Caster Shares Medal with South Africa – “Here is OUR medal WE made it!”

It’s been a huge day for Caster Mokgadi Semenya, winner of not only the 800m Women’s race in Rio last night… but also of the hearts of the people of South Africa.

The SA athlete was so popular on social media that “Happy #SemenyaSunday” became one of the highest trending hashtags on Twitter as South Africans around the world celebrated her Gold medal and her victory over the “Haters” (who are unhappy with her high levels of testosterone).

As Professor Jonathan Jansen said: “Dear Caster, you are the only Olympian who had to run two races. One against world-class opposition, and another against world-wide prejudice. You beat them both and we South Africans are enormously PROUD of you. Well done, Champ.”

Caster herself posted a message on Facebook for all South Africans… a message that has been shared thousands of times and liked over 64k times:

“I wish that i was able to express the way I feel right now,” she wrote. “I can’t find the right words to express my feelings.

“Thank you everyone for supporting me throughout the championship, for showing me love and for believing in me .

“To my fellow South Africans Here is OUR medal WE made it!

“#UnlimitedCobra #TeamSArise #TeamCobra”

Message from Caster Semenya to South Africa:

Lynsey Sharp…

Great Britain’s Lynsey Sharp, who came 6th in the race, also found her name trending after a post-race interview she gave went viral. Visibly upset, Sharp told BBC Sport that the inclusion of hyperandrogenic/intersex athletes “is out of our control and how much we rely on people at the top sorting it out. The public can see how difficult it is with the change of rule but all we can do is give it our best.”

What Lynsey Sharp said:

Lynsey’s tweet after social media reacted with outrage:

At the post-race press conference last night, 25-year-old Caster Semenya wowed the world with her own comment:

“It’s all about loving one another. It’s not about discriminating people. It’s not about looking at people [and] how they look, how they speak, how they run. You know, it’s not about being muscular. It’s about sports. When you walk out of your apartment, you think about performing. You don’t think about how your opponents look. You just want to do better. I think the advice to everybody is to go out and have fun.”