South Africa’s Semenya To Contest 3,000m

South African Olympian Caster Semenya is expected to compete in the 3,000 metres at the Diamond League’s Prefontaine Classic in Stanford, California next month.

Semenya is no longer able to compete in events from 400m to a mile without medicating her high natural levels of testosterone following new rules introduced by the International Associations of Athletics (IAAF). However, she is still able to compete in the women’s category for other distances.

Following an unsuccessful court challenge to the introduction of the new regulations Semenya has indicated that she will not be medicating herself in order to participate. 

While she is the South African national champion for the 5,000 metres distance her personal best for the 3,000 metres is well over a minute slower than 3,000 metre champion Genzebe Dibaba. 

“I will switch races when I want to — no man can tell me what to do. I’m here for a purpose, if I want to switch events I switch them, but if someone wants me to switch them, that’s their own problem, not mine,” Semenya has been quoted as stating.

“I’m a power athlete, I can run from 100 metres to 5 kilometres, so I can run any race I want.”