Gender testing for track star

[Joe Hillshoist]

STATEMENT ON CASTER SEMENYA

Monte-Carlo - The IAAF has noted statements in recent media articles regarding the athlete Caster Semenya of South Africa.

We would like to emphasise that these should not be considered as official statements by the IAAF.

We can officially confirm that gender verification test results will be examined by a group of medical experts. NO decision on the case will be communicated until the IAAF has had the opportunity to complete this examination. We do not expect to make a final decision on this case before the next meeting of the IAAF Council which takes place in Monaco on November 20-21.

Please note that there will be no further comments from the IAAF on Caster Semenya until that time.

IAAF

http://www.iaaf.org/aboutiaaf/news/newsid=54277.html


Well according to that statement the IAAF claim they have nothing to do with the reports and didn't announce anything.

IAAF has gender test results on runner Semenya but not releasing them yet
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP) – 8 minutes ago

MONACO — The world governing body of track and field has received the results of gender tests on South African runner Caster Semenya but is still reviewing them and will not issue any final decision until November.

The International Association of Athletics Federations did not confirm or deny Australian newspaper reports that the recently crowned women's world 800-metre champion has male and female sexual organs.

"We would like to emphasize that these should not be considered as official statements by the IAAF," the federation said in a statement Friday regarding the reports that first appeared in News Limited and Fairfax newspapers.

The Australian newspaper reported in its Friday edition that medical reports on the 18-year-old Semenya indicate she has no ovaries, but rather has internal male testes, which are producing large amounts of testosterone.

"We can officially confirm that gender verification test results will be examined by a group of medical experts," the IAAF said in a written statement. "No decision on the case will be communicated until the IAAF has had the opportunity to complete this examination. We do not expect to make a final decision on this case before the next meeting of the IAAF Council which takes place in Monaco on Nov. 20-21."

At a news conference in Greece on Friday, IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss, IAAF vice-president Sergei Bubka and other association officials refused to make any comment on the Semenya case and distributed the IAAF's written statement to reporters.

IAAF officials are in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki for this weekend's World Athletics Final.

After dominating her race at the world championships in Berlin last month, Semenya underwent blood and chromosome tests, as well as a gynecological examination.

Earlier, in an e-mail to The Associated Press, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said Thursday he couldn't confirm the Australian news reports.

"I simply haven't seen the results," Davies said. "We have received the results from Germany, but they now need to be examined by a group of experts and we will not be in a position to speak to the athlete about them for at least a few weeks.

"After that, depending on the results, we will meet privately with the athlete to discuss further action."

Semenya's father, Jacob, expressed anger when contacted by the AP on Friday morning, saying people who insinuate his daughter is not a woman "are sick. They are crazy."

He said he had not been told anything by the IAAF, Athletics South Africa or his daughter.

"I know nothing," he said.

Davies said the newspaper's report "should be treated with caution."

The IAAF has said Semenya probably would keep her medal because the case was not related to a doping matter.

"Our legal advice is that, if she proves to have an advantage because of the male hormones, then it will be extremely difficult to strip the medal off her, since she has not cheated," Davies wrote to the AP. "She was naturally made that way, and she was entered in Berlin by her team and accepted by the IAAF. But let's wait and see once we have the final decision."

Leonard Chuene, the president of Athletics South Africa, told the AP that all he has heard from the IAAF is that the test results will be available in November.

"The results are not in the country yet, so we cannot comment on anything," Chuene said.

South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile said he has no doubts about Semenya's gender.

"She's a woman," Stofile said. "She remains our heroine. We must protect her."


Associated Press writer Donna Bryson in Johannesburg and AP sportswriter Howard Fendrich in New York contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hT_STOZUwlaRQy3HV0GMoIJA4KEw

[beeline]

I heard yesterday that it had been revealed she is a hermaphrodite.

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/sports/091109_Girl_Track_Star_A_Hermaphrodite

Medical reports show Semenya has no ovaries, but rather has internal male testes, which are producing large amounts of testosterone.

