Sports / Other
Caster Semenya lashes out at magazine story claiming she is engaged
19 Mar 2013 at 05:55hrs | Views
SOUTH African track star and former 200m world champion Caster Semenya has lashed out at a magazine story claiming she is engaged to fellow athlete, Violet Raseboya.
The four-page spread in Drum magazine, featuring 18 pictures of the two, quotes unnamed sources who claim that Semenya and Raseboya started dating as far back as 2008.
There are also Facebook posts from Raseboya's profile page used to support the rumour.
But an annoyed Semenya distanced herself from the story, saying: "I've got nothing to do with that story. Go ask Drum magazine because they know much more than I do. I really have nothing to say about that article."
According to Drum, the two have even moved in together and "make life decisions together".
"Violet can't live without Caster. She always wants to know Caster's whereabouts, especially if she's not with her and I have no doubt they love each other," a source is quoted as saying.
In August last year, the article claims, Raseboya responded to a Facebook friend who asked if she was dating Semenya: "We are not dating, ra ratana (we love each other)."
Semenya, 22, and Raseboya, 27, drive similar BMWs with personalised number plates made up of the abbreviation of their names.
There's also a picture taken from Raseboya's Facebook page, where the two are posing with a cake with the word Casvio on it – apparently for Caster and Violet.
The City Press newspaper reported on Sunday that it asked Semenya about the rumoured engagement, as she and Raseboya wear bands on their ring fingers, and she retorted: "Whatever you want me to say about it (the engagement), sorry, you are asking the wrong person."
Semenya was forced to undergo gender tests by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 2009 after her victory in the women's 800m at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
She was sidelined for 11 months while tests were carried out before the IAAF lifted her suspension and cleared her to compete as a woman.
The four-page spread in Drum magazine, featuring 18 pictures of the two, quotes unnamed sources who claim that Semenya and Raseboya started dating as far back as 2008.
There are also Facebook posts from Raseboya's profile page used to support the rumour.
But an annoyed Semenya distanced herself from the story, saying: "I've got nothing to do with that story. Go ask Drum magazine because they know much more than I do. I really have nothing to say about that article."
According to Drum, the two have even moved in together and "make life decisions together".
"Violet can't live without Caster. She always wants to know Caster's whereabouts, especially if she's not with her and I have no doubt they love each other," a source is quoted as saying.
In August last year, the article claims, Raseboya responded to a Facebook friend who asked if she was dating Semenya: "We are not dating, ra ratana (we love each other)."
Semenya, 22, and Raseboya, 27, drive similar BMWs with personalised number plates made up of the abbreviation of their names.
There's also a picture taken from Raseboya's Facebook page, where the two are posing with a cake with the word Casvio on it – apparently for Caster and Violet.
The City Press newspaper reported on Sunday that it asked Semenya about the rumoured engagement, as she and Raseboya wear bands on their ring fingers, and she retorted: "Whatever you want me to say about it (the engagement), sorry, you are asking the wrong person."
Semenya was forced to undergo gender tests by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 2009 after her victory in the women's 800m at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
She was sidelined for 11 months while tests were carried out before the IAAF lifted her suspension and cleared her to compete as a woman.
Source - City Press
