“Here is OUR medal. WE made it!” That is how Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya paid tribute to South Africans who stayed up into the early hours of Sunday morning to watch her win gold at the Rio Olympics.
The 25-year-old produced a masterful performance at Rio’s Joao Havelange Olympic Stadium to go one step further from the 2012 London Olympics, where she had to come from behind to claim a silver medal.\
Semenya waited too long to make her move to the front of the pack four years ago, and even though she was flying towards the finishing line, she ran out of time to overhaul Russia’s Mariya Savinova.
But she didn’t make the same mistake in Rio this time around, staying at the front of the field throughout. Semenya paced her race to perfection, tucking in just behind Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba, who was in first place at the bell for the final lap.
Niyonsaba tried to break away from Semenya over the next 200m, and even though she opened up a gap, the South African didn’t get flustered and stuck to her game plan.
Kenya’s Margaret Wambui was ranging up on Semenya’s outside, but after keeping her at bay, Semenya charged forward at the final bend and streaked away from Niyonsaba to win in a new South African record of 1 minute 55.28 seconds (1:55.28), which is also the fastest time in the world this year and two seconds off the world record of 1:53.28, set by Jarmila Kratochvilova from the Czech Republic in 1983.
“I wish that I was able to express the way I feel right now. I can’t find the right words to express my feelings,” Semenya said in a Facebook post, which was accompanied by a picture of her with the gold medal, on Sunday.
“Thank you everyone for supporting me throughout the championship, for showing me love and for believing in me. To my fellow South Africans. Here is OUR medal. WE made it! #UnlimitedCobra #TeamSArise #TeamCobra”
Later on Sunday afternoon on Twitter, Semenya again acknowledged her fans. “THANK YOU SOUTH AFRICA FOR THIS GREAT SUPPORT.. AFRICA AND THE ENTIRE WORLD THANK YOU AGAIN.. MUCH LOVE.. MAYBE GOD BLESS YOU ALL”
@ashfakmohamed