sources: Telegraph UK, Black Vibes Sports

Usually an athlete’s greatest source of embarrassment besides scandal is being subjected to a close loss. So taking home the 800 meter gold in this year’s World Championships, why is South African runner, Caster Semenya being subjected to the highest level of ridicule, scrutiny and shame an athlete can face? The world committee is NOT convinced that she is even a woman! Three weeks prior, the International Federation asked South African track and field authorities to conduct a gender test on Semenya to verify that she is indeed female. Sure Semenya, a muscular, deep voiced 18 year-old is not the most feminine looking young woman you’ve ever seen however neither are some members of the WNBA. Like with being gay, a serial killer or even carrying an incurable disease, since when do looks automatically pre-determine who or what you are?

It’s like saying because your mother and father are a shade shy of Dark chocolate; you can’t be Black because you turned out to be one shade lighter than French Vanilla!

“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,” Semenya’s grandmother Maputhi Sekgala commented.

Semenya’s coach added, “We understand that people will ask questions because she looks like a man. But I can give you the telephone numbers of her room-mates in Berlin. They have already seen she has nothing to hide.”

The question regarding Semenya’s gender came into play when she put up a world-leading time of 1:56.72 at the African junior championships in Maruitius last month (as reported by the Associated Press).Since clocking in at 1:55.45 to seize the gold in the World Championships that controversy has swelled to the point that Semenya has had to undergo a gender test. The investigation, which has to take into account the expertise of a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender before any final test results can be given, is still ongoing.

Elisa Piccione of Italy, who finished in sixth place, said: “For me, she is not a woman.” Such harsh statements and speculations have been circulating all throughout the World Championship games, so much so that Semenya opted out of appearing at the winner’s press conference at the advisement of the sport’s governing body. At the medal awarding ceremony, the world record setting teen stood on the podium, making very minimal eye contact, her voice barely audible singing the national anthem native to her homeland.

“She [Semenya] didn’t make much eye contact with anybody. I think she was half-embarrassed by the whole situation herself. I just really feel for her. It’s a situation that could have been avoided.” Bronze medalist, Jenny Meadows recalled. The 28 year old Brit had to be one of the few that does not share the sentiment that Caster Semenya should suffer utter humiliation simply because she does not fit the ideal standard of femininity. Should the test results indicate that Caster Semenya wasn’t born a female, she will be stripped of her medal, automatically bumping up fourth place runner to a Bronze medal as well as Meadows and Silver medalist, Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei of Kenya to Silver and Gold medals respectively. The situation raises the question how does a woman’s level of feminity correlate with her performance and accomplishments in her chosen sport?

Semenya first began receiving this treatment the moment she began breaking world records. One can only wonder if she’d lagged behind her competitors in a lackluster medal less finish, say in fourth or sixth place, would the question “Caster Semenya, Is She Male or Female?” be wagging on tongues worldwide or would the name Caster Semenya be another anonymous athlete? Perhaps, the only good that this act of discrimination can bring is the potential awareness to transgendered athletes. Should Semenya be physically born a young man who had underwent hormonal treatment and or surgery to become a young woman at some point, the laws of what constitutes a female athlete will undoubtedly have to be re examined. Either way, someone owes Semenya, her family and the nation of South Africa an apology.

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