To Grace, that photo has a different significance: It showed, she told me, “the moment in the last 10 years that most altered my life.”

“I’m behind her, grimacing to finish,” she added. “I’m about to run 1:58 in the 800 meters, a personal record, to nab the qualifying spot for the Olympic final.” Just a year earlier Grace had been too injured to run. So, for her, that photo is a depiction of her validating an entire athletic career. That’s what we should celebrate, for all the women involved. But that moment is getting exposure now only because of the focus on Semenya, not because of all those women’s accomplishments.

If Semenya ends up being unable to compete in the 800 meters, there is plethora of talent to fill the void. Beyond Grace , there is Ajee Wilson, the American who won the bronze medal at the most recent World Championships. There are also Grace’s teammates on the Bowerman Track Club, Colleen Quigley, Courtney Frerichs and Shelby Houlihan, whose names have been in The Times exactly once and who are aiming to qualify for the Olympics next year , with help from their other teammate Shalane Flanagan. We should care about all of them.

Without Semenya, we wouldn’t be seeing them or talking about them right now.

Of course we can debate Semenya’s testosterone levels, and we should debate how we should define who belongs in women’s sports, if we want to preserve them. (And we do; even Semenya wouldn’t be able to rival men on the global stage.) But those debates alone aren’t going to save women’s sports. Watching them, and investing in them, and being fans of them will. Let’s celebrate these women more often than just when we’re telling Semenya she can’t run with them.