[erosoplier]

Wait, wait, wait. I must be wrong in understanding this article to be reporting that the IAFF just announced that Caster Semenya was a hermaphrodite to the entire damn world without bothering to share that information with Caster Semenya first. Mustn't I? Because that kind of thing can lead to, you know, suicide. Or murder, depending on the immediate cultural environment. Please tell me I'm wrong, anyone.

Also: WTF kind of waiver do these athletes have to sign? If she had HIV, could they announce that too? I thought they were concerned about drug use.

It's hard to figure out which is more significant in all this - the racism, or the sexism. I can't think of a comparable problem a male might face, but I'd bet money that this leak wouldn't have occurred like it just has if it were a white girl under scrutiny. A white girl from an approved nation, that is. Communist and former communist nations excluded.

I was wondering how the IAAF would be able to avoid flak from this, but the answer of course is for them to deny all knowledge of the leak - and the media will let it slide. And the media won't condemn itself for its atrocious acts, because it was just informing the eager-to-be-informed public A.S.A.P. after all. How can you condemn them for doing that?

But on the other hand, we might see them wringing their hands over this for the next fortnight, trying to decide whose head should roll for the transgression. It's all good copy, after all.

There is an ugly, intolerant, racist streak to Australia that makes it perfectly suited to helping break this particular story - many people here won't see what the fuss is all about.

[Joe Hillshoist]

I dunno how much racism has to do with this, or even sexism (tho the issues that gender testing of female athletes raises are definitely tied up with sexist attitudes.) However other people are pretty sure so...

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/category/sports/

(For example I wasn't actually aware that Mutola had been tested as often as she had.)

The IAAF no longer does gender testing as a matter of course, but only "when suspicions arise".

I put those suspicions down to poor sportswomanship myself, tho undoubtedly its racism and sexism that allows them to carry any weight. IE would anyone have said anything if she(CS) had missed a medal. Also her insane level of improvement, nearly 10 seconds in a few months probably raised a few eyebrows. (Not that that has anything to do with gender, drug use maybe, but then again 18 year olds can have development spurts that improve athletic performance anyway.)

That whole sexiness in sport thing comes into this too.

I've been an athlete on and off for most of my life, and athletes are sexy. At least to the people who follow sports, but combining that with expectations on women about what is acceptable beauty must be a minefield.

http://hoydenabouttown.com/20060908.26/sexualised-sports-uniforms-turning-girls-off-sport/

Do a google search for tamsyn Lewis (Australian 800m runner) and have a look at the images that come up. (Cute blond girl in a bikini mostly, none of cute blonde girl in a race.) This is sposed to be about athletics not a so called babe in a bikini.

To clarify what I am saying ... Although sexism and racism may play a role in the Semenya controversy the real reason is that some people don't like to lose.

In a culture that is inherently racist and sexist those people will use that racism and sexism to their advantage. Maybe if she were white, and pretty or even brown and pretty it wouldn't have happened, but thats not why it happened (and she has a great smile anyway, I wouldn't call her ugly tho plenty of people have). It happened cos some people don't like losing.

[erosoplier]

Well she did turn out to be a hermaphrodite, that was bound to be controversial, but there was no reason she should have found out about it via reporters landing on her doorstep, and I don't think she would have if she were a white Western athlete. Although, I guess there's something about being on the borderline of sex categories like that, which apparently means your rights as a person go out the window.

But, according to a Melbourne Age article i saw this morning, it's not the IAAF or the journalists who have done any wrong, it's the South African sporting officials who insisted that she was all woman and that she be allowed to compete in the first place!

[Joe Hillshoist]

Well she did turn out to be a hermaphrodite, that was bound to be controversial, but there was no reason she should have found out about it via reporters landing on her doorstep, and I don't think she would have if she were a white Western athlete. Although, I guess there's something about being on the borderline of sex categories like that, which apparently means your rights as a person go out the window.

But, according to a Melbourne Age article i saw this morning, it's not the IAAF or the journalists who have done any wrong, it's the South African sporting officials who insisted that she was all woman and that she be allowed to compete in the first place!

I completely agree. Her treatment was appalling, and as far as whether or not shes a hermaphrofite by the standards the IAAF set, well until they officially say so I'm not gonna believe it. Even then, given the notorious unreliability of gender testing.

