Caster Semenya has her gold medal. The South African unleashed a phenomenal kick in the final 200 meters to win the gold medal in 1:55.29 to win her first gold medal.
Olympics 2016: Caster Semenya of South Africa wins gold medal in women’s 800m run
The South African raced to a gold thanks to a powerful final kick over the last 200 meters.
Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi won silver and Margaret Wambui of Kenya won bronze, just beating out Canada’s Melissa Bishop, who finished fourth.
Kate Grace, the daughter of famed 1980’s workout video star Kathy Smith, was the lone U.S. runner in the field. She ran valiantly to finish eighth in her first Olympic final.
Semenya was one of the biggest stories in the lead up to the Olympics. Semenya has what are called “intersex conditions.” As the conversation between the New Yorker’s Nicholas Thompson and Malcolm Gladwell pointed out, ”[Semenya] has always identified as a woman, but she has many of the physiological features of a man, including, according to a medical report in 2009 that was leaked to the press, internal testes and an exceptionally high testosterone level. Do you think she should be allowed to compete as a woman?”
That debate will likely continue on, but there was no debating the impressive performance of Semenya on Saturday in Rio.
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