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Caster Semenya says Royal Moroccan Athletics Federation 'made it impossible' to participate in race
Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya will not be participating in Sunday's Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, although it’s not by her own choice.
After the Royal Moroccan Athletics Federation claimed that she declined their invitation, Semenya put out a statement saying that the organizers “made it impossible for her to participate.”
In addition to her team’s statement, Semenya also tweeted out a rebuttal to the federation’s claim, which roughly translates in Southern Sotho to, “Oh, Satan, the devil is trying to live. Leave the lie.”
How now you say I declined your invitation. Heeee Bathong Satan yena wa leka man hai, tlogela maaka abuti. Deal with it.
— Caster Semenya (@caster800m) June 15, 2019
Semenya has faced plenty of hurdles throughout her running career because her testosterone count is high for a woman. The International Association of Athletics Federation had previously ruled that Semenya would not be able to compete against women without taking medicine to lower her testosterone levels — leaving her “constantly sick” — although that ruling was overturned by a court on Tuesday.
However, the Diamond League meet is not governed by the IAAF, so organizers allegedly made it as hard as possible for Semenya, who lives in South Africa, to compete.
As spelled out in her team’s statement, Semenya accepted an invitation to the event on June 7 and planned a flight to Rabat on June 12. Suddenly, the federation’s athlete liaison, Alain Blondel, informed her agent that it "did not want Caster to run.”
After contacting the federation and requesting the reason for the decision, the federation did not respond until Friday, when it reversed course again and said she could compete. But by that time, the only flights available to Morocco would have required 20 hours of travel, effectively making the trip impossible.
“Against this background, Caster rejects any suggestion that she declined a proper invitation to run in Rabat,” the statement reads. “To the contrary, her inability to run in Rabat is solely due to the Moroccan Federations [sic] sudden and unjustified withdrawal of its initial invitation that Caster had gladly accepted.”
Semenya can take solace in the fact that IAAF-regulated races should not be able to stop her from competing going forward, but the continued adversity and humiliation she faces remain a black mark on the sport.
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