SOUTH AFRICA: ATHLETICS: President Zuma welcomes athletes home from World Championships

Record ID: 452330

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: ATHLETICS: President Zuma welcomes athletes home from World Championships
  • Date: 26th August 2009
  • Summary: PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (AUGUST 25, 2009) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA AND CASTER SEMENYA ARRIVING TO ADDRESS THE MEDIA WIDE OF THE NEWS CONFERENCE TILT FROM CASTER SEMENYA'S 800 METRES GOLD MEDAL UP TO HER FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA, SAYING: "We wish to register our displeasure in the manner in which Miss Semenya has been treated" TILT FROM MEN'S 800 METRES WINNER MBULAENI MULAUDZ'S GOLD MEDAL UP TO HIS FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA, SAYING: "Miss Semenya has also reminded the world of the importance of the rights to human dignity and privacy which should be enjoyed by all human beings" CASTER WALKING UP TO ADDRESS THE MEDIA CUTAWAY OF THE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) 800M GOLD MEDALLIST, CASTER SEMENYA, SAYING: "It's pretty good to win a gold medal and bring it home, I didn't know I could win...it's for the first time in my life experiencing the World Championships Senior, I couldn't believe it man" PEOPLE LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) 800M GOLD MEDALLIST, CASTER SEMENYA, SAYING: "My coach told me: you can do it man, second round I led from the start to the finish, you will go through to the finals, I did what he said, I called him after I ran the semi-finals, he said you know girl you can do it hey, before the finals he just said to me, you can just hang on there in the race, let them lead. In the last 200 metres, kill them" PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA SHAKING HANDS WITH THE ATHLETES AND POSING FOR A PHOTO
  • Embargoed: 10th September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA1QDK8M8UCP1PDLGZRUXN3WT8R
  • Story Text: South Africa president Jacob Zuma meets World Athletics medallists including Caster Semenya.
    President Jacob Zuma met South African athletes on Tuesday (August 25), including 800m gold medalist Caster Semenya, men's 800m gold medalist Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, and the men's long jump silver medalist Kgotso Mokoena.
    The World champion South African runner Semenya, whose victory has been overshadowed by a gender testing row and the country's athletics team returned home to a heroes welcome on Tuesday.
    Furious South Africans have accused the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) of everything from racism to imperialism for ordering a test after her rapid improvement raised suspicions.
    Semenya, who won the women's world 800 metres title with a crushing performance in Berlin last week, was greeted by thousands at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport.
    But the controversy may have also touched a raw nerve in a country where race is still a highly sensitive issue after decades of apartheid, which ended in 1994.
    Semenya's ordeal turned political just after she landed.
    Julius Malema, firebrand leader of the ruling ANC's militant Youth League, complained that not enough whites turned up at the airport to show their support for Semenya.
    It may be a tense few weeks for Semenya, a calm 18-year-old from a rural village, until results of the gender test that has thrust her under the international spotlight are announced.
    After meeting with Semenya at a presidential guest house in the capital Pretoria, Zuma said she was an inspiration for the country's youth.
    "Miss Semenya has also reminded the world of the importance of the rights to human dignity and privacy which should be enjoyed by all human beings" Zuma said.
    Semenya did not comment publicly on gender. She focused instead on her coach's final words of advice.
    "My coach just said to me, you can just hang on there in the race, let them lead. In the last 200 metres, kill them," said Semenya.
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