Caster Semenya rules out any role in athletics administration
Caster Semenya says she will not take up any position in athletics administration, citing betrayal by national and international bodies during her career.
Former Olympic champion Caster Semenya says she will never serve in the leadership of any athletics organisation, according to The Citizen. She says she cannot forgive the national and international bodies behind the difficulties she faced during her career.
Calls for new faces at ASA
Athletics South Africa (ASA) is dealing with several controversies, and World Athletics has told the federation to clean up its affairs. Against that backdrop, some are calling for fresh people to step forward for board positions ahead of ASA elections later this year.
Semenya was asked about this at the Spar Grand Prix road running awards in Johannesburg yesterday. She said she would not work with people who “stabbed me in the back”, and that she does not want to be in a position where she must answer to others.
Her attention, she said, is on her own projects: her running club, Masai Athletics Club, and her foundation, which she described as her priority. “I want to fix my own ship,” she said.
On national and international leadership, she said: “I don’t see myself working with snakes.” She added that she had been betrayed many times by the same people. She stressed that she was speaking only for herself: “I have no interest in any position in any organisation.”
Her history with ASA and World Athletics
ASA drew wide criticism over how it managed her rise on the global stage as a teenager. Many felt the officials of the time failed to shield her adequately after doubts about her sex were raised following her 800m world championship win in 2009, when she was 18.
The federation did, however, back her through the long legal fights that followed. It tried to have World Athletics rules overturned that restricted women’s-category participation for athletes with differences in sex development.
World Athletics repeatedly kept Semenya out of races because of its gender rules, insisting that she take hormone suppressants if she wanted to compete against other women. She ended her elite career in 2019, after a second ban from her preferred middle-distance races.
What this means
ASA’s elections are due later this year, and the call for new people at board level is still open. By her own account, Semenya will not be one of those people, since she says she has no interest in any role in athletics administration.
This story is based on reporting by The Citizen.
