Mokgadi Caster Semenya AKA Caster Semenya is well known as a 2016 Olympic gold medalist and she is ranked among the fastest women in the world. She is a South African middle-distance runner and has earned a gold medal the women’s 800 meters at the 2009 World Championships. She has also won the hearts of people from her incredible achievements in the 800 meters during the 2011 World Championships, 2016 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. However, her dominance at the games stirred up a worldwide controversy on whether her pronounced masculine attributes gave her an unfair advantage over her fellow female athletes. Semenya was made to undergo a series of intrusive sex-verification tests and she equally faced criticisms from the media and even some of her fellow competitors. Let’s explore in detail about the athlete biography in detail below:
Semenya: Cas ruling 'justifies discrimination' - Athletics South Africa
Athletics South Africa (ASA) says it is "reeling in shock" after Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya lost a landmark case against athletics' governing body. The South African, 28, challenged new IAAF rules which attempt to restrict testosterone levels in female runners. Athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) must now take medication to compete in some track events or change to another distance. ASA said the Cas decision "goes to lengths to justify" discrimination. Cas found the rules for athletes with DSD, like Semenya, were discriminatory - but that the discrimination was "necessary, reasonable and proportionate" to protect "the integrity of female athletics". Semenya, a multiple Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion, said she believed the IAAF "have always targeted me specifically". Semenya is still eligible to compete at the Diamond League meet in Doha on Friday and can make an appeal against the Cas ruling to the Swiss Tribunal Courts within the next 30 days.
What are the proposed changes?
The rules, applying to women in track events from 400m up to the mile, require athletes to keep their testosterone levels below a prescribed amount "for at least six months prior to competing". 100m, 200m and 100m hurdles are exempt, as are races longer than one mile and field events. Female athletes affected must take medication for six months before they can compete, and then maintain a lower testosterone level. The rules were intended to be brought in on 1 November 2018, but the legal challenge from Semenya and Athletics South Africa caused that to be delayed until 26 March. The United Nations Human Rights Council has called the plans "unnecessary, harmful and humiliating" and South Africa's sports minister called them a "human rights violation".
What is Caster Semenya gender?
Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion runner, has lost her appeal against proposed rules to limit her testosterone levels in what could be a pivotal moment for athletics and gender in sport. The ruling means Semenya will have to begin medically reducing her testosterone levels. The South African runner, who won gold in the 800 meters in 2012 and 2016, was challenging proposals brought by the sport's governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)-to enforce limits on testosterone levels of female athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs).
Where was Caster Semenya grew up?
On 7th January 1991, Caster Semenya was born in Pietersburg (now Polokwane), South Africa. Her full name is Mokgadi Caster Semenya. As of 2019, her age is 28 but her age will be turning to 29 on her next birthday of January in 2020. Her nationality is South African. Her ethnicity is black. She grew up in the village of Fairlie, deep in South Africa's northern Limpopo province. Information about her parents will be added soon. About her siblings, she has three sisters and a brother. Her religion is Christian and her horoscope sign is Capricorn. Concerning her education, she attended Nthema Secondary School and the University of North West as a sports science student.
How tall (height) is Caster Semenya?
Caster Semenya is a very beautiful runner with a charming smile on her lips. She has a tall weight of 5 ft 10 in or 1.78 m with athletic body build. Moreover, she has a healthy and balanced weight of 70 Kg or 154 lb. Her other body measurement has not been disclosed yet. So due to this, we do not have more information about her other body measurement but we will let you know as quickly as we can. If you know the body measurement about her, do suggest.
With whom Caster Semenya is married to?
- Reflecting Caster Semenya's marital life, she is a married woman.
- She was married to her long-term partner/wife named Violet Raseboya by performing a traditional ceremony.
- The couple married in 2015 and their wedding ceremony was attended by their close friends, family members, siblings, and some popular celebrities as well.
- The couple first met together in the year 2007 and an interesting incident is that Raseboya thought that she was a boy.
- Together, they have been supportive of each other for a decade and Caster states that her wife Violet is the only person who has supported her at her lowest point. As of today, the couple is living a happy life without any disturbances.
How much is Semenya's worth?
Talking about her net worth and salary, the Olympic gold medalist has earned a massive remuneration and money along with prestigious international titles and awards. Caster Semenya net worth is assumed to be a few million in dollars and her exact salary has not disclosed yet.
How was the career (beginning-present) of Semenya?
- In the 2008 World Junior Championships, Semenya participated in July and also she became successful to win in the 800 m.
- At the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games with a time of 2:04.23, she also won gold.
- She won both the 800 m and 1500 m races with the times of 1:56.72 and 4:08.01 in the African Junior Championships.
- Track and Field News voted Semenya the Number One Women's 800-meter runner of the year in December 2009.
- After her victory, she has raised the question about her sex in 2009 after her victory.
- The combination of her rapid athletic progression and her appearance culminated in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) asking her to take a sex verification test to ascertain whether she was female.
- The sex test results were never published officially, but some results were leaked in the press and are widely discussed, resulting in claims about Semenya having an intersex trait.
- She was denied the opportunity to compete in the local Yellow Pages Series V Track and Field event in Stellenbosch, South Africa, because the IAAF had yet to release its findings from her gender test in March 2010.
- She returned to competition nine days later winning two minor races in Finland.
- The British magazine New Statesman included Semenya in its annual list of "50 People That Matter" for unintentionally instigating "an international and often ill-tempered debate on gender politics, feminism, and race, becoming an inspiration to gender campaigners around the world" in September 2010.
- She won the semi-final during her championships in 2011.
- She was chosen to carry the country's flag during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
- She won a silver medal in the women's 800 meters with a time of 1:57.23 seconds, her season's best.
- She passed six competitors in the last 150 meters but did not pass world champion Mariya Savinova of Russia, who took gold in a time of 1:56.19, finishing 1.04 seconds before Semenya.
- The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) officially disqualified Savinova's results backdated to July 2010 on 10th February 2017.
- The International Olympic Committee reallocated the London 2012 medals, and Semenya's silver was upgraded to gold.
- She became the first person to win all three of the 400 m, 800 m, and 1500 m titles at the South African National Championships on 16th April 2016.
- She set the world leading marks of 50.74 and 1:58.45 in the first two events, and a 4:10.93 in the 1500 m, all within a nearly four-hour span of each other.
- She set a new national record for 800 meters of 1:55:33 on 16th July.
- She then won the gold medal in the women's 800 meters at the Rio Olympics with a time of 1:55.28.
- Later, she set a new personal best for the 400 m of 50.40 at the 2016 Memorial Van Damme track and field meet in Brussels.
- At the 2017 World Championships held in London, she won the bronze medal in the 1500 meters.
- Later, she also won the gold medal in the women's 800m event.
- The IAAF announced new rules that required hyperandrogenous athletes to take medication to lower their testosterone levels in the year 2018 of April.
- But due to the narrow scope of the changes, which only apply to athletes competing in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m.
- Many people thought the rule change was designed specifically to target Semenya.
- She announced on 19th June 2018 that she would legally challenge the "unfair" IAAF rules, and her legal hearing began on 18th February 2019.
- The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected her challenge on 1st May 2019, paving the way for the new rules to come into effect on 8th May 2019.
Connect to Caster
Caster Semenya's Instagram profile has garnered more than 57.4k followers whereas she is followed by more than 70k Twitter users.
Twitter: @caster800m
Instagram: @castersemenya800m
More information about Caster Semenya's biography can be grabbed from wiki.
