The Race to Be Myself

A Memoir

By: Caster Semenya

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Hardcover | 31 October 2023

At a Glance

Hardcover
320 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.11 x 14.99 x 3.05

Hardcover

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Caster Semenya is one of the greatest athletes ever to run the 800 meter. Semenya went undefeated for almost four years, winning two Olympic gold medals and three World Athletics Championships, and set and broke numerous records.

However, her life and career were devastated by accusations that Semenya--who was born with naturally elevated levels of testosterone--was not a woman, and should not compete against other women. Required by the International Association of Athletics Federations to take hormone-altering drugs as a condition of competing in certain events, Semenya for years suffered side effects that she describes as devastating to her health. Her predicament surfaced a still-raging firestorm over our understanding of gender and, of how gender plays out in sports, as well as our expectations of female athletes.

The Race to be Myself tells the coming-of-age story of an iconic athlete--of Semenya's dramatic journey from a gifted and self-trained novice to the pinnacle of her sport--and takes readers behind the scenes of her inspiring battle to run in the "body that God gave me."

Industry Reviews

"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 with our actions every day. An essential read." -- Trevor Noah
"The Race to Be Myself is Semenya's unburdening about that time, when she became a figure onto which the world projected all of its opinions about gender in sports... Semenya breaks her long silence, calling out her critics and asserting her right to be celebrated for her natural gifts, as other athletes are, rather than punished for them." -- Jenn A. Miller - New York Times Book Review
"Revelatory." -- New York Times
"[A]ffecting... This chronicle of supreme resilience will resonate even with non-sports fans." -- Publishers Weekly
"Told with candor, Semenya's story reminds readers to treat all humans with dignity and that being different does not mean being wrong." -- Booklist (starred review)
"A furiously proud memoir.... Moving, inspiring testimony by a woman facing hardship merely "because of a biological condition I was born with."" -- Kirkus Reviews
"A gripping, provocative book." -- Library Journal (starred review)

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