I have a great deal of sympathy for Caster Semenya. I think she went through a terrible ordeal and the final results of the investigation left her in a space of just trying to be 
normal.
Playing psycho-analyst I would say she is trying to obtain that illusion of normality by not standing out. By reducing her athletic performances to the level of the rest of the field; by being out of shape like the majority of other people and by coming second instead of first.
The way she came back in the last 150 meters just indicate that she was by far the best athlete in that group. But she is out of shape probably 10 kg overweight and in athletic terms that’s a huge burden to carry.
The importance of social acceptance, family and friends is evident every time an athlete wins as can be seen when they run to their support groups or when they listen to the national anthem during the medal ceremonies.
I did not see Caster running up to supporters and exhibiting the same exhilaration as the other athletes. She was emotionally flat and my feeling is she purposely avoided winning as that would put her in the limelight yet again.
Gold medal winners or any Olympic athlete for that matter are ‘freaks’; they receive something special at birth and being an Olympic champion comes with a price. Of course they work hard and train extensively but you need the genes first and foremost.
Casters genetic make-up left her in a bit of a spot of bother and she needs somebody to snap her out her current mindset. Fact is she received a gift that she needs to embrace. It could have been far worse (and it is for many). She could have received a genetic make-up that saw her living with a disease like cystic fibrosis or cancer.
Yes it is tough at the Olympic Games and I might be totally wrong in the sense that it was only a matter of her not being able to handle the pressure and running tactically a bad race. Looking at her shape and her performances since 2009 I have a feeling there is more to it.
It is sad seeing a young athlete struggling with such an emotional burden. My hope is that she gets help dealing with this emotional issue soon as the careers of athletes are short. The window is small and she has at most one more Olympic games in which she can win gold. The starting point for her is to accept herself and make the most of her rather unique gift. In the final analysis winning silver on the world stage is something special in itself and one has to congratulate her with this achievement.
Looking at her accelation over the last 80 meters and her performance in 2009 my feeling is she is something really special; one of those truelly rare gifted athletes that’s in a different class. Silver in that regard could be seen as underperforming.
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Well she either left it to late or she thought shes not going through that hell about her gender again?
Excellent observation. I also felt that she’d almost “rather not be there” but for the sake of the occasion ‘would come second’. She finished so strongly I think if she’d gone twenty meters earlier she’d have had gold and the attending publicity/limelight.
I fully agree with you! The IAAF has really messed her up it seems! I hope she gets back her mojo because even her coach says that she cannot understand this – she runs 1:55 in practice runs whether she is overweight by 10kg as you suggest or not…
Hi Mclook,
This “thuat phong” comment is actually spam fishing for a reply so they can get their hands on your email address. They are getting smarter by the day!
Thanks. I’ll delete his remark.
This must have been Caster’s Last Stand.
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Nonsense! Caster ran tactically bad, but she definitely did not purposefully lose! Also, it doesn’t matter what tactics she employed, she would’ve still finished 2nd. Savinova was simply too good for her. Caster may have caught and passed everyone else, but she hardly closed the gap on Savinova. In fact, their last 200m’s were run in roughly the same times.
If you read in between the lines you will notice that I am suggesting she is avoiding winning in a non-conscious way. If you don’t have a burning desire to win especially at that level and under that pressure you seem to fade when the going gets tough.
I am saying she lacks the burning desire because deep down she don’t want to take the lime light again. I don’t think she is really fully aware of what is happening; she might think she is highly motivated but at crunch time she shrink away from taking the lime light.
In terms of closing the gap on Savino. I actually taped the race and have watched it closely at least 4 times. She did close the gap in my opinion. If you break a 200 meter up in 4 x 50 meters it is possible for two athletes to run the same time over 200 meter but with different times in each of 50 meters. Caster was slower over the first 50 but faster over the last 50 hence gaining over the last 20 meters.
SOMETHING IS NOT WRITE HERE.THAT PERFOMANCE WAS NOT CONVINCING AT ALL.I
I agree, to me it seemed that she was trying not to get the gold but has inadvertantly drawn more attention to herself. Her comments during her interview also didnt really help – she may think (we) know nothing about athletics and what she was going through but that isnt entirely accurate, whichever way you look at it her strategy for that race was poor – she ran stone last (not even within the pack) for the first lap and then did more than most could do to make up the places – it was the way she reeled in her opponents that makes her performance suspect
“it was the way she reeled in her opponents that makes her performance suspect:
Exactly.
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