Caster Semenya finally revealed her hand by running her best time this year in the 800 meters women’s semi-final. Semenya kept her form under wraps throughout her preparations for the Olympic final. The South African sensation did not want to give her race plan away but last night Semenya showed a glimpse of her brilliance by qualifying in a season’s best for the 800 meters final. She overtook Kenya’s defending Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo to finish in a time of one minute 57.67seconds. “It’s very important for me to get back onto the podium you know for every athlete it’s important to get gold, silver or bronze,” she said. But it was Kenya’s David Rudisha that provided the excitement of the evening by setting a new world record in the men’s 800 meters. The crowd was treated to one of the greatest Olympic victories. Rudisha stormed past his rivals from the onset to take gold and set a new world record of one-minute 40.91 seconds. Hot on his heals was Botswana’s Nijel Amos, the teenager put on a brave performance to claim silver, the first medal for his country at these games. Amos says: “When I left the house they sent me a message to bring them a medal and that is what I did. I brought it home.”
“I came out here to become a legend, so I have done that, I have solidified that”
Usain Bolt did what he does best in the 200 meters winning in a time of 19.32 seconds. Bolt has become the first man ever to win the 100m and 200m gold medals at consecutive Olympic games. “I came out here to become a legend, so I have done that, I have solidified that,” says Bolt. South Africa’s Anaso Jobodwana finished last in the 200m race that clearly belonged to the Jamaicans with a clean sweep of the medals. In other SA medal hopes, Sunette Viljoen finished fourth in the women’s javelin final – just missing out on the medals. Willem Coertzen finished ninth overall in the men’s decathlon with 8173 points, 696 behind American winner Ashton Eaton.
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