Caster Semenya ADDED to 800 field in Doha. How fast will she go?

ljljespn wrote:

But the science says she'd run "7-seconds slower in the 800m" so seems like if she was on that T suppression she didn't fall into the "science estimate." I remember her getting Silver at London 2012, losing to a Woman.

Yeah....Savinova smoked her at London and just so it wasn't a fluke, Savinova had smoked her a year earlier at Daegu. So, I don't what all the fuss is about this - Semenya isn't unbeatable.

Semenya is not a true female but she seems more an 400/800m person, so I don't think a single 5k should be given too much weight. She ran the 1500m more seriously for more than 2 years and 3:59 is also not so great with a 1:54. (It is also in line with what most of the doped up Eastern bloc athletes ran in the 1980s, comparably weak 1500m with blazing 800m times).

Anyway my point was mainly that in my impression Semenya seriously tried to run her best and she got the 600m WR but not the 800m or 1000m. I don't think she was holding back in Paris last year and the split also shows a fast first lap not her frequent negative splits from earlier years.

Either very, very fast or outside two minutes.

It all depends on her state of mind and how hard she has been training during the period her future has been under discussion. Couldn't blame her if her motivation for training had dropped a bit!

I like Vodka wrote:

But the science says she'd run "7-seconds slower in the 800m" so seems like if she was on that T suppression she didn't fall into the "science estimate." I remember her getting Silver at London 2012, losing to a Woman.

Yeah....Savinova smoked her at London and just so it wasn't a fluke, Savinova had smoked her a year earlier at Daegu. So, I don't what all the fuss is about this - Semenya isn't unbeatable.

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Giving the doping regimen Savinova was on, she probably had more testosterone in her body than Semenya ..

The new rules being applied to Semenya really mean that Track and Field competition categories should now be divided into testosterone categories rather than gender categories.

twowaysitcouldgo wrote:

Hopefully about 1:51.5 on pure hate.

Or will she purposely tank and lose in a middling time (1:59+) to show that she doesn't dominate.

These are exactly the scenarios I was thinking.

Sure Do wrote:

RossiCheated wrote:

So, jog, sprint, cash winner’s check or go out with a bang and finally show the world what she can really run in her swan song?

I think she runs it all out. I don't think she has any interest in just running for a check.

Which will be interesting, cos she has never tested her limits.

She might run 2 minutes if she blows up

iojkjk wrote:

I don't believe this is her last 800m.

She will do the suppressant and then return with an 800m WR with a "woman's" testosterone limit, whatever that is.

she won't break 2 minutes with a suppressed T

It's really gotta suck for her. Obviously she was / is dominant as a woman but to have to live a life like this, kind of stuck in between and being an outcast no matter how she tries to run. And now top of everything, being required to undergo hormone suppressant treatments. This has pretty much been her entire running career.

Just Wandering... wrote:

It's really gotta suck for her. Obviously she was / is dominant as a woman but to have to live a life like this, kind of stuck in between and being an outcast no matter how she tries to run. And now top of everything, being required to undergo hormone suppressant treatments. This has pretty much been her entire running career.

I've seen shockingly little discussion about this. Most of the articles about this unusual and fascinating situation has not focused on the human aspect of what it must be like for her as a person.

omygoodnes wrote:

iojkjk wrote:

I don't believe this is her last 800m.

She will do the suppressant and then return with an 800m WR with a "woman's" testosterone limit, whatever that is.

she won't break 2 minutes with a suppressed T

That bad?

YMMV wrote:

reed wrote:

I doubt Semenya gets even close to the WR tomorrow. The decision has only been out for the last day or two and it's not like she can get in a tune up workout. She's either in dedicated 5000m training (if she assumed she'd lose the appeal) or she's in early-season mode and not gonna be in 1:54 shape for a couple months (if she assumed she'd be able to keep competing).

still picking her for my Fantasy DL team though

Caster has known for months that this decision was imminent. But without any tuneup races, we'll see another copy/paste 1:55

Well done!

Sprintgeezer wrote:

YMMV wrote:

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Caster has known for months that this decision was imminent. But without any tuneup races, we'll see another copy/paste 1:55

Well done!

Nailed it. I wonder why she ran. Swan song?

Semenya is not a great competitor. He seemed to be always sandbagging, just running enough to win. A great competitor would look for better, fairer competition. If he were a great competitor he would compete with those like him and not against those he has an unfair advantage over.

YMMV wrote:

Caster has known for months that this decision was imminent. But without any tuneup races, we'll see another copy/paste 1:55

Lol, "copy/paste 1:55" describes her races perfectly

I think she would go faster if she had a rabbit pushing the pace through 600 (or just enter a men's race) though not much

Not a great competitor wrote:

Semenya is not a great competitor. He seemed to be always sandbagging, just running enough to win. A great competitor would look for better, fairer competition. If he were a great competitor he would compete with those like him and not against those he has an unfair advantage over.

I just watched the race on CBC. She doesn't look as light-footed and effortless as the others. Kind of lumbers. Much stronger, of course, but I'd say she's not as 'athletic'.

CBC's feed of the meet was great, by the way. Such a relief whenever you can escape NBC coverage.

YourMom.Com wrote:

Just Wandering... wrote:

It's really gotta suck for her. Obviously she was / is dominant as a woman but to have to live a life like this, kind of stuck in between and being an outcast no matter how she tries to run. And now top of everything, being required to undergo hormone suppressant treatments. This has pretty much been her entire running career.

I've seen shockingly little discussion about this. Most of the articles about this unusual and fascinating situation has not focused on the human aspect of what it must be like for her as a person.

He is not required to undergo hormone suppressant treatment unless he still wants to compete against women. He is free to run as he is in the Open (mens) category.

It seems outside of track he lives as a man. To compete as a female was his choice. I do feel sorry for his condition, but he has not felt sorry for, even though it was allowed, denying the women he has beaten of their victories.

I saw the photos of today’s 800m race... why was Caster wearing the half-n-half men’s speed suit and not the woman’s Nike uniform with a different design? It had to be some sort of a message.

tb4 wrote:

Nailed it. I wonder why she ran. Swan song?

FOR THE PAYCHECK

I noticed the male speedsuit too. But I'm not sure if it really was a men's outfit or just their World Champ outfit. A couple of the men's 1500m runners were wearing a traditional black Nike singlet instead of the two toned one, so clearly Nike isn't making everybody wear the same thing.

She did look sort of flat out there, and 1:54.98 was roughly in line with what I expected. I guess that's not far off her 1:54.2 PB but it's not that close either. She definitely went for it though with that 56.x opener