Caster Semenya is well on her way to making history at the 2016 Summer Olympics. The South African middle-distance runner cruised past her opponents in round one of the women’s 800-metre event this morning in Rio (this afternoon in SA local time). Semenya finished first in her heat with a time of 1:59.31. Calm, cool and very composed, the 25-year-old track-and-field star from Polokwane made it look effortless.
Semenya, who heads to tomorrow’s semi-finals next, is gunning for South Africa’s second gold medal––and second world record––of the Rio Olympics. She’ll need to overtake Jarmila Kratochvilova's 1:53:28, a record the Czech runner set 33 years ago.
In the meantime, #CasterSemenyaDay continues.
Caster went for a Jog with the 800m runners and came first, that's our Girl ??? pic.twitter.com/HOh28WH70V— #TeamSemenya❤️ (@MrGwej) August 17, 2016
Caster was as relaxed as someone going to the ATM on pay day.
— Live Out Your Dreams (@DJLOYD) August 17, 2016
Caster ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/9HUjoWscOy— Stefanie Jason (@StefJason) August 17, 2016
Fo those of you who are waiting for SABC 2 delayed broadcast of race #Caster4Gold pic.twitter.com/mdg1XqN8nH
— Sibongile Mafu (@sboshmafu) August 17, 2016
Congratulations to our own @caster800m Semenya who has won her heat and now qualifies for the next round of the 800m! #Caster4Gold #RSA— South African Gov (@GovernmentZA) August 17, 2016
So smooth. So relaxed. Done. #Caster4Gold
— Sibongile Mafu (@sboshmafu) August 17, 2016
