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Athlete. Icon. Activist. This is a powerful account of a woman's journey to run free.
Banned from the sport she loved because she was labelled 'different', Olympic and World Champion Caster Semenya is finally ready to share the vivid and blisteringly honest story of how the world came to know her name. Thrust into the spotlight after winning the 2009 World Championships Caster Semenya quickly became the centre of a debate which still continues today about gender in sports, and the right to compete as you are.
Told with blistering candour and captivating speed, The Race To Be Myself is a journey through innocence, ambition, defiance, and acceptance. From her rural beginnings running in the dust, to crushing her opponents on the track. To the falsehoods spread about her name, and the many trials she has been forced to endure publicly and privately. This is Caster's time to set the record straight and share her story of how she became a defiant champion.
Throughout it all Caster has found triumph in her strong will, her community and her family. Caster's story is our story, and testimony to anyone forced to stop doing what they love.
Author: Caster Semenya
Paperback Published 5 November 2024 320 pages
Originally published in hardcover 30 December 2023
"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
"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