Cape Town - World-renowned 800m runner Caster Semenya has urged young athletes to speak their minds as they prosper in the sport.
Semenya was speaking at the launch of her book, The Race To Be Myself, at Stellenbosch University on Wednesday.
Semenya has been a household name in the athletics fraternity following her two Olympic gold medals and three world championships, along with dozens of Diamond League meets, but Semenya is now telling her truth.
The special book launch was the first of several book discussions Semenya would have with fans across the country.
In the book, she takes readers behind the scenes into the coming of age of the iconic runner and how her journey has taken her to the pinnacle of the sport.
“I have waited a long time to tell my story. For more than a decade I have preferred to let my running do the talking. After what has happened to me, it felt easier that way,” Semenya said in her book.
She lets the reader in from her time as a little girl, growing up in Ga-Ga-Masehlong (Limpopo) up to when she ran her first race, as well as the fondest memories of her family.
However, despite her success throughout the years of running, in 2019 Semenya was barred from competing in her favourite 800m event after the International Association of Athletics Federation found issues with her high level of testosterone.
“On the outside, I am a female, I have a vagina but I do not have a uterus. I do not menstruate and my body produces an elevated amount of testosterone,” Caster said.
Caster has a difference in sex development (DSD), an umbrella term that refers to the varying genetic conditions where an embryo responds in a different way to hormones.
“I am a tall dark-skinned, African woman with well-defined muscles, a deep voice and not a lot on top,” she explained.
In the book, she also speaks about the setback she faced when she was requested to take hormone-altering drugs to compete on the track again.
She touches on when she challenged the IAAF over its decision to restrict testosterone levels in female runners and how she won her discrimination case in the European Court of Human Rights in July.
At the book signing was a familiar face in Wilfred Daniels, a former National Athletics coach who had only but praises for the athlete.
“Among all the chaos that went on around her, she was focused on the task at hand, winning gold for our country. That will always stand out for the strong personality that she has,” Daniels added.
Semenya told Independent Media, that as long as “old people” make decisions the future of the sport is in the balance.
"The future of the sport is something that we can't see, I do not see any future. I just see them destroying everything."
