In 2009, the world witnessed one of the most humiliating sporting stories when South Africa’s 800-metres Olympic champion Caster Semenya’s femininity was questioned by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) due to her masculine body structure.
Caster had to undergo medical tests to prove that she was born a woman and to determine her testosterone levels. After it was discovered that the athlete naturally had more testosterone than an average female, she was placed on suppressants to reduce them.
Years after the humiliation, the athlete is ready to share her story with the world in a book titled The Race To Be Myself.
Currently on a US tour of her book launch, the Limpopo-born Olympic champion kicked off the American tour with a visit to Gayle King and her CBS Mornings crew for an interview.
Caster, who didn’t even know that she was being gender tested at the time, views what the federation did as having deprived her of a basic human right to be her natural self.
Asked by Gayle what she felt when all of that was happening to her, and what her thoughts were about the leaked results, Caster responded:
“When they said they leaked the results accidentally I was like, no that was purposefully done. For me that’s when I realised you have the power in you to own yourself. At the end of the day even if they define you for who they think you are, you should love yourself.
“From that beginning it was about self-discovery, self-management, self-love. I started appreciating myself from there. I was like, I’m going to do it for my people. I’m going to do it for my mom, for my dad, and the goal was to go out there, win the gold, so they can be pissed, and they were pissed.”
The interview clip shared by Caster from the CBC’s Instagram page was captioned:
“Two-time Olympic gold medalist @castersemenya800m is telling her story for the first time. She says the adversity she faced after racing officials questioned her sex propelled her to find self-love and race at her best: You have the power in you to own yourself.”
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