Semenya going after yet another record

Having cruised to victory in both the women’s 800- and
1 500 m finals at the South African Senior Track and Field Championships at Tuks Athletics Stadium in Tshwane last week, Caster Semenya now has her eyes firmly set on yet another 1 500 m title.
Moletji born Semenya is anticipated to be hard to beat at the third and final Liquid Telecom Athletix Grand Prix Series meeting scheduled for today (Thursday) at Dal Josaphat Stadium in Paarl. She broke the 35-year-old 1 000 m record of Ilse de Kock Wicksell on Thursday, March 8 at the second Grand Prix meeting at Tuks.
She will however face stern competition from Dominique Scott who won the 5 000 m title in Pretoria last Thursday. USA-based Scott has run the 1 500 m twice this season once equalling the national record but both races were run indoors.
Semenya already came close to Zola Budd-Pieterse’s 1984 South African record of 4:01.81, when she clocked 4:01.99 in Durban on 24 June 2016 at the Africa Championships,
Peter Maluleke, Secretary of Limpopo Schools Athletics said they are proud of Semenya’s achievement and wished her well in the season ahead. “She came through our programme and since breaking into the world stage she has been phenomenal. She has been a good example to young aspiring athletes, especially young girls. I am saying young girls because they don’t last in sport because they are confronted by many societal challenges, some succumb to those challenges but she has managed to overcome them,” Maluleke said.
Department of Sport, Arts and Culture spokesperson, Kola Maila said the department was overjoyed and encouraged by her monumental achievement. “She is an icon and she has proven that one can achieve anything in life irrespective of the dimensional circumstances,” Maila said.

Story: Herbert Rachuene
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