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Rio de Janeiro • It was predicted. That didn't make it any less impressive, or any less contentious.

Caster Semenya won the Olympic title in the 800 meters Saturday with no one close to challenging her, a result that will only stoke the complex debate over whether women with much higher levels of testosterone than normal should be allowed to compete unchecked.

Semenya of South Africa won her first Olympic gold in a personal-best of 1 minute, 55.28 seconds, a national record and one of the top 20 times ever in the two-lap race.

"It was just a fantastic race," she said.

Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba took silver over a second behind the dominant Semenya, with Kenya's Margaret Wambui collecting the bronze for an all-African podium. Wambui also ran a personal best.

In her style, Semenya sat back behind leader Niyonsaba until the final 150 meters, then unleashed a powerful burst from out of the curve to pull away down the straightaway, leaving her competitors trailing and fighting for silver.

Such is Semenya's dominance this year — she ran her previous personal best last month — it was exactly how everyone thought it would go.

"The coach told me to be patient, wait for the right moment," Semenya said. "Obviously we know we're quicker the last 200. We just have to utilize it."

Since her arrival in track and field in 2009, when she won the world title as an 18-year-old newcomer, Semenya has been the unwilling face of one of the most complicated and sensitive debates for the sport. Do women who have much higher levels of natural testosterone than normal have an advantage over other women in athletics, and if so, is it unfair?

Semenya's breakthrough world title seven years ago pushed the IAAF to introduce rules limiting testosterone in female athletes. Semenya is believed to be one of several female athletes to compete at the Rio Olympics with very high testosterone — caused by a condition called hyperandrogenism.

But under a legal challenge, the IAAF was forced to drop the testosterone-limiting rules last year. Many believe that left Semenya, and others, free to run again with their very high naturally-occurring testosterone levels unchecked.

Many also believe it left Semenya, an outstanding athlete, unbeatable.

Semenya, who appeared barely out of breath at the finish, popped a South African flag onto her shoulders and took a leisurely jog around the stadium to celebrate her first major title since her world championships gold in 2009 was completely overshadowed by a sex-test scandal. She also produced her trademark celebration: She pulled her arms up and flexed her bicep muscles, then brushed her hands across her shoulders — the way she brushed off her rivals.

In Rio, Semenya ran the fastest time over two laps by any woman anywhere for eight years.

"The race was a little bit quick, the first 400 we were pushing ourselves, it was great," she said. "It was just about being patient and do what you do best."

After silvers at the 2011 world championships and 2012 Olympics, Semenya was such a heavy favorite to win the 800 title in Rio de Janeiro that some of the other women competing in the earlier qualifying races said that they just couldn't keep up with her, and some even suggested a different category for hyperandrogenic women. Others refused to talk about the testosterone issue.

Canada's Melissa Bishop, who finished fourth and broke a national record, told reporters after the final that she would not answer any questions related to testosterone.

"This racing is all going to come down to the last 50 meters, so much opens up down there," Bishop said. "It was to be expected that everybody would be there. I just didn't get there with them."

Semenya didn't come close after all to breaking the 33-year-old world record of Jarmila Kratochvilova — a long-standing mark some predicted was in Semenya's sights — but she was never in any trouble in the race. —

Chased by controversy

Caster Semenya is the Olympic champion nearly seven years to the day after she arrived in track and field and sparked a controversy so complex and so sensitive, the sport is still struggling to deal with it.

Against her wishes, the 25-year-old South African has become the face of the debate over whether women with much higher levels of testosterone than normal should be allowed to compete, unchecked, in top-level athletics. Because of Semenya, the IAAF put rules in place in 2011 to regulate women's testosterone levels, believing that high levels of the hormone gave them an unfair advantage. But the rules were dropped last year after a legal challenge by Indian sprinter Dutee Chand and were not in place at the Olympics.

Semenya and Chand are not the only ones the rules were apparently lifted for. There are also believed to be other female athletes to compete at the Rio Games with a condition called hyperandrogenism, giving them abnormally high levels of naturally-occurring testosterone.

Here's Semenya's story up to now, and an explanation of hyperandrogenism rules:

August, 2009 • Semenya wins the 800-meter world title in Berlin as an 18-year-old newcomer, dominating a field packed full of the world's best runners to triumph by a huge margin — and stunning everyone watching. It was only half the story. Hours before the race, news leaked that the IAAF had conducted unspecified medical tests on the teenager. The tests — likely to verify Semenya's sex and also to measure her testosterone levels — led to her being declared ineligible to compete for 11 months. The IAAF has never commented publicly on the medical details of Semenya's case. It was also later revealed that South Africa's track federation asked Semenya to have medical examinations.

March, 2010 • Suspended — apparently because of her high testosterone levels — and frustrated with being forced to sit on the sidelines, Semenya turns up at a track meet in Stellenbosch, South Africa and demands to be allowed to run. Organizers, respecting the IAAF suspension, didn't let her. In a statement released through her lawyers, she then made clear her feelings:

"I have been subjected to unwarranted and invasive scrutiny of the most intimate and private details of my being," Semenya said. "Some of the occurrences leading up to and immediately following the Berlin World Championships have infringed on not only my rights as an athlete but also my fundamental and human rights."

It was one of few occasions where Semenya has spoken publicly about her situation.

July, 2010 • In a brief, three-sentence statement, the IAAF announces that Semenya is cleared to compete again against other women, nearly a year after her gold at the worlds. The IAAF gave no details, only saying: "The process initiated in 2009 in the case of Caster Semenya (RSA) has now been completed." The "process" the IAAF referred to is believed to be a course of testosterone-suppressing medication to reduce Semenya's hormone levels to within the normal female range. She kept her world championships gold medal and title.

September, 2011 • Semenya, likely while taking the hormone medication, wins silver in the 800 meters at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, behind Russia's Mariya Savinova.

August, 2012 • Semenya, a hero back home, carries South Africa's flag in the opening ceremony at the London Olympics. On the track, she again finishes with silver behind Savinova, the Russian athlete now accused of doping. But the controversy over Semenya is stirred again when a television commentator suggests she may have lost intentionally to avoid the scrutiny that would come with a gold medal. Semenya dismisses the suggestion as nonsense.

2013-15 • In terms of results on the track, it's the toughest period in Semenya's career. Struggling with injury, and going through multiple coaching changes, Semenya slips down the pecking order in the 800. It's also speculated that the hormone medication is having an effect on her performances. In 2014, Semenya's best time was 2 minutes, 2.66 seconds, a huge seven seconds slower than the personal-best of 1:55.45 she ran in that breakthrough race at the 2009 world champs. She didn't even qualify for the final of the 2015 world championships a year ago, finishing last in her semifinal.

July, 2015 • But a month before those 2015 worlds, a decision is made in sport's highest court that has a huge bearing on Semenya's story. The Indian runner Chand opens up about her hyperandrogenism — the only current athlete to do so — and challenges the IAAF on rules that limit women's naturally-occurring testosterone. She won a temporary order, and the IAAF was told to drop the rules regulating testosterone until they can show how much of an advantage it gives to athletes.

July, 2016 • Semenya, back to the dominating form of 2009 and easily the strongest 800 meter runner in the world again, runs a personal-best time of 1:55.33 at the Diamond League meet in Monaco. It's the fastest anywhere in the world for eight years. She goes even faster at the Rio Olympics.

Aug. 20, 2016 • Semenya wins her first Olympic title, with her victory coming two hours after IAAF President Sebastian Coe, who was at the Olympic Stadium, says the international athletics body will go back to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in an attempt to have the testosterone-limiting rules reinstated.