Ken Borland

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Caster Semenya has called for the International Olympic Committee to show more consistency and have a uniform policy for competitors who are under gender scrutiny.

The 33-year-old Semenya, who won the 800m in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, is not competing in the Paris Olympics because World Athletics insists she takes medicines to lower her testosterone levels, a consequence of her differences of sex development (DSD) condition.

Semenya refuses to undergo the treatments, which are mandatory in order to compete, and has been locked in legal battles with World Athletics since 2018.

The Paris Olympics have been rocked over a gender controversy in boxing, with two competitors, Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, having their eligibility for the women’s tournament being questioned. Both are guaranteed a medal, having advanced to the semi-finals in their respective weight divisions.

In Semenya’s homeland of South Africa, social media has been awash with posts questioning why the boxers are allowed to compete, especially in a combat sport, while Semenya is effectively banned. The IOC has backed the two boxers, casting doubts on the veracity of the International Boxing Association’s gender eligibility tests that found they had XY chromosomes.

The IBA is no longer recognised by the IOC, who are running the boxing events in Paris themselves.

Semenya herself has sympathy for Khelif’s plight, the 25-year-old welterweight having borne the brunt of the storm.

“Imane is a great boxer and people always criticise when someone is doing well, people always talk then. When she wasn’t winning, then everyone was quiet.

“But the IOC’s policy and constitution should not contradict each other. Sport is for all people and the constitution says no to discrimination. But the minute they allowed women to be disgraced, it confuses us.

“If sport is for all, then why does the big governing body allow this sort of thing to happen? They should stand their ground and lead by example. It’s about quality leadership that safeguards, protects and respects women,” Semenya told sportsboom.com in an exclusive interview in Pretoria.

“What happened at the Olympics now is not what happened in my space. Each organisation has its own policy, boxing have their own and athletics has its own.

“It’s not about what I want, but about principles of life. My views are not about me because I have ventured more into coaching now, I stopped running seriously in 2022. I have kids now and I want to spend more time at home.”

World Athletics, then known as the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), initially restricted their new rules on testosterone levels to just three track events – the 400m, 800m and 1500m.

Semenya initially switched to the 200m and 5000m races, but was never a real contender at those distances, failing to make the Olympic qualifying standards.

Last weekend she ran her first competitive race in more than a year, in the Tshwane (Pretoria) event of the Spar Women’s Grand Prix 10km Series, finishing 10^th in 37:13.

A beaming, jovial Semenya clearly enjoyed the experience.

“It was real nice and I did it for all the women, to make sure I inspire and show them that anything is possible. It was to celebrate women in sport and all women.

“I like to challenge myself, I was feeling outside my comfort zone and I thought I would end up walking, but I just kept on going. I’m very happy about my run and finishing in the top-10. Maybe when I’m 34 I must run the Comrades Marathon [an annual 88km ultramarathon held in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa],” Semenya laughed.

Not once has South African men’s hockey coach Garreth Ewing suggested that the FIH Hockey Pro League will be anything but daunting, and it will get no easier for his team as their next assignment sees them travel to Argentina to play the 2016 Olympic champions in two Tests on April 23 and 24.

Having hosted a leg of the tournament in Potchefstroom in February, in which they lost all eight matches and conceded 52 goals against Germany, France, India and the Netherlands, South Africa are now well aware of the high standards in the competition.

“It was harder than we expected, I must admit,” Ewing told The Citizen. “But it was really disappointing that it took us a bit long to adjust to the tempo, admittedly against very good sides.

“There was improvement through the tournament though and we were quite disappointed not to get a couple of results in the end.

“Although it was a mentally and physically tough tournament for us, it was a very valuable exercise based on the squad we had, the rotation of players and the opportunities we gave them.

“We also made some tactical progress in terms of the areas of the game without the ball – how you pressurise the ball and utilise space. And there were glimpses of good counter-attack,” Ewing said.

South Africa will be bringing a new-look squad to Argentina, due to the unavailability of some of their players, the bulk of whom are amateurs. But, on the positive side, regular captain Tim Drummond returns, having been absent during the local leg of the Pro League.

“We’ve had selection issues and the unavailability of players is an ongoing challenge. So there will be quite a few changes,” Ewing said.

“Having Tim back will make a big difference, especially in terms of his experience and leadership. We’re playing in Buenos Aires, so we’ll be up against big crowds, which we are not used to over the last couple of years.

“There are still some technical weaknesses we need to sort out, both in attack and defence, in terms of how we hang on to the ball when we have it and the pressure we exert without the ball.

“There was a bit of a lack of continuity due to getting things wrong at just the wrong time. But at times we were really good but just didn’t get good outcomes. We would get to the circle but just not get the ball in the goals,” Ewing said.

Olympic silver medallist Sunette Viljoen’s only expectation as she resumes her cricket career is that she has fun and is able to showcase her talents in another sport, but such is the competitive fire that burns within the 38-year-old that she believes she can make it back into the Proteas team.

South Africa’s most successful javelin thrower with her second place in the 2016 Rio Olympics and two Commonwealth Games golds (alongside Marius Corbett – gold medals at the 1997 World Champs & 1998 Commonwealth Games), Viljoen has been included in the Northerns Titans training squad for their Senior Provincial matches starting in January.

Viljoen actually first made her name in cricket, debuting for South Africa in 2000 as a 17-year-old out of Hoerskool Rustenburg. At the time, she was the youngest to ever represent the women’s national team and she played in the World Cup in New Zealand that year and played one Test and 17 ODIs for the Proteas before switching her focus to athletics. Her last representative game of cricket was in 2003.

“I always knew I would go back to cricket for a new challenge and after my shoulder injury kept me out of Tokyo last year,” Viljoen told The Citizen. “I have severe competitiveness and that fire burns very high in me.

“I started back at the bottom with Irene Villagers in August/September last year and I’ve done really well – I scored 141, 102 and 80 recently, and took a few wickets. That got me into the Titans training squad.

“I’m really looking forward to the new year, I can’t wait for the opportunity to play for them and I think my game is strong enough.

“There’s no pressure on me to perform, the most important thing is for me to enjoy myself, show my talent and how much I love to play cricket. But I want to play for the national side again and I will go fully for that,” Viljoen said.

Of course the game has changed immensely since Viljoen last played at provincial level – her memory is of it basically being a hobby for the participants – but her experiences at the highest level of athletics means the all-rounder is confident she has the mettle to handle the increased professionalism that is now evident in women’s cricket.

“I am going to be fearless, believe in my own game and my capabilities, I am not going to stand back for anyone. My mental strength is very good.

“I had to overcome a lot on the international stage in finals at World Championships, Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games. I will bring the same mentality as on the athletics field.

“It’s you against the bowler or batter and I’m used to staying sharp for an hour-and-a-half in an Olympic final. There’s a lot to carry over from my athletics career, but I have always enjoyed team sports as well.

“I’ve been an individual sportswoman for such a long time, so it’s nice to be in a team environment again. My personality enjoys being amongst other people, but cricket is still quite individualistic,” Viljoen said.