On to the most controversial race of the Rio Games. Caster Semenya was totally dominant in the women’s 800m final. She managed two almost even laps (57.7 and 57.6) and just about delivered a negative split. It is not often you see that at this level, which suggests that she could go even faster.
How much she had left at the end is clear when you compare her start and finish. She went with the pace of the others in the opening 200m but then blitzed the last 200m. There was only a 0.7 decline between her first and last 200m. The next closest athlete, the fast-finishing Joanna Jozwik (who had a more conservative start), had a 1.5 second difference. Semenya’s last 100m was also massively superior: hitting 14.0 seconds, with Jozwik again next in line with 14.7. Semenya is simply unbeatable.