I dunno if this (the story fairfax broke) is the IAAFs fault as an organisation or someone else's. They were certainly responsible for protecting her wrt the test results, tho whether they deliberately allowed them to be leaked or were just unable to prevent a leak I honestly can't say. Its not the fault of the south African athletic organisation or the athlete themselves, and the jerk journo that broke the story about her (as yet uncormined) test results needs a good kicking.

I'm gonna send media watch an email asking them to bag him for it.

Sports writer Mike Hurst is the man who penned the controversial article.

He maintains the International Association of Athletics Federations’ tests show Semenya has internal testes and no womb or ovaries.

Hurst said he was confident final results on Semenya’s gender would show she had both male and female organs.

He would not be drawn on his sources but said they were people closely involved in the testing process.

“The tests that have been conducted, I have been privy to and I’ve written about them.”

He said publishing details of the report was not easy: “When something gets thrown in your lap like that, you just can’t ignore it and I feel terribly sorry for Caster Semenya.”

Hurst said although the IAAF would not comment on his claims, he felt vindicated.

“They haven’t denied my story and I think that’s crucial.”

Just STFU you wanker, you don't feel sorry for her at all you lying gobshite.

http://www.ewn.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=21799

[mentalgongfu2]

South African officials meet on Semenya case

by The Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG September 12, 2009, 11:41 am ET

South African sports officials met Saturday to decide how best to help a world champion runner whose sex has been questioned — and how to respond to the circus created by alleged leaks from the international track and field body.

The International Association of Athletics Federations, which ordered sex tests on women's world 800-meter champion Caster Semenya, has refused to confirm or deny Australian media reports that the tests show Semenya has both male and female characteristics. The international body says it is reviewing the results and will issue a final decision in November on whether Semenya will be allowed to continue to compete in women's events.

"She is going to be dominating the debate today," Athletics South Africa President Leonard Chuene told The Associated Press.

Chuene said he and other officials would review, among other issues, his decision to withdraw from the IAAF board, which South Africa accuses of mishandling the Semenya case by violating its own rules that such matters be handled privately. Results of the ASA deliberations will be announced Sunday, Chuene said.

ASA-IAAF relations have been severely strained by the Semenya affair, but Chuene said Saturday, "We don't fight them. We just want to deal with the matter."

Chuene said he withdrew from the IAAF board because "you can't sit there, denying and fighting." But he acknowledged a seat on the board might make it easier to defend Semenya's interests.

Chuene noted the IAAF had distanced itself from the reports in the Sydney Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald that have angered everyone from President Jacob Zuma to school children in Semenya's home village in northern South Africa.

Semenya won the 800 in Berlin on Aug. 19 by 2.45 seconds in a world-best this year of 1:55.45. Her dramatic improvement in times, muscular build and deep voice had sparked the speculation about her sex, and the IAAF announced the day of the 800 finals that tests had been ordered.

On Friday, South African Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile called a news conference to expressed his horror at the question of the 18-year-old's sex being debated publicly, and Zuma told reporters the media had exploited Semenya.

In Ga-Masehlong, the village where Semenya was born, and the neighboring village of Fairlie where she went to high school, there was anger and confusion. Villagers wondered aloud whether what they had heard on TV could be true, and about the emotional toll it could take on a teenager to see headlines declaring she had both male and female sex organs.

"Caster is a woman. I don't like having to hear people from outside saying otherwise. Here in our village it doesn't sit well with us," said 18-year-old Mapula Phano, who went to high school with Semenya. "The stuff they have been saying about her could destroy her confidence."

Erina Langa, a neighbor, said she has been impressed by how Semenya has behaved in the last few, difficult weeks.

"She is very, very, very brave," Langa said. "She's like her grandmother, she's a tough lady. Anything that she wants, she can do it. She trusts herself."

Semenya, who is a university student in Pretoria, the capital, dropped out of sight Friday. Her coach, Michael Seme, said she would not take part in a 4,000-meter race at the South African Cross Country Championships in Pretoria on Saturday because she was "not feeling well."

Her younger sister was alone Friday at the family home in Ga-Masehlong, curled up on a verandah that just last month was packed with relatives and friend's celebrating Semenya's victory in Germany. Asked if she wanted to speak, 16-year-old Mkele hid her face in her arms. A neighbor brushed past, saying only: "I'm not happy."

