South African Caster Semenya blew away the field to win gold in the women’s 800m in a new personal best time of 1 minute 55.29 seconds at the Rio Olympics on Saturday.
Taking silver was Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi (1:56.49) and Kenya’s Margaret Wambui claimed bronze (1:56.89).
Fans in South Africa rose at 2.15am to watch one of the most-anticipated races of the Olympics, and the 25-year-old showed her class amid all the speculation and controversy which had erupted in the lead-up to the race.
Semenya was content to sit with the pack through the first lap, though placed well at the front. With 200m to go she found herself in third place, but packed her strong finish as she began to move up. A trademark powerful surge on the back straight decimated what had been a bunched field as Semenya crashed over the line to win by a clear margin in the best time of her career.
Semenya now has five of the six fastest times in the world this year, confirming her pedigree among the great women’s 800m runners.
It was South Africa’s 10th medal, and second gold medal of the Olympics following Wayde van Niekerk breaking the World Record and claiming top spot in the men’s 400m earlier in the week. – African News Agency (ANA)
