Caster Semenya will ignore detractors, says coach

Semenya made it three wins from three in Berlin on Sunday

Caster Semenya's coach says the South African athlete is happy to turn her back on negative comments about her.

Semenya, 19, returned to competition in July after 11 months on the sidelines following a series of gender tests.

She made it three wins from three with another 800m win in Berlin on Sunday, finishing in one minute 59.90 seconds.

Semenya finished ahead of Kenya's Cherono Koech and Italian Elisa Cusma Piccione, while Britain's Jemma Simpson came fourth.

While voicing their sympathy for the teenager's situation, Simpson and Diane Cummins of Canada both revealed misgivings about having to compete against Semenya, who rose to prominence with victory in the World Championships in Berlin last August.

Cummins, eighth in Sunday's race, said: "Even if she is a female, she's on the very fringe of the normal athlete female biological composition from what I understand of hormone testing.

We don't even care about the past now, we're just looking forward to new things

Michael Seme
Semenya's coach

"From that perspective, most of us just feel that we are literally running against a man."

Semenya's coach Michael Seme retorted: "It's up to them to say and do what they want to. For us we don't say anything. As long as the organisers of these meetings invite us, there is no problem.

"If these athletes don't want to come and run, it's up to them."

Asked whether there were any concerns from Semenya by what was being said, he responded: "No, no, no. We don't even care about the past now, we're just looking forward to new things and shouldn't be talking about the old ones.

"That is now over and gone."

Semenya's return to the Berlin Olympic Stadium came almost a year to the day she was crowned world champion.

She was subsequently banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after unusually high levels of testosterone were detected in a sample.

After being cleared in July this year, she won her first two races back in low-key meetings in Finland, clocking 2:04.22 and 2:02.41, but improved significantly on Sunday when dipping under two minutes.

Seme said his star pupil would now target something even better at the Commonwealth Games in October.

Semenya has a personal best of 1:55.45, which she ran on her way to victory in Berlin last year.