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Ultra Literary
Alička Pistek
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THE RACE TO BE MYSELF

Caster Semenya

World champion runner Caster Semenya offers an empowering account of her extraordinary life and career, and her trailblazing battle to compete on her own terms.
Caster Semenya is one of the greatest athletes ever to run the 800 meter. Semenya went undefeated for almost four years, winning two Olympic gold medals and three World Athletics Championships, and set and broke numerous records.

However, her life and career were devastated by accusations that Semenya?who was born with naturally elevated levels of testosterone?was not a woman, and should not compete against other women. Required by the International Association of Athletics Federations to take hormone-altering drugs as a condition of competing in certain events, Semenya for years suffered side effects that she describes as devastating to her health. Her predicament surfaced a still-raging firestorm over our understanding of gender and, of how gender plays out in sports, as well as our expectations of female athletes.

The Race to be Myself tells the coming-of-age story of an iconic athlete?of Semenya's dramatic journey from a gifted and self-trained novice to the pinnacle of her sport?and takes readers behind the scenes of her inspiring battle to run in the "body that God gave me."

Caster Semenya is a professional runner from South Africa. She's a two-time Olympic Games gold medalist and a three-time World Athletics Championships gold medalist. She lives in Pretoria, South Africa.
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Book

Published by W.W. Norton & Co

Book

Published 2023-10-31 by W.W. Norton & Co

Comments

Told with candor, Semenya's story reminds readers to treat all humans with dignity and that being different does not mean being wrong.

UK: Merky/PRH South Africa: Jonathan Ball

This chronicle of supreme resilience will resonate even with non-sports fans.

A furiously proud memoir by "the most recognizable intersex person in the world."

The world is undeserving of Caster's story and she is not obliged to tell it. But, like much of her career, she continues to defy, redefine, and resist being silence. This is her story.

Caster's story isn't just a tale of perseverance and poise, it's a story that makes us all interrogate our humanity and the world we build with our actions every day. An essential read.

This is an inspirational story of courage, of fighting the odds, and of winning change not just for yourself, but for generations to come. Caster's compelling message will resonate far beyond the world of sport.