Johannesburg – Once paraded on the international stage for being different, Caster Semenya is defiantly looking to break new ground.
The brushing-off gesture Semenya made when she won her maiden world title as an 18-year-old continues to define her fighting spirit.
From the circumspect teenager thrust into the global limelight, Semenya’s metamorphosis has been admirable.
Since her world title-winning run that unleashed the gender verification storm in 2009, Semenya has added Olympic and World Championships silver medals to her growing list of accolades.
But the 25-year-old had not come close to her personal best and South African record of 1min 55.45sec.
That is until last week’s National Track and Field Championship at Coetzenburg, where she became the first South African to win the 400, 800 and 1500m titles.
What made the performance in Stellenbosch even more impressive was the fact that she won all three races in the space of four hours.
Semenya has always had the endurance which made her a world-class middle-distance athlete. This year she added the speed over the 400m to her skill set.
She won the 400m race in a time of 50.76 seconds, shaving 0.71sec off her personal best.
While her return to her best may seem like an overnight occurrence, her move to Potchefstroom to train under renowned middle-distance coach Jean Verster in 2014 had a lot to do with her metamorphosis.
“When she got here on the back of a relatively bad period in terms of performances,” Verster said about his protégé, “she was battling with injuries, overweight, and unfit.”
Verster said it was important to ensure Semenya was absorbed into university life and the training group.
“Consistency is the name of the game and it was important to sort out her injuries,” he said. “We worked hard with her in the gym with our sports scientists.
“Last year was a bit of a learning school together and when we got everything right we focused on her power endurance.”
The result was a happier Semenya, in stark contrast from two years ago when she seemed to be merely going through the motions.
Last year Semenya suffered an injury halfway through the season and it was a race against time for her to qualify for the Beijing World Championships in August.
Going into the Championships with a lack of racing, Semenya posted her fastest time in two years clocking 1:59.59 in the heats but was eliminated in the semi-final the following day.
“Since then we worked hard not only on the basics but also on her strength and endurance,” Verster said.
“Since January we’ve been working on speed work but the proof of the pudding is in the tasting.”
Her stellar performances in the 400m and 1500m, Verster said, boded well for her specialist two-lap event.
“Her 1500m is looking good, she is very fit, she looks a lot better, she’s obviously lost weight and is injury free, touch wood. Her speed also came right and we intentionally decided she should run more 400s.”
Now that Semenya is back in tip-top shape she is setting ambitious goals that she believes will earn her a place in the history books. She has her sights set on posting a sub-50 time in the 400m and under four minutes in the 1500m. “I think few or no athletes have ever done that,” Verster said.
“That is one of her goals this year and we will see if she is able to find big races in the 400m and 1500m as she is better known as an 800m athlete.”
Verster said Semenya’s success boiled down to the hard work she was willing to invest.
“She is happy, and there are few athletes that work as hard as her. She works pretty much harder than any athlete I’ve known and that’s why she is where she is at the moment.”
– The Sunday Independent