2016 Rio Olympics
Semenya breezes into 800m semis─── MORGAN PIEK 08:34 Thu, 18 Aug 2016
The South African middle distance star, Caster Semenya, got her 2016 Olympic campaign off to a flying start with a reasonably comfortable win during the women’s 800m heats.
Semenya is widely tipped to clinch gold for team South Africa on Sunday and she breezed through her heat to win in a time of 1:59.31 to advance to the semi-finals.
The American, Ajee Wilson, ran in second in a time of 1:59.44 as she too advances to the semis out of their heat.
The South African’s time was the sixth fastest overall, but it was the Canadian, Melissa Bishop, who clocked the fastest time in 1 minute 58.38 seconds.
The 2012 silver medallist in London, Semenya, has a personal best of 1:55.33, and many of the pundits believe that not only will she win gold, but she will also break the 33-year-old world record of 1:53.23 set by Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983.
The women’s 800m semi-finals will take place at 2:30 tomorrow morning.
Morgan Piek/OFM News
