THE RACE TO BE MYSELF

309pp., colour illus., paperback, Johannesburg, 2023

First published in the USA in 2023.

Memoir by South African professional middle-distance runner Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic Games gold medallist and a three-time World Athletics Championships gold medallist. In 2019, new World Athletics rules came into force preventing athletes like Semenya with certain "disorders of sex development" from participating in events in the female classification, unless they take medication to suppress their naturally high testosterone levels. Semenya has filed a series of legal cases to restore her ability to compete in these events without testosterone suppression, arguing that the World Athletics rules are discriminatory.

"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 through our actions every day." Trevor Noah, author of Born a Crime