GLOBAL track star Caster Semenya and East Coast Radio DJ Carol Ofori at the launch of Semenya’s book, The Race to Be Myself, at Exclusive Books in Durban this week. | SHELLEY KJONSTAD/Independent Newspapers
Durban — Caster Semenya is hosting a special weekend camp for about 200 youngsters in Pretoria who might be the country’s next racing superstars.
The annual awards event brings together all those who are part of the Masai Athletics Club, an academy started by Semenya and her partner, Violet, a long-distance runner and coach.
“If you look into women’s sports, if you look into middle distance, if you look into long distance running, you only see a few girls that survive the sport. So we just want to keep them, we want to attract them to the sport, to remind them of the importance of their existence,” Semenya said.
According to Violet, the Masai Athletics Club was named after Semenya’s clan, perhaps fitting since at least six members of the Semenya family are gifted runners.
Violet says this weekend’s event is to encourage and acknowledge the runners for their hard work and achievements. The runners, all girls, are mostly from rural areas.
“This time of the year we are just trying to create a culture so that each and every individual meets as one family and to appreciate what they’ve done for the club.
“It's a running club where they affiliate and we provide them with a competition kit, transport, food, education because they come from disadvantaged backgrounds. We want to tell them not to lose hope,” says Violet.
Semenya says some of the club’s elite runners have been moved to Pretoria and placed in educational institutions there as well so that they are closer to the facilities they need.
She said that the initiative started in 2009 when they held training camps and she often approached sponsors, like Nike, asking them for donations to assist the children.
“It was always in my heart to help others, it’s about changing lives,” she said.
Then around 2017/81 the athletics club was formalised because “we want to take this work seriously, we want to build, we want to empower the youth,” she said.
She said it was necessary to share her experience with the young, upcoming generation.
“Appreciate the opportunity that you had by sharing with others because the hand that gives is the one that receives,” Semenya said.
“Caster trains those who do 200m to 800m and I’m training 1500m to half marathon, so it's a combination of long sprint to middle distance and long distance. And there is the Caster Semenya training group that runs 200m to half marathon,” said Violet.
Known as Violet Raseboya before their marriage, she has taken part in several major athletics tournaments like one All Africa Games, five World Cross-Country championships, three African Championships and she also qualified for the Commonwealth Youth Games.
For those wondering who is the fastest in the family, Violet says: “Obviously it depends; she was good with 800m, 400m and 200m. I was good with 1500, 5000m, 10km and cross country.
“So each one of us is a specialist,” she said.
Despite this Violet said she did not think that their daughters would be runners, maybe one of them, but the other was more artistic.
Semenya, Violet and their kids were in Durban this week as part of their countrywide launch of Semenya’s biography, The Race To Be Myself.
The book documents Semenya’s journey as a girl from a rural village in Limpopo who wanted to be a football star, to her global success on the track and then the dehumanising tests she had to endure to prove her womanhood.
Caster was banned from running competitively by World Athletics, and legal processes are still under way. But she continues to be an advocate for female runners, especially African and Asian athletes who face discrimination.
“I believe in my work, I believe in my purpose, I believe in the vision I have to change others so that others see life in a different way,” she said.
Violet said it felt like Semenya had a PhD in athletics and the only thing she hadn’t yet achieved was the world 800m record, but other than that she got everything she could ask from God. Not running on the global arena again would not make a difference, said Violet.
“I feel like she has made peace with it. We also believe in our family that you don't question what God gave you or what God called for you so we just believe. God has been fighting for her for 10 years and most people can't even reach 10 years in their careers. She has everything, she is settled,” said Violet.
Sunday Tribune
Related Topics: