Poor Caster Semenya. Even when she wins, she loses.
Semenya will keep her gold medal, but questions about the gender of the South African middle-distance runner won't be answered publicly, even though a gender test has been administered.
Since easily winning the 800-meter IAAF World Championships in Germany earlier this year, Semenya has been subjected to intense scrutiny by world sports authorities, implying the heavily muscled runner is in fact a man competing against women.
As the controversy grew, Semenya became a symbol of equality for Africans who believe she has been unfairly targeted.
The South African Sports Ministry announced this week that the results of gender test given to Semenya will be kept confidential. The decision to keep the results private will likely do little to end the questions, even though she has been allowed to keep her medal.
I understand Semenya's right to privacy, but by not disclosing more information about her gender, the runner will still be subjected to scrutiny.
It's unfair, but until she is willing to disclose more about her gender, her gold medal will remain tarnished.
Comments: (7)
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By: shellfish789 on 11/20/2009 5:18AM
Give her a break....leave HER alone....she has worked hard for he medals......STOP Bothering her!
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By: shellfish789 on 11/20/2009 5:20AM
Correction:
Give her a break....leave HER alone....she has worked hard for HER medals......STOP Bothering her!
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By: dreameagle on 11/20/2009 12:05PM
this is a cut and dry issue;
either the runner is a man or a woman, and competing in public events against other runners totally nulls and voids any right to privacy;
if blood doping tests and enhancement drug tests are publicised, so should gender tests be, because a man running against women is plainly cheating;
this would not be the first case of a man competing against women--the East Germans then the Russians and then the Chinese perfected that many Olympiads ago, although they were never caught;
not stopping this instance will render any event this runner competes in a shema and a travesty;
this runner has two choices--either confirm or deny gender, or don't run;
if women were smart they'd boycott en masse any future race against this runner until the runner confrims publicly, via an arbtrary medical body, confirms gender;
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By: Hansel&Gretel on 11/20/2009 1:34PM
dreameagle she is a hermaphrodite. She has male and female genitalia.
You should have followed the events that occurred after one of your fellow Anglos cried like b*&ch because she dusted their runner's azz.
You had to complain as you Anglos do when an African or black beats ya competively.
Caster did not go into these competitions with the pretense of blowing the female competitors away because she is a Man as you suggest.
She should be allowed to keep her medals. She earned them. Now, any future competitions would be questionable because of her double edge sword.
Got it…
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By: Cookie on 11/23/2009 10:25AM
I agree with you. However, the South AFrican athletics representative who has since been suspended had prior knowledge of her condition and threw her to the wolves, he should have had her back a little more than he did.
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By: Jimmie on 11/21/2009 9:13AM
Semenya is a woman and deserves to compete as one. She has no control of her gender, she was born that way. She is physically a woman and cannot compete against men. There is a certain white European female tennis player that has certain features of a man, but Serena and Venus Williams beat her all the time.
Let her keep her medals and compete.
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By: majii on 11/21/2009 6:44PM
According to the Daily Mail UK, her mom says she's female, and so do the other family members. They'd know in spite of what anyone else says.
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