Sep11200911:50 a.m.
Caster results leaked, what now?
So the results are in and just like Derren Brown with the Lottery it seems many people had predicted the results correctly!
Leaked results say that Caster Semenya’s testosterone levels are 3 times above the normal female level and she is indeed a hermaphrodite with apparently no womb or ovaries.
So why not just release this to the world? Well, the IAAF (International Association of Athletic Federation) have woken up to the fact that they will probably be sued by someone (there is a long queue of Lawyers currently forming in Monaco as we speak!) so now they have to go by the book. The situation is now at a Mexican standoff with two incompetent federations pointing fingers at each other.
IAAF view point:
“The South African’s have known about this for months and failed their athlete by not protecting her.”
Atheltics South Africa:
"Well of course Caster is a totally innocent victim in this whole affair. What could she do about it? And it was the IAAF who accepted her entry.”
Athletics South Africa’s ‘head in the sand’ claim of innocence is out of question in the matter. The association has very little integrity due to the fact that they hire a former East German doctor known for his involvement in doping programmes in the doping-era of athletics. The results below show the dramatic 15 seconds drop in Semenya's performance in one year. A time drop in that magnitude from a western athlete would have been picked up on and the matter would have been confronted before this major embarrassment!
Graph from http://www.sportsscientists.com/
This is the reason for ASA's Performance Manager, Wilfred Daniels, resignation as a result of what he felt was mismanagement of the situation.
Are the IAAF protecting the sport or themselves?
The leaked sex test results come 48 hours after the IAAF released a statement stating the South African would not be stripped of her medal regardless of the results. How?
At the heart of this sporting saga, it has is nothing to do with silly sex jokes or accusations of rascism but, the answer to the following question:
Did Caster Semenya carry an unfair advantage over her fellow female competitors?
Testosterone levels 3 times that of fellow female competitors would suggest yes whether, it be due to a medical condition, an intersex condition or doping. Can Caster Semenya therefore walk away with a gold medal? I know what three other athlete’s opinions are!
"I am interested to hear what your opinion is! (p.s. Remember to answer the new Poll on the left!)"
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Comments (8)
wannabe_tri_star 'I feel a little sorry for her. She seems caught in the middle, er, so to speak. One, she shouldn't have entered herself, and two, Caster should also have not been allowed to ever get this far. The authorities are hugely to blame for this, for letting her compete and for the 'balls' up after. Now she has been humiliated and subjected to people the world judging her - something she will never be able get away from. That said, she has a complete unfair advantage in women's athletics and therefore should lose the medal she gained. Where she will compete in the futrue though, anyone know that one?' added 11th Sep 2009
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flanker2 'Oh for God's sake, leave the poor girl alone! Let her keep her medal. She didn't put any less effort into her training because she thought she was a man! She must have had to work incredibly hard to achieve her dreams and now, just because the authorities screwed up, she may have them shattered?No, No No, leave her with it! Her condition isn't all that uncommon anyway and she clearly hasn't tried to cheat. Poor bitch. She should also still be allowed to compete as a woman, because she hasn't actually been shown to be a man! I bet she still sits down to pee??....' added 11th Sep 2009
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Thomas_Bedford 'Some good points but can I throw in a question for you guys. Is it fair on the females who competed against her who have equally trained incredibly hard to achieve their dreams when she clearly has has an advantage (that is determined illegal by the rules of sport)? Also what would be your opinion if Semenya broke the world record? Should this stand if she can no longer compete as a female? Is the result not void the same way as if an athlete fails a drugs test but had her drink was spiked with drugs? I don't think it is a case that just because she wears a dress means she is female.' added 11th Sep 2009
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flanker2 'I take your point Tom, but sport (in fact life) is very rarely played on a level playing field. That is the very essence of it! Someone would alwats have the advantage. If there were any indication that she had cheated or attempted to deceive, then I would be at the front of the cue to tear her medals off personally! The plain and simple facts so far as we know them are that she was *legally* entered into a competition to which she was perfectly entitled to enter, she was willingly accepted into that competition and she won it! Whatever happens subsequently (unless she is found guilty of cheating) cannot therefore be her responsibility. I think it would be a travesty if she were stripped of a medal she will always believe she won fair and square!................' added 11th Sep 2009
