South African Caster Semenya will draw inspiration from Nelson Mandela and Maria Mutola as she seeks to reclaim her 800-metre golden girl crown at the Olympics.
It was political icon Mandela who stood by the 21-year-old during her darkest days after winning the 2009 world title as rivals questioned her gender while her only ‘fault’ was having three times the testosterone of an average female.
And to 2000 Sydney Olympics 800m champion Mutola from Mozambique fell the task of rekindling the spirits of a shy woman born in a north-eastern South African village who began running to train for football.
The sporting tale of Semenya is one of triumph, humiliation and a resilience. World athletics body IAAF took notice of previously unknown Semenya when she clipped almost eight seconds off her 800m time during 2009 and destroyed a star-studded field in Berlin to win the world title.
Drug tests were followed by gender tests and the situation saw Caster complaining of “unwarranted and invasive scrutiny of the most intimate and private details of my being”.
She was barred from the track for almost a year before being cleared to run again. “If I win gold, I will dedicate it to Nelson Mandela,” said the usually media-shy Semenya.
“He motivated me during the dark days after my world title victory, made me believe in what I do best and I could win more medals. Without his support, maybe I would not be where I am today.”
If Mandela, the dashing lawyer who spent 27 years in jail for opposing apartheid before becoming the first leader of a non-racial South Africa, inspires Semenya, Mutola is the force driving her onwards after replacing Michael Seme as coach.
“I believe she is far ahead of me as she clocked 1min 55.45 seconds at 18. At that age I had not managed to break two minutes,” said multiple world title winner Mutola.
“Caster holds the key to her future. She must motivate herself, believe in herself.
“I sense that everything is falling into place and the perfect ending would be for her to win gold at her first Olympics.”
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