Three-time world 800m champion Caster Semenya is to swop her spikes for soccer boots, after the JVW Football Club on Thursday announced it had signed the track sensation.
Semenya said she was looking forward to the “new journey”, after her first training session with the club on Tuesday evening.
“I am grateful for this opportunity, and I appreciate the love and support I already get from the team,” Semenya said in a statement released by the club.
“I am looking forward to this new journey, and hopefully I can contribute as much as I can to the club.”
The Gauteng-based club owned by Banyana Banyana captain Janine van Wyk revealed that Semenya would be looking for her official soccer debut next year.
“Although the South African champion athlete will not be registered for the 2019 Safa Sasol League due to the transfer window being closed for the 2019 season, she will continue to train with the team in preparation for her 2020 debut,” the club said.
JVW FC is currently lying in second place on the Gauteng Sasol log, two points adrift of leaders Croesus Ladies. The side will be looking to reach the play-offs in the hope of qualifying for the National League.
Semenya’s switch to soccer comes less than a month before the World Athletics Championships, where Semenya was to defend her world 800m title.
Semenya has been barred from competing in her favourite event due to the implementation of the International Association of Athletics Federations controversial female-eligibility rules.
The regulations ban athletes with so-called “differences in sexual development” from competing in events, from the 400m to the 1500m, if they refuse to lower their testosterone
levels.
Semenya enjoyed a brief reprieve following the provisional suspension of the rules, pending the outcome of her appeal before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. But the court overturned the provisional suspension, leaving Semenya’s running career in limbo.
Van Wyk, who recently made a move from JVW, signing with Danish club Fortuna Hjørring, said she was delighted that Semenya had joined her club. “I am honoured that out of all the other women’s clubs around the world, she has chosen JVW.”