25 September,2010 07:48 AM IST | | AFP
Caster Semenya, the women's 800m world champion battling back from a sex-test controversy, will be central to South Africa's medal hopes at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
Caster Semenya
The 19-year-old was added to the South Africa squad in August, one month after the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ended a controversial probe into her gender that saw her side-lined for almost 11 months.
Semenya has impressed since her return, improving steadily over the course of several warm-up competitions leading up to the games.
She broke the 1:59 mark in the women's 800m event on September 7 in Milan, her final race before the October games.
But Michael Seme, Semenya's coach, believes Milan was only a step in the right direction, and that faster times are on the horizon.
"She was not totally trained" (after her lengthy hiatus), Seme said. "We were starting from zero."
"We are trying to make those legs as fast as possible," he said.
