Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya cruised to victory over 2,000m at the Meeting de Montreuil in Paris – her first race since filing an appeal against the IAAF’s rules on restricting testosterone levels in female runners.
Semenya, 28, finished in five minutes 38.19 seconds, ahead of Ethiopia’s Hawi Feysa and Adanech Anbesa in Paris.
The IAAF ruling means she may have to change from her favoured 800m.
“I am a talented athlete, I am not worried,” she told BBC Sport.
“I can run any event I want. It can be 100m, 200m, the long jump, heptathlon – you name it.”
The South African is appealing to Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court after losing her case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last month.
That new rule would require her to take testosterone-reducing medicine to compete at distances between 800m and a mile or change to another distance.
The double Olympic and three-time world champion added: “Even if I have to withdraw from the 800m, it doesn’t matter no more. I think I have won everything I ever wanted.
“I am not an idiot, why would I take drugs? I am a pure athlete, not a cheat. They should focus on doping not us.”
On Monday, Semenya was named in South Africa’s preliminary squad for the World Championships in Doha later this year to compete at 800m – but her inclusion depends on the outcome of her appeal.
