Growing up as a child, Olympic champion Caster Semenya at some stage had to walk into a changing room naked just to prove that she was a girl as her teammates struggled to compete with her.
Speaking at the Standard Bank Top Women Conference held at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park on the East Rand, Semenya said her humble beginnings made her the tough woman she has become. She said she grew up around boys and had to walk seven miles every single day - the reason she is fast.
“I was always in the bush [training]. Bullies for me never existed because how I responded to them was way rough. I was one of those young [ladies] that had no fear. I had goals. I knew that everything I touched would turn to gold,†she said.
With a mother who played netball and a father who was a soccer player, being in sport was a foregone conclusion. Semenya started playing soccer at the age of four and she was described as a “diski queenâ€.
“My dad thought I was going to be with Banyana Banyana but I disappointed him because I had to sell my soccer boots for spikes instead. He was quite surprised. Running is my destiny. When I’m on track, I forget about everything,†she said.