IAAF asks for gender test on runner Semenya

[MR_BIGGS]

BERLIN (AP) - The IAAF has asked the South African athletics federation to conduct a gender verification test on 800-meter runner Caster Semenya amid concerns she does not meet the requirements to compete as a woman.


Caster Semenya. (Anja Niedringhaus / Associated Press)
The 18-year-old Semenya won the 800 final on Wednesday at the world championships in a world leading 1 minute, 55.45 seconds, beating defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei by a massive 2.45 seconds. Jennifer Meadows of Britain took bronze.

Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo was eliminated in qualifying.

The IAAF requested the gender test about three weeks ago, after Semenya burst onto the scene by slicing her personal bests in the 800 and 1,500 by huge margins.

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies stressed that "it's a medical issue, not an issue of cheating."

He said the "extremely complex, difficult" test has been started but that the results were not expected for weeks.

The verification test requires a physical medical evaluation, and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender.

"So we're talking about reports that are very long, very time consuming," Davies said.

South Africa team manager Phiwe Mlangeni-Tsholetsane would not confirm or deny that Semenya was having a gender test, but said "there was no cheating on our part."

"We entered Caster as a woman and we want to keep it that way," Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said. "Our conscience is clear in terms of Caster. We have no reservations at all about that."

Although medals will be awarded for the 800, the race remains under a cloud until the investigation is closed, and Semenya could be stripped of the gold depending on the test results, IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss said.

"If at the end of the investigation it is proven that the athlete is not female, we will withdraw the medal," Weiss said. "But today there is no proof and the benefit of doubt must always be in favor of the athlete."

Semenya qualified for Wednesday's final with a top time of 1 minute, 58.64 seconds, and posted the world's top time this year of 1:56.72 three weeks ago at the African junior championships in Bambous, Mauritius.

[skyxx]

WTF? I don't get this....how hard is it to verify if she's a woman....

[MR_BIGGS]

Dude looks like a lady

heres the link to the story:
http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story...enya?GT1=39002

[skyxx]

I mean like, can't you tell her to do a body inspection WTF!...LOl

[q0192837465]

just cuz she broke record by a huge margin doesnt mean she's a man. I dun get it, how hard is it to verify gender? Just take off her pants & there, it's done. They'r afraid "she" is a tranny?

[ilvtofu]

She should rename herself ilvtofu, and the estrogen will start building up

^
I read a how stuff works article about that, with all the sexual realignment surgery these days its not that simple. sorta like Mr. Man

[Vansterdam]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qRTu5I2loY&feature=fvst

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by MR_BIGGS

The verification test requires a physical medical evaluation, and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender.

Wow they need to do all that just to ensure she's a female?

[PiuYi]

what a slap in the face if shes actually a natural born woman

[Sid Vicious]

while they're at it, might as well give "her" a sex test too

[124Y]

whoah...^ her ass is like...OUT THERE!

[Mercy]

Not sure when 1940's 1950's there was a polish 100 meter women sprinter that dominated the scene, later it was found it she/he/it had a sex change to become a women. Not sure if it was found in an autopsy or how, just remember reading about it.

[truth]

SEMENya

[InvisibleSoul]

I think it's a little more complex than seeing whether there's a penis down there or not.

I think it's about whether the genes are XY or XX.

So they're checking the possibility that even though Semenya has no male reproductive parts, whether she has the genes of a male.

[InvisibleSoul]

Originally Posted by Sid Vicious

while they're at it, might as well give "her" a sex test too

Hey, don't disrespect one of Canada's best track and field athletes.

[Manic!]

They had too do the same thing with female German weightlifters when athletes first started using steroids.

[J____]

they're pretty much saying men > women then. I dont see feminists fight for this :/

[MG1]

That, is ............. uh.......... was, a he. Then got sex change. Now they want to make sure he is more of a she than a he.

What some athletes will do, huh?

If you can't win as a man, Kutsyournutsoff (sounds Russian) and become a woman and compete with them instead.

Unless the athlete is androgenous <sp?>......... ever see that movie Pat?

[MG1]

Originally Posted by Sid Vicious

while they're at it, might as well give "her" a sex test too

Holy Jeebus........ if she was on top, she'd squeeze so hard you'd pass out from lack of circulation.

Skinny Chinese would break like twig.

[StylinRed]

i can understand most of the tests they're going to do.... but why a psychological test???

oO

even if she was born a lady thats not the issue... which is ridiculous

[goo3]

Originally Posted by J____

they're pretty much saying men > women then. I dont see feminists fight for this :/

feminists don't play sports.

[MR_BIGGS]

feminism is a sport..and they've been a losing franchise for centuries.

[Manic!]

check out this story:
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-7-2006-104774.asp

Canadian Women’s Downhill Biking Champ Used To Be a Man

It was the second place winner who created all the fuss.

Getting beat doesn’t bring out the best in people, so when downhiller Michelle Dumaresq beat Danika Schroeter by a second, Schroeter went for a change of clothes. She then appeared on the winner’s podium wearing a t-shirt that read, "100% Pure Woman Champ 2006."

The problem Schroeter has with Dumaresq is that while Schroeter was born a woman, Dumaresq was born male. In the late 1990s, Dumaresq underwent a sex change. She was not a competitive biker at that point, but she had been riding bikes for years. It was not until her sex change that she started competing and doing so in the women’s category.

While she now produces lower levels of testosterone since her sex change, some female contenders say that even though she lost more than 30 pounds since her operation, she still possesses a significant weight and muscle advantage that gives her an unfair competitive advantage, some riders have told the Vancouver Sun. Dumaresq stands tall at 6’1" and weighs in at 180 pounds.

Once she started racing, she was an overnight success.

Schroeter has now been banned by the Canadian Cycling Association from the sport for three months. As one of the top five female bikers in the downhill competition, she will miss the World Championships in New Zealand in late August of this year.

Schroeter has apologized for wearing the shirt and her boyfriend, John Starcevic, who created the shirt and put it on his girlfriend "before she knew what she was wearing," Starcevic told the Sun.

Though Dumaresq has never been charged with using any kind of steroid, this brings a new wrinkle into the discussion of what should and shouldn’t be allowed in competitive sports. Dumaresq is now fully a woman, she protests, and the public generally accepts the story and her motives behind the sex change. What remains, however, is years of training muscle as a man, years of having testosterone refine the muscular structure and possessing a body structure that has only had three of her 30 years to adjust to the introduction of progesterone and estrogen.

Simply put, one Canadian blogger says, she’s reaping years of what could be considered steroid training much like the Eastern European Olympians who were for so long chemically altered.

"A coach I know made an analogy between Ms. Dumaresq and an athlete who dopes illegally for years, then cleans up their act: even though they are clean now, they still have an advantage from the years of "super-training" they were able to do," blogger Ryan Cousineau noted.

"In the simplest example, steroids are generally described as ‘recovery’ drugs. The big advantage is not that they somehow make you stronger, but that they speed up your ability to respond to (and bounce back from) hard training efforts: the result is you can train harder and more often with more effectiveness. Using an advantage like that allows a cheating athlete to build up base fitness that remains long after becoming ‘drug-free.’"

[RRxtar]

the way that Caster Semenya article was written makes it sound like everyone knows shes mostly a dude, they just want to see exactly how much dude she is. even the way the south african team manager's quote goes it sounds like hes saying "ya we know shes a he, but we are hoping hes enough of a she to pass as a she."

its not good enough just checking for dangly bits anymore

[shenmecar]

thats why im not an athlete, if you win, you get questioned and if you lose, you get shamed for. Stressful life as an athlete.