Caster Semenya: 'People want to stare at me, to touch me. I don't think I like b

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Caster Semenya: 'People want to stare at me, to touch me. I don't think I like being famous so much'
Guardian UK
By Donald McRae
14 November 2009


http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/nov/14/caster-semenya-donald-mcrae-training-camp 🔗


On a stormy afternoon in Pretoria a hooded figure runs steadily in the distance, head held high against the big black clouds rolling over the city. It is hard to tell if we are following a man or a woman for, even when the sky is lit by lightning, we're shrouded in gloom. Half a mile ahead of us, with fat drops of rain smearing the dusty windscreen, the solitary runner looks vulnerable.

Michael Seme, in the passenger seat of our car, squints into the gathering darkness, trying to work out the identity of the slender shape running so defiantly. "Is this one of my boys?" the 50-year-old athletics coach murmurs. His fatigue is tempered by the generous spirit that helps him rise at 3.30 every morning to encourage his young runners so that, by 4am, they are on the road, dreaming of World Championship and Olympic glory.

"It's Caster!" he suddenly shouts, pointing at the runner who is now less than a hundred metres away. "Look," he says. "Give her a hoot."