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Semenya targets gold

Cape Town - After qualifying for the London Olympics in the 800m, Caster Semenya plans to run under 1min:57sec in Europe as part of her preparations for the quadrennial sports fiesta, according to a report in the Sowetan website.

Semenya has lined up two meets in Europe to achieve her goal.

The first meet is in Ostrava in the Czech Republic on May 25, where Semenya will come up against Pamela Jelimo, who won gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Semenya will also feature in the Diamond League meet in Rome, Italy, on June 1.

The 21-year-old will use the two competitions to improve her speed in her quest to win gold on her Olympics debut.

"The focus is on the two events in Ostrava and Rome," said Semenya, who qualified for the Olympics in a time of 1:59.60, dipping under the qualifying standard by 0.3 seconds.

"I'm enjoying my life, everything is falling into place. There is no pressure for me going into my first Olympics. I will use the races in Europe to work on my speed.

"I'm working hard with my coach Maria Mutola to make sure I make the country proud by winning a medal in London and my target is gold. The plan is (to dip) below 1:57 during the European circuit. I will run some 400m races as part of speed training."

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