Caster Semenya rules out competing in 200m at Tokyo 2021 - leaving her Olympics hopes looking bleak

Caster Semenya has ditched her bid to compete over 200 metres at this summer’s Olympics and admitted “it’s not the end of the world” if she fails to qualify for Tokyo.

Semenya, the double Olympic and three-time world champion, is unable to defend her 800m title unless she takes medication to lower her naturally-occurring high levels of testosterone.

With rules preventing her racing internationally at distances from 400m to the mile, Semenya last year announced her intention to try and compete over 200m - a distance for which she would not need to take any medication - at the Tokyo Games. She only managed a time of 23.81 seconds, ranking her just 165th in the world for 2020 despite many leading athletes skipping the year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Her other option is to go up to 5,000m, and she claimed the South African title over that distance on Thursday before revealing she has given up on the shorter sprint.

“We had to look into whether we can do 200 (metres) for the next five years. It was not really in our favour,” said the 30-year-old South African.

“I’m getting old‚ I’m scared to tear my muscles. We had to sit down and make sure that the decision that we make makes sense. Distance makes sense.”

Semenya’s 5,000m winning time in Pretoria was 15:52.28, well outside the Olympic automatic qualification mark of 15:10.00, although the altitude generally adds time to performances.

“We’re happy with what we’re doing‚ we’re having fun. At training each and every day we don’t stress‚" she said, adding she hoped to compete in Europe this summer, but also in a sea-level event in South Africa that could help her qualify.

“Now is all about having fun. We’ve achieved everything that we wanted‚ all the major titles‚ inspiring the youth.

“Maybe if the guys from Durban can do something there somewhere in May. Maybe we try to go and attempt the time. It’s never too late.

“But if not‚ it’s not the end of the world. For me it’s not about being at the Olympics‚ it’s being healthy and running good times and being in the field for the longest.”

Semenya is also awaiting news on her application to the European Court of Human Rights in a final bid to overturn the World Athletics rules preventing her from defending her 800m title.

Last year she saw her appeal to Switzerland’s supreme court dismissed against a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in 2019 that upheld the rules for female runners with differences of sexual development.

Even if the court disagrees with both the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Switzerland’s supreme court by ruling that World Athletics’ regulations should be overturned, it seems highly unlikely such a decision would be made before the Tokyo Games begin in July.

'This looks like the end of the road for Semenya's Tokyo dreams'

Unfortunately for Semenya, she appears almost at the end of the road in her battle to compete at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics.

There is no disputing she is one of the greatest 800m runners the world has ever seen, but controversial rules are almost certain to rob her of the chance to complete an Olympic hat-trick in her preferred event.

Her natural inclination was to move to another event that did not require her to take testosterone-lowering medication, but that is easier said than done. While borderline unbeatable over middle distances due to her high cruising speed, she does not possess the quickfire power required to be competitive over 200m, nor the stamina for 5000m.

For reference, her personal bests over those distances would have ranked her 26th and 20th respectively in Britain in 2019. Yet she would have been ranked No 1 over 400m and 800m, and No 2 behind Laura Muir over 1500m.

Maybe she can knock off the required time to secure her spot in Tokyo over 5000m in the next month or so, although she would almost certainly not make it through the heats in Japan even if she did.

Would she be content to do that, perhaps feeling she has proven a point to athletics’ governing body? Or would it be too sad a way for one of the sport’s greats to bow out of an Olympic Games?