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POWERFUL: South Africa's Caster Semenya and Russia's Elena Arzhakova compete during their 800m final race. Photo: Getty Images

PROUD: Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula

 She is a courageous young girl. If I were in her shoes I would never have coped. We must celebrate her victory. Winning silver is not easy, it takes plenty of sweat and blood 

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Yesterday he lashed out at people making allegations that Semenya had deliberately opted not to go for the gold medal to avoid the public and media spotlight she was put under after winning the world title three years ago at the world championships in Berlin, which was followed by questions over the athlete's gender.

"That is just beerhall talk. There is no such thing! The whole team has done an excellent job. For a young girl like Caster to achieve what she did under so much pressure whereby people judge who she is, is enormous - it is a victory to her human dignity," said Mbalula.

Semenya was beaten to the finish line by Russian Mariya Savinova by more than a second, but managed to edge ahead of another Russian, Ekaterina Poistogova.

"She is a courageous young girl. If I were in her shoes I would never have coped. We must celebrate her victory. Winning silver is not easy, it takes plenty of sweat and blood," said Mbalula.

The minister heaped praise on the SA Olympic team, which returns from the London Games today.

Despite the team not reaching their target of 12 medals, Mbalula expressed his satisfaction with the results - six medals (three gold, two silver and one bronze) - and described SA's performance in London as "our most successful".

"Though in quantitative terms we did not achieve the 12-medal target set by Sascoc, the three gold medals achieved by our athletes is a resounding success in qualitative terms and we should embrace them, treasure them and cherish them," he said.

With the London Games now over, focus for athletes and administrators now shifts to the four-year journey to the next Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mbalula stressed the importance of investing in developing athletes.

He also said that "squabbles" within athletics have resulted in South African athletes not reaching their full potential.

"We must celebrate this victory and continue to raise our qualification bar for all our sporting people in order to make them more competitive in the upcoming international sports tournaments, including Rio 2016," said Mbalula.

Comments

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Fri May 24 10:44:23 SAST 2013 ::

Aug 14, 2012

DJWinner

Well, she did it on purpose, I agree. Caster never run at the back, she let that woman win as to avoid people calling her a guy.

Did she went for butts implants or what? How come that a$$ grown so big so quick?
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Aug 14, 2012

Slider

@ DJWINNER ur comment is equivalent as to say "NO COMMENT". Next time tsay something informative and constructive plz "DJ".

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Aug 14, 2012

DJWinner

Slider
@ DJWINNER ur comment is equivalent as to say "NO COMMENT". Next time tsay something informative and constructive plz "DJ".
...............................................................................................
Well, just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean that it is a no comment.
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Aug 14, 2012

Makenzofela

DJWinner
Well, she did it on purpose, I agree. Caster never run at the back, she let that woman win as to avoid people calling her a guy.

_ I tend to agree with you, if that is the case she really needs help, I actually never looked at it this way.. perhaps she did it because she knows what confrontation and abuse comes with a win from her side... I also would not want to win when I know I am going to be mocked, internationally...


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Aug 14, 2012

Shredder

Mr Mbalula, please we really need radical development in sports. Schools are where to target that talent. More and more competitions are needed to spot talent before throwing R1b where you don't know where it will be going. Let that R1b go to the talent that we have spotted in the country.

Well done to our Olympic team (including Coolboy Ngamole :-D), you did very well.
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Aug 14, 2012

nnawee

Caster o boletse during the week ka fitness ya gagwe gore ga e sharp so, lena i dont know gore le bolela ka eng. le bolela patse fela mola le palelwa ke tsa lena.
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Aug 14, 2012

nnawee

@DJ Winner ge o sa tsebe gore o bolele ka eng o thole, cos Caster o dira something in her life stop being negative thats the reason why batho ba sa phomelele.
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Aug 14, 2012

Tespi

Hi Bo. struck a nerve I see, sorry guys, just trying to take over where my home boy left off, (Khorombi)
His comments also cracked me up, so lighten up, and yes having a whomb abd kids does make 1 a woman.
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Aug 14, 2012

TheTrueWord

@Minister... Countries which do well in sports and the Olympics like China, Russia, USA, et. al. they start assemebling their Olympic Teams a day after the closing ceremony preceding the next Olympic games- meaning that by now all sporting codes should already have assembled their teams and prepare for Rio already.

And instead of inviting Beyonce for the sports award, why not invite folks like Phelps and Bolt who will bring some value add in our sports? Just suggestin'
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Aug 15, 2012

Kinggeezo

Guys this has nothing to do with Caster's gender, my opinion is that if one hears of the final that she ran over the news obviously one has to be exited, but if one watches the race it's a totaly different story. We all had high hopes for her in terms of competing (winning would always be a bonus) and I feel she didn't compete, for what reason? I don't know.
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