JOHANNESBURG -  After Saturday’s 800m final, social media sites such as Twitter exploded with speculation that Semenya had deliberately lost her race.

BBC sports commentator Colin Jackson, himself an Olympic silver medallist and three-time hurdles world champion, was quoted in numerous British newspapers as saying: “I wonder whether she is slightly anxious about winning after all that torment that followed her win in Berlin in 2009. That may have had a mental scarring on her. I think she’s been hesitant. Perhaps that could be one of the reasons why (she didn’t win). It always leaves you wondering because we have seen her running much better than that.”

But sports experts rubbished Jackson’s analysis, pointing out that Semenya had always had an ungainly, “lumbering” running style and never looked tired after a race.

In 2009 Semenya was suspended from competitive running by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and ordered here to undergo gender tests.
 
The IAAF has never publicly revealed the results of their probes into Semenya, even after clearing her to return to competitive running.
According to reports based on the allegedly leaked investigations, Semenya was ordered to undergo hormone treatment or surgery to reduce her levels of testosterone – which were allegedly abnormally high. The IAAF has never confirmed or denied these claims.

Only hours before Semenya competed in the Olympic final, David Epstein from Sports Illustrated in the US wrote: “If Semenya wins the gold, she is likely to be accused of having an unfair advantage. If she runs poorly, she is likely to be accused of sandbagging the race so as not to be accused of having an unfair advantage.”

“Semenya’s coach, Maria Mutola of Mozambique, the greatest women’s 800m runner of all time, told Sports Illustrated that Semenya always looks effortless, even when she’s exhausted.”

On his blog, sports scientist Ross Tucker from the  University of Cape Town yesterday wrote: “Semenya is not ‘judged normally’ in athletics circles, and that has everything to do with the sex verification controversy... 

“She was, and remains, in an impossible situation, because every result and every move is looked at through a filter.  It is a filter that colours her performances according to male vs female, cheating vs throwing it on purpose, and when she produces racing performances like tonight, that filter is rather vivid.”

Tucker continued: “The prevailing ‘allegation’, ever since her return in 2010, is that she is running slowly to stay under the radar, avoiding winning and the questions this would undoubtedly bring.  If that’s the plan, then it sure isn’t working, because what we saw today draws more allegation than a ‘typical race’, in my opinion.”

Tucker wrote that the secrecy surrounding the AFP tests “forces people to speculate”.

“We shouldn’t.  We should accept the control of the AFP and trust that they have identified and managed a potential problem... But I think it’s naive to expect that of people.  Until people know, they’ll make it up and everyone loses in that equation.  If Semenya is to win people over…  then the secrecy must be lifted,” he wrote.