Caster focused on race, not Sharp in Zurich
She's been catching up with her sleep again in Zurich over the last few days, but our golden girl will be back on the track on Thursday.
|||Caster Semenya has been catching up with her sleep again in Zurich over the last few days, but our golden girl will be back on the track in the Diamond League in the Switzerland on Thursday.
South African fans can set their clock for 9.05pm, which is when Olympic gold medallist Semenya will line up in the 800m against a strong field that includes all eight athletes from the Rio final.
And that means infamous British athlete Lynsey Sharp will also compete, but Semenya’s coach Jean Verster told Independent Media on Wednesday that his charge is not bothered by Sharp’s presence at all.
Sharp and Canadian Melissa Bishop, who ended sixth and fourth respectively in Rio, ignored Semenya when the South African went over to wish them well after the race as the two athletes hugged each other for an extended period.
Then Sharp made controversial remarks about the rules around athletes with high testosterone levels in relation to Semenya after the Court of Arbitration in Sport overturned the IAAF’s decision to force athletes with naturally high levels of testosterone to take hormone-suppressing medication.
“I have tried to avoid the issue all year. You can see how emotional it all was. We know how each other feels. It is out of our control and how much we rely on people at the top sorting it out. The public can see how difficult it is with the change of rule but all we can do is give it our best,” Sharp told The Guardian with tears in her eyes after the race.
That led to an outcry in South Africa on social media, with the #HandsOffCaster trending for a number of days.
But asked if Semenya would want to prove a point to Sharp once more on the track in Zurich, Verster said that the 25-year-old wasn’t affected by what her rival said. “Caster doesn’t focus on other people – and that was the case before the Olympics already. You don’t have control over what other people say, so you will worry about nonsense all the time,” Verster said on Wednesday.
“Caster, to be honest with you, enjoys what she does and she loves running. It’s not about the fame and everything. She would’ve been a runner even if no one was watching her – she has a passion for running and that’s what she loves. We don’t worry ourselves about what other people say or do.
“We don’t look at it or think about it. Caster does what she has to and run like she has to, and if things work out and you feel good, that’s all she wants to do. All she concerns herself about is her performance, and the people around her. And absolutely, she is grateful for the support from all her fans.
“People mustn’t think she doesn’t know it. She tells me how she can feel everyone in South Africa is behind her, and it’s her people. Stuff the rest – they can think and say what they want to. She doesn’t even talk about it. When we chat, it’s about race tactics and things like that, absolute strictly athletics stuff.”
Having added Olympic gold to her silver from the 2012 London Games, one could forgive Semenya if she wasn’t at her best in Zurich. But there is still the Diamond League 800m series title up for grabs, with the South African on 40 points, just two ahead of Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba.
So Semenya has to ensure that she ends ahead of her fellow African athlete, who claimed the silver medal in Rio. “It’s again going to be a tough race, and the difficult thing after an Olympics – although it’s the same for everyone, it’s especially so if you won gold – is to get yourself up for it again,” Verster said.
“After a bit of celebrations, you’re back in South Africa and all the media and everything, to now race from the start again… That is difficult, but I think she will be (switched on) tomorrow. She is very relaxed at the moment. I chatted to her just now via WhatsApp and she says she feels good.
“She flew on Sunday already and got there on Monday, and she tells me it’s actually good that she was able to get to Zurich a bit earlier as she could just get away a bit, rest up and catch up with her sleep again.”
Semenya will race again in Berlin on Saturday, and will complete her season in the Diamond League final in Brussels with a 400m next week Friday.
There will be two other SA athletes in action in Zurich, with Olympic 100m finalist Akani Simbine (9.20pm SA time) looking to finish his breakthrough year on a high to follow up his second-place finish in Paris last Saturday, while Rio semi-finalist Wenda Nel will come up against Olympic silver medallist Sara Petersen in the 400m hurdles (8.05pm).
ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za
@ashfakmohamed – Independent Media