning it was called the Caster Semenya case. If you look at how things were dealt with, targeting my specialty in a specific event, I was doing. To me, it touched the personal side of me to say if you don’t want me, just say so, rather than going behind enclosed doors, on social media and print media,” said Semenya.

Caster Semenya views her experience as a personal attack

Semenya said she would have appreciated the athletics bodies addressing the issue in a direct manner, instead of excluding her. So yes, she felt it was a “personal attack”.

The athlete indicated the lesson she learnt out of this experience was being a better leader and treating other people the way she, herself, would want to be treated.

Semenya explained that from the age of five, she was different from other girls and embraced her uniqueness.

“To just show it out there to my peers, especially the kids I grew up around. To say I’m a different girl, a girl who loved playing rough games, a girl who loved going in the bush, the girl who loved hunting, but I’m the girl who knew her identity, and that was the powerful truth that grew me as the person I am today,” she said.

When faced with the challenge by the IAAF, Semenya said she viewed it as a case of European versus the global south. Her perceptions indicate that this was an attack on a woman coming from the global south.

“It’s disappointing to see African leaders thinking that it’s normal for them as leaders to be quiet about such issues where kids from [Africa] are being affected by the ruling… the minute authorities allow such action to be taken against women…it becomes a problem.

“We are coming from a century where women were never considered competent to be competitive in sports or business, but if we allow such individuals to directly attack women and make women feel less of a woman because they are different, it becomes a problem and I will say it is still a personal attack, it will forever be a personal attack,” said Semenya.

Semenya added that she would always regard her experience as a “personal attack” until the stigma, which she considers a disease, is gotten rid of.

She did not feel it was right for such organisations (like the IAAF) to believe they could control nature or how women should look.

Professor David McQuoid-Mason, a UKZN academic, commended Semenya for taking a stand against the athletics regulators. He described her as a “courageous woman prepared to fight for women’s rights and equality.”