Submitted by Yardbroom
At the Athletics World Championship in Berlin last week, a shy black 18 year old female athlete from South Africa, won the womens 800m – setting the fastest time in the world this year. The win was no surprise to those who had followed the early rounds of the 800 metres. The teenager from a tiny village in Limpopo province has shown her talent but the world’s media, at first surprised at her times, decided to take a closer look and then events became uncomfortable for Caster Semenya.
Only hours before the race, it was announced that the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) had instigated gender testing for Caster Semenya. South Africans were appalled, it was insensitive nd humiliating to the young athlete, did they have to go public, the charges and accusations came thick and fast, not only from South Africa.
Was this course of action within the rules of the IAAF ? Yes it was. The IAAF ceased gender screening for all athletes in 1992 but retains the option of assessing the gender of a participant should suspicions arise – Wikipedia. Suspicions had arisen, it was therefore within their remit to order a gender test.
There was not the usual post-race interview for Semenya, she was bundled away by the South African authorities. The waiting media were denied the opportunity of hearing her reputed deep masculine voice or a closer inspection of a blush of facial hair.
On her return to South Africa there was no attempt to hide her away. She was among friends. The airport was crowded to welcome home South Africa’s “golden girl”. Political opportunists were quick on the scene, they never let a crisis go to waste.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s ex wife was there to call her “my grandchild,” she elaborated “we are here to tell the whole world how proud we are of our little girl, they can write what they like we are proud of her”. South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma was even more robust he said” They’re not going to remove the gold medal. She won it. So the question does not arise.”
Leonard Chuene the head of Athletics South Africa who had resigned his seat on the IAAF over the Semeya issue broadened the situation…”We are not going to allow Europeans to describe and defeat our children.” Julius Malema – who heads the ANC (African National Congress) Youth League decided to go the racist route ” Calls for Semenya to be tested he said “were made solely because she was black and had surpassed her European competitors”.
With the tone now set in stone, preliminary tests indicated her – Semenya’s- testosterone levels were three times higher than ordinarily present in a woman”. However, tests have not been “completed” they are expected to take weeks.
Is there any valid reason for the IAAF’s gender screening? What is the history of gender screening?
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In 1936 after the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Avery Brundage of the United States Olympic Committee said a system should be established to examine female athletes. There was concern at the time about *”hemaphrodites” and Brundage felt there was a need to clarify “sex ambiguities”. He had seen the performance of Czechoslovak runner and jumper Zdenka Konbkova and English shot putter and javelin thrower Mary Edith Louise Weston.” Both individuals later had sex change surgery and legally changed their names to Zdenek Koubek and Mark Weston.”
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“There was also the case of Stanislawa Walasiewicz – perhaps the earliest – ” who won a gold medal in the women’s 100m at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, but who after death in 1980 was discovered to have had partially developed male genitalia. However, the presence of genitalia is not regarded as absolute evidence of a persons sex.”
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“The Polish athlete Ewa Klobukowska who won the gold medal in the women’s 4x100m relay in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo failed a gender test in 1967. She was found to have a rare genetic condition which gave her no advantage over other athletes but was nonetheless banned from competing at the Olympics and Professional Sports. Also there was Indian middle distance runner Santhi Soundarajan who won the silver medal in the 800m at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar she failed the sex verification test and was stripped of her medal”.
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“Sex verification has long been criticized by geneticists, endocrinologists, and others in the medical community. One major problem was unfairly excluding women who had a birth defect involving gonards and external genitalia (i,e., male pseudohermagph roditism)”
The case of Caster Semenya has a world wide audience, an 18 year old girl from a small village in Limpopo province, South Africa, set off to run at the World Athletic Championships in Berlin 2009. Little did she know how close an examination there would be, not only of her running but of herself Racism, “perhaps” a European perspective of what males and females should look like, have all been thrown into the mix.
Behind it all is a young Black African girl waiting for results, which will determine how the world sees her. We wait for results which will be over for us in a flash, then yesterday’s news, but for Caster Semenya they will be with her for the rest of her life.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.