RIO DE JANEIRO — Caster Semenya of South Africa, heavily favored to win the Olympic women’s 800 meters, ran a quick opening round this week and then breezed past reporters.
Who could blame her?
Perhaps no female athlete has faced such brutal scrutiny by fellow competitors, sports officials and journalists.
When Semenya, then 18, dominated the 800 at the 2009 world track and field championships, winning by more than two seconds, a fellow competitor called her a man. Pierre Weiss, the general secretary of the International Association of Athletics Federations, track and field’s world governing body, said, “She is a woman, but maybe not 100 percent.