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Thomas_Bedford '"The plain and simple facts so far as we know them are that she was *legally* entered into a competition...". Two points- Im not classing her personally in the same category as a athlete who fails a drug test but the simple facts are that a drug cheat is allowed to legally enter into races. It is when they fail tests before/after the event that they are deemed disqualified. So it is sadly not that simple. The other part of the plot is she was duped into taking gender tests in July by the South African Athletics Association which shows they suspected something. I agree she may have not known herself the truth but her country officials let her down by not clearing this up before the world champs and then accuse the IAAF of not doing anything. She was personally let down by her athletic association who have subjected her to this knowing there were doubts over her eligibility to run under the rules of the race. The rules have not changed and gender tests will show she ineligible to run in female races due to her testosterone levels being over the legal limit. It is sad because at the end of the day she is a human being and has been embarrassed beyond belief but the simple matter is that if the report is correct she would not be allowed in future female events therefore why would you make an exception for previous races when she is the same person. Would you allow the world record to stand if she had broken it? No, because it effects the future of the sport and other competitors. Everyone would know it was a false record achieved outside the rules of competition. Should she keep the gold maybe the medal but not title as sadly she should be disqualified from the event. I repeat this is not a personal attack at her but her governing body who put her in that situation. As a human being she has a right to be whatever she wants to be and i feel very sorry for her and her family about how this has been played out! ' added 11th Sep 2009
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Footnote 'Interesting comments! It looks like this is going to get very ugly in the future! http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/8249948.stm ' added 11th Sep 2009
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malcolms 'In the middle of all this is a fellow human being for whom there are no easy answers. I do wonder however what those around her were doing. Here is an apparently healthy woman who (in the absence of a uterus and ovaries) clearly cannot have ever had a period by the age of 18. Did no-one around her ever think it odd?' added 11th Sep 2009
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flanker2 'Sorry Tom, but I don't agree. Firstly, if I am not wrong, athletes who are entered into a race of this stature, are subjected to many tests etc. They also have to personally declare that they are fit and eligible to enter and compete in that event. If she had failed (or does fail), in any of this then yes, she should rightly be stripped and disqualified! That would be simples. My point is this. It is plainly not her fault, (unless subsequntly proven otherwise), that she was accepted into an event for women that she won on merit and therefore absolutely deserves the title, the medal and the recognition. Bloodyhell Tom, let's not forget, this is only a leaked report anyway?, they may still find that it's totally legitimate. ...I agree with you on one point tho...... I do feel incredibly sorry for her and her family as this is so obviously a case of bad management. All the officials surrounding her should be sacked for misrepresentation and she should now be awarded damages and compensation! Can you imagine if this was someone any of us knew personally, you would be outraged and rightly so! As far as her own AA goes, if they did dupe her, maybe they did it to try and save her any embarrassment in the hope it would go no further?????? ( Big F.U. there then), maybe in hindsight, they would have opened the subject up? We'll never know now!..... If she had broken the world record then I think she should have rightfully been able to hold it, but that's largely immaterial for the moment because she didn't and she probably now won't!.... And surely Tom, if she is disqualified from the event, (for being ineligible), she should also lose the medal as she wasn't qualified to obtain it in the first place? What use is a medal telling you that you won a race if the whole world tells you subsequently you don't deserve it????....I don't think for a nanosecond that you are against her Tom, but I really feel passionately about this and the fact that she has done nothing "irregular" and I have to say has acted with enormous dignity and grace throughout this whole affair. It's just such a shame that her representatives are not quite so decent and upstanding!.......I love you Caster Semenya for what you are... A winner.....simple as.....' added 11th Sep 2009
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