It’s been the IAAF World Championships and of course Usain Bolt won both the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4x100 meters and he also improved his own World Records he ran last at year’s summer Olympics in Beