South Africa’s Caster Semenya, the 800m World champion, is set to defend her title tomorrow against a formidable field of competitors that include the Russian duo of Yuliya Rusanova (1:56.99 SB) and Ekaterina Kostetskaya (1:57.19 SB) and the world’s number-1-ranked 800m specialist Jamaica’s Kenia Sinclair (1:58.21 SB) . The 2011 season shows a sharp contrast between Semenya and Sinclair. The latter has been very consistent, has lost only one race coming into Daegu, and has defeated Semenya in all head-to-head match-up this season.
Semenya, who has a personal best 1:55.45, is having a 2011 season that is marred by inconsistency. There are times when she looks very good, running 1:58.00 and then follows up with a sub-par performance of 2:02.00. In her victories Semenya is very impressive, and one cannot dispute her skills and talent. However, there are times when she looks so ordinary, disinterested and, to some extent, bored.
She's Back
In the 800m semi-final two days ago, the South African showed that she is back to seriously contend and defend her crown. The playing-around stopped there. Comments from her camp leading up to Daegu that she was not training and that she was overweight have become irrelevant. South Africa is currently riding a nationalist wave over its men’s 4x400m relay team taking silver behind the United States, thereby allowing Oscar Pistorius to become the first paraplegic to earn a World medal.
Semenya is no doubt aware of her nation’s desire to enjoy more glory, and she can provide that. She has the talent and skill-set to dominate the women’s 800m final. Although she had a dismal performance this season on the Diamond League circuit, the 20-year-old seems read to grab the headlines again.