He/She?

Note: Part of this story broke yesterday and I really should've posted it but got caught up staring at Michelle's sexy legs...but moving on...This is a really interesting story to say the least. 18 yr-old, Olymic gold medalist, Caster Semenya of South Africa is facing a gender test by the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) due to concerns on whether 'she' is a man or a woman. Speculation around the reason for the constant push for the test stems from the gold she won in the women's 800 at the world championships yesterday. Well, let me refrain, the speculation of both her sex and the increased push for the gender test supposedly arose from how badly the olympian women were beat in yesterday's world championships. The controversy surrounding her began when she posted a personal best (and world leading) time of 1 minute, 56.72 seconds, an eight second improvement on her time last year, to win gold at the African Junior Championships in Mauritius last month. That time is just 0.51 seconds slower than Kelly Holmes' career best. And then yesterday, she dominated from begining to end and posted a new personal best of 1 minute, 55.45 seconds, and needless to say, was well ahead of the rest. From an 18 yr-old? Likely. From an unknown South African 'girl' that looks like and has the build of a South African guy? Hmmmmm. Oddly enough, this isnt the first time an issue such as this one has surfaced (see Stella Walsh and Sarah Gronert). Semenya's mother, Dorcus Semenya, and grandmother, Maphuthi Sekgala, have gone on record to defend her. Dorcus Semenya stated from her home in the village of Seshego, near Polokwane in South Africa's Limpopo province:

"I am not even worried about that because I know who and what my child is. Mokgadi Caster is a girl and no one can change that. If you go at my home village and ask any of my neighbours, they would tell you that Mokgadi is a girl. They know because they helped raise her. People can say whatever they like but the truth will remain, which is that my child is a girl. I am not concerned about such things."



Sekgala also had a few things to say to the media. "She called me after the heats and told me that they think she's a man. What can I do when they call her a man, when she's really not a man? It is God who made her look that way. (As a yong child) If the teasing hurt her, she kept the hurt to herself and didn't show what she was feeling."

Michael Seme, Semenya's coach, referred to the timing of the media's attention to the issue as 'suspicious.' "I have been working with Caster since January and I can tell you now I have been training a girl, not a boy. It is very upsetting that she has to undergo all this just hours before the most important race of her career. This is psychologically disruptive."

Leonard Chuene, president of ASA (Athletics South Africa) has also vigorously defended the girl. "I will continue to defend the girl, I will continue to do anything, even if I am to be kicked out of Berlin, but I am not going to let that girl be humiliated in the manner that she was humiliated because she has not committed a crime whatsoever. Her crime was to be born the way she is born. I think what they should have done is to protect her until the results are out and then we sit and look at it."

The media circus on this one won't die down right now, but I must complement Semenya on her inner resolve to go out and not only win, but dominate despite the speculation. For the moment, I say celebrate her success and let the scientists working for IAAF take the necessary tests to verify 'her' gender.