Semenya set to end 5-year world championship absence in Eugene
Updated | By AFP
South Africa's double Olympic 800 metres champion Caster Semenya looks set to make her first appearance at a World Championships in five years in the 5,000 metres after being named in the list of registered athletes by World Athletics on Saturday.
![Caster-Semenya-AFP](https://turntable.kagiso.io/images/000_18Q2E2.width-800.jpg)
Semenya initially missed qualification when she only finished sixth at the African Championships last month but has benefitted from a number of athletes dropping out.
The World Championships run from July 15-24 in Eugene, Oregon.
The 31-year-old last competed at a world championships in London in 2017 where she won her third 800m world crown.
A year later she won double gold in the 800m and 1500m at the Commonwealth Games which is the last time she represented South Africa in a global international competition.
Semenya was forced to switch from her favoured distance to the longer event due to gender eligibility rules that required her to take testosterone-reducing drugs to compete in races between 400m to a mile.
World Athletics bar women athletes with high testosterone levels from competing in shorter races because the governing body says the hormone increases muscle mass and oxygen uptake.
Semenya, who became a world champion at 18 years of age in Berlin in 2009, has made several unsuccessful legal attempts to overturn the ruling.
In a bid to compete at the Tokyo Olympics, she even dropped down to the 200m, but was unsuccessful in her attempts to qualify.
READ ALSO:
![Listen to more news from Jacaranda](https://turntable.kagiso.io/images/Listen_to_more_news_Jac1.original.png)
Show's Stories
-
LISTEN: Karen Zoid reveals whether Afrikaners are still 'plesierig'
Karen Zoid is a legendary South African performer and a household name.
The Drive with Rob & Roz 12 hours ago -
LISTEN: Recipe for the official Drive mocktail!
This is what the Drive with Rob and Roz team taste like!
The Drive with Rob & Roz 14 hours ago