South Africa's Semenya takes 800-meter gold

Thomson Reuters
Rio 2016: The Olympic Boulevard is Rio's party centre
Rio 2016: The Olympic Boulevard is Rio's party centre


RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Caster Semenya of South Africa took the gold medal in the Olympic 800 meters on Saturday in a personal best time of 1:55.28 seconds.

Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba finished in 1:56.49 seconds to claim the silver, her country's second medal in any sport at the Olympics. Kenya's Margaret Wambui took bronze in 1:56.89.

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Semenya has dominated the 800m this season and there had been speculation she could take down Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova's 1983 time of 1:53.28 seconds - the longest standing athletics world record, set in an era when eastern European doping was rife.

After winning the silver medal in London four years ago, the 25-year-old South African has recorded three of the four fastest times in the world this year.

(Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Ed Osmond)

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