Coaching is primary goal, Caster Semenya says after another best time

Caster Semenya is playing down the importance of getting to the world championships in the US later this year, saying coaching is her “primary goal”.

It’s a similar tune to what she sang ahead of the Tokyo Olympics last year, but this time she seems to have a real shot at breaking the 15 min 10 sec qualifying time in the 5,000m to book her spot, especially after she clocked an 8:54.97 personal best over the 3,000m at a windy Green Point Stadium in Cape Town on Wednesday night.

And she knows she’s close to doing it.

Asked if she was gunning to book her spot in the 5,000m, she replied nonchalantly: “If it comes, it comes, but it is possible.

“If you are able to run a sub-9 in a 3k (3,000m), it shows you can go almost a 15:00 in a 5,000,” said Semenya, who had the small but vocal crowd cheering her on over the final lap of her season-opening run.

“But for me it’s not always the goal. The goal is to come back and show up for my people and show I still have a love for athletics.

“It would be great if we could do the world champs, but for now the goal is to the run the African champs.”

The continental showpiece is set for Mauritius in early June, and that could be the perfect arena to clock a qualifying time for the global event which kicks off in Eugene, Oregon, in mid-July.

I’ve made peace a long time ago with the situation. That’s why you see me back here running. My focus is just to be better and make sure my fans are always cheering.

—  Caster Semenya

She missed the qualifying time for Tokyo — the same as it is for Eugene — by 22.14 sec, but 2021 was her first full season of doing the 5,000m; she’s learnt much and that gap is going to close in the coming months.

The qualifying window closes on June 26.

Semenya made it clear she had accepted her exclusion from her premier 800m event, in which she won two Olympic titles and three world championships from 2009 to 2017.

She has refused to accept World Athletics’ gender eligibility regulations which require her to take testosterone-lowering medication to compete in her three races from 400m to 1,500m.

Returning to the top of the world stage in the 5,000m would be testament to her talent, and it would also possibly be an uncomfortable reminder to the international sports body that they can’t chase her out of the elite levels of track and field.

But she insists that is not her motivation.

“I’ve made peace a long time ago with the situation. That’s why you see me back here running. My focus is just to be better and make sure my fans are always cheering.

“I won all major titles. There’s no doubt I’m the best,” said 31-year-old Semenya, who coaches about 18 youngsters at her Masai athletics club.

Semenya is challenging the World Athletics regulations on athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) at the European Court of Human Rights.

“I’ve achieved my goals now. It’s just to fight the injustice, make sure all these children who are facing similar problems don’t face it.”

The DSD regulations have been described as fluid, which could see them being used against other female athletes with higher-than-allowed levels of testosterone performing well outside the current band of events.

Already a few DSD competitors have arisen in the 200m and 100m; Semenya’s potential battleground is all of women’s athletics.

But the athlete said her key drive at the moment was on mentoring. “My focus is to be here and to help my athletes so they can be better.

“Coaching is my primary goal at the moment, being able to plough back to the athletes and work on the foundations so I can change lives,” said Semenya.

But she also wants to keep going faster. “For now the main goal is just to be better in every race and to be a contender in the 3k, 5k in the European season.”

Is her focus coaching? Competing? Semenya clearly multitasks well — don’t write off her world championship chances just yet.