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Caster: Wise move to ditch 400m

Sao Paulo - In the build-up to the Rio Olympics, Caster Semenya said she would run both the 400m and the 800m in Rio. 

That did not materialise as she pulled out of the shorter event to focus on her specialty - a decision that looks to have been the right one after she exploded to life in the final 200m of Saturday night's (Sunday morning, SA time) 800m final to win gold for South Africa.

Semenya is just 25-years-old, and she will still be in prime condition when the Tokyo Olympics comes around in 2020.

And the really good news is that the new Olympic champion is keen on making the 400m a part of her schedule.

"I'm still young and I think that going forward the 400m is something that would favour me," she said after dominating her final at the Olympic Stadium.

"I think it was a wise decision (to pull out of the 400m) because the heat was just crazy."

Semenya is not always the most popular figure among her competitors because she remains the centre of a debate surrounding testosterone levels in female athletes and a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision taken in July 2015 that put a stop to testosterone regulation in female athletes, but she was the most humble of winners on Saturday.

"It was just fantastic to run with great athletes like these," she said.

"The field was very good and I'd just like to congratulate everybody who has been in this competition, even those who were in the semis our out in the first round.

"The race was a little bit quick ... the first 400m.

"It was just about being patient and doing what we do best.

"We know we are quicker in the last 200m."

Lloyd Burnard is Sport24's correspondent in Brazil for the duration of the 2016 Olympics ...

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