South Africa
Caster Semenya put aside the controversy over a planned rule change in athletics regarding hyperandrogenism to win the women’s 1,500 metres and break her own South African record time at the Diamond League meeting in Doha on Friday.
Semenya won in a world leading time of three minutes and 59.92 seconds ahead of Nelly Jepkosgei of Kenya and Habitam Alemu of Ethiopia. She set a national and Commonwealth Games record of 4:00.71 in winning the gold medal last month.
The South African has been in the spotlight after the sport’s governing IAAF approved an eligibility rule to limit the advantage of female athletes who, like Semenya, have naturally higher than normal levels of testosterone.
The International Association of Athletics Federations last week confirmed new rules, starting from Nov. 1, which effectively give Semenya a choice of taking medication to restrict her testosterone or move to longer distance events.
South Africa’s athletics association said on Thursday that it will challenge the IAAF’s new rules, which it said it found to be skewed.
The double Olympic and triple world 800 metres champion did not let the controversy affect her performance on a dominant evening for Africans in the middle distance events as Kenya swept the podium in the men’s 800m.
REUTERS
01:20
Egypt leads in medals as the 13th All-Africa Games come to an end
01:02
Pics of the day: March 14, 2024
02:00
Lions rescued from Ukraine released into big cat sanctuary in South Africa
00:53
Three Egyptian Coptic monks killed in S.Africa, Coptic Orthodox Church says
01:41
South Africa rugby unveils new coaching team for Springboks
01:16
South Africa's ruling ANC not likely to hold majority - Survey