JOHANNESBURG — An Olympic race of sorts ends on Tuesday, and this time Caster Semenya will not reach the finish line first.
Tuesday is the deadline for Semenya to gain a qualifying time in the women’s 5,000 meters for the Tokyo Games that begin July 23. She defiantly refused to suppress her naturally elevated testosterone levels, as required of intersex athletes to compete in women’s track events from the quarter mile to the mile. So, as things stand, Semenya will not be able to run her specialty, the 800 meters, at which she won gold at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and was essentially unbeatable for much of a decade.