No Smoking
Jul 15, 2010, 09:46 PM
Caster Semenya wins 800m on race comeback
World 800m champion Caster Semenya won her first race since being cleared to return to competition after underdoing gender tests.
The 19-year-old South African won the 800m at the Lappeenranta Games in Finland in a modest time of two minutes, 4.22 seconds.
Semenya pulled away on the home straight to beat a weak field.
The time was a long way off the 1:55.45 she clocked when winning gold at last year's World Championships in Berlin.
The African junior champion, though, was happy with her time after an 11-month absence from competition.
"To come and run a 2:04 is not easy, especially after what happened," said Semenya, who fended off Finn Mari Jarvenpaa (2:04.71) for victory on Thursday.
"I was a little bit nervous because it has been a long time not competing. It's a new beginning."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8822744.stm
World 800m champion Caster Semenya won her first race since being cleared to return to competition after underdoing gender tests.
The 19-year-old South African won the 800m at the Lappeenranta Games in Finland in a modest time of two minutes, 4.22 seconds.
Semenya pulled away on the home straight to beat a weak field.
The time was a long way off the 1:55.45 she clocked when winning gold at last year's World Championships in Berlin.
The African junior champion, though, was happy with her time after an 11-month absence from competition.
"To come and run a 2:04 is not easy, especially after what happened," said Semenya, who fended off Finn Mari Jarvenpaa (2:04.71) for victory on Thursday.
"I was a little bit nervous because it has been a long time not competing. It's a new beginning."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8822744.stm