The South African star broke her own national record as she clocked 1min 55.16sec to win her third world championship gold in London.
That’s nearly two seconds slower than the 1:53.28 world mark set by Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983‚ eight years before Semenya was born.
“[The] world record is not something you can plan for in two months‚” said Semenya‚ who has broken her SA record four times since mid-July last year.
“I think probably from next year that’s when we’ll think about trying to break world records‚ but at the moment we’re just trying to enjoy what we do. We love running.”
Semenya set her first SA mark in 2009‚ but she had to wait until 2016 before doing it again‚ incrementally.
First she took 12-hundredths of a second off her old record‚ then she shaved another five-hundredths off‚ followed by one-hundredth and on Sunday 11-hundredths.
“I still have a lot of dreams to achieve so winning gold here is a main goal‚ but we still have a lot of plans‚ we still have a lot of races to run‚ times to break‚” said Semenya‚ who has two races remaining this season‚ the 800m Diamond League final in Zurich and the ISTAF in Berlin.
Asked to elaborate on her dreams‚ she spoke about her various ambitions.
“I want to be a successful businesswoman‚ I still want to break world records‚ I still have a foundation to run … there are a lot of things on my mind.
“I still have to graduate. That comes first. I have to go back to school and study now‚ I still have four modules to write‚” said the sports science student at North West University in Potchefstroom.
Semenya‚ who also got the 1500m bronze here‚ reiterated she would be doing more of the longer races‚ adding it had benefited her 800m in London.
“I think it [the 800m] is the easiest race I ever ran in my life. Coming into the 1500m it [eased] some of the nerves because it’s longer …
“Obviously I ran a crazy [final] 200m‚ about 27 seconds … which is [also] fantastic for 800m. If you understand the principle of training it’s all about rhythm.
“We have run rhythm here. It’s all balancing the speed and the distance.”
Semenya said listening to music had also helped calm her‚ especially the song‚ I’m no longer a slave. “It’s a fantastic song so I listen to that all the time‚ it talks about a lot of things.”
She said training the 400m improved her 800m speed‚ while running the occasional 3000m and 5000m races would help with endurance for the 1500m.
Semenya rated this victory as the best of her career‚ pointing out it was the eighth-best performance of all time‚ placing her above her former coach‚ Maria Mutola of Mozambique.
“This is the best I have ever produced in my life …I’m quite thrilled‚ it’s amazing to be among the best in the world.”
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