Visitors at the home of her grandmother, Maputhi Sekgala, in nearby Fairlie found the gate padlocked. Neighbors said Sekgala had gone to another village for a funeral.

Sekgala has been among Semenya's most exuberant supporters. She broke into a traditional praise poem at an airport news conference when the champion returned from Germany, and spoke on behalf of the family at an Aug. 28 celebration in Ga-Masehlong.

"It can only be jealousy that makes them say that she is a man," Sekgala was quoted Friday in The Times, a Johannesburg daily, as saying. "I raised her as a young girl and I have no doubt that she is a girl. As the family, we don't care who is saying what ... we will always support her athletic talent."

Semenya's father was angry when contacted by the AP on Friday, saying people who say his daughter is not a woman "are sick, they are crazy. Are they God?"

(This version CORRECTS that Semenya's time in Berlin was a world best this season, not a world record. )

[barracuda]

Caster Semenya may return to track this month after IAAF clearance

Caster Semenya could return to competition as early as the World Junior Championships in Canada this month after the sport's global governing body cleared the 19‑year‑old to run with immediate effect.

The South African said she was delighted with the verdict, after a drawn‑out investigation into her gender which put her career on hold for 11 months. "I am thrilled to enter the global athletics arena once again, and look forward to competing with all the disputes behind me," she said.

The International Association of Athletics Federations confirmed that Semenya, who won gold in the 800m at the World Championships in Berlin last summer, will be eligible to compete against other female athletes. She could target the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October as her first opportunity to win another major senior medal.

"The process initiated in 2009 in the case of Caster Semenya has now been completed," the IAAF said. "The IAAF accepts the conclusion of a panel of medical experts that she can compete with immediate effect. Please note that the medical details of the case remain confidential and the IAAF will make no further comment on the matter."

Speculation as to what that "process" might have entailed has been rife, with unconfirmed reports suggesting that rather than waiting for the results of a gender verification test – as had been claimed by the IAAF – she has been undergoing hormone-based treatment for what is widely accepted to be an intersex condition. As Pierre Weiss, the IAAF general secretary, indiscreetly termed it: "She is a woman but maybe not 100%."

The announcement comes after a number of failed attempts by Semenya's lawyers, Dewey & LeBoeuf, to publicly declare her eligible to run. A press conference was called by South Africa's minister of sport and recreation, Makhenkesi Stofile, in Johannesburg on the eve of the World Cup but was cancelled at the last minute.

Semenya will be anxious to get back on track with her career, having missed 11 months of competition since her suspension last August. Reports from her training camp suggest she is running just under 2min for the 800m, a long way off her astonishing personal best of 1min 55.45sec in Berlin last year.

If Semenya competes at the Commonwealth Games she would be returning to the country where the success – and the controversy – began, for it was at the Youth Commonwealth Games in 2008, also held in India, that she won her first international title in a time of 2min 4.23sec and suspicions over her gender were first aroused. The following year she won the African Junior Championships with the fastest 800m time in the world so far that year – 1min 56.72sec – prompting the beginnings of an IAAF investigation.

News of the investigation leaked ahead of the World Championships last summer, and Semenya was excused from the medal winners' press conference in an attempt to shield her from the world's media. On her return to South Africa, Semenya became a cause célèbre, as public and politicians rallied to protest at the treatment she had received at the hands of the IAAF and the national governing body, Athletics South Africa.

Semenya's lawyers released a statement following the IAAF announcement, in which they underline the importance of preventing such indignity befalling an athlete again. Jeffrey Kessler, the company's global litigation chairman, said: "We are delighted that Caster is finally being permitted to compete with other women, as is her legal and natural right. Hopefully, this resolution will set a precedent so that no female athlete in the future will have to experience the long delays and public scrutiny which Caster has been forced to endure."

[freemason9]

so are hermaphrodites banned from competition, then? is this even legal?

[justdrew]

so are hermaphrodites banned from competition, then? is this even legal?

for these purposes gender is purely a chromosomal affair

[barracuda]

Let Caster Run! We Should Celebrate Semenya’s Extraordinary Talent

800 meter Olympic final tonight.