The IAAF put out a tweet congratulating the athlete, but South Africa and the World collectively told them to Voetsak!
Global – We’re not sure if the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) knew what Voetsak meant before Friday, but we’re pretty sure someone in their department has googled it since Caster Semenya’s fantastic win in Doha, and their tweet celebrating her.
It must have been incredibly tough for Semenya to compete in Doha after hearing the unfavourable decision by the IAAF but she took it in her stride and set a new record in the process! The 28-year-old South African dominated the rest of the field to surge to victory in 1:54.98, a meeting record and world-leading time for 2019.
And she set Twitter alight in the process.
People online were all celebrating her win, but it was the responses to the IAAF tweet that made us all chuckle – South Africans really do have the best sense of humour!
The IAAF put out a tweet congratulating the athlete, but the world collectively told them to Voetsak (an informal South African colloquialism meaning go away).
Check out some of the responses below, but for more replies, click here.
Why the uproar against the IAAF?
In April 2018, the IAAF announced new rules that required hyperandrogenous athletes to take medication to lower their testosterone levels, effective beginning in November 2018. Due to the narrow scope of the changes, which apply to only those athletes competing in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m, many people thought the rule change was designed specifically to target Semenya.
On 19 June 2018, Semenya announced that she would legally challenge the “unfair” IAAF rules, and her legal hearing began on 18 February 2019. On 1 May 2019, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected her challenge, paving the way for the new rules to come into effect on 8 May 2019
This decision could end her career if she wishes not to comply with the required hormonal treatments that would reduce her testosterone levels and make her eligible to compete in her favoured categories, being the 400m and 800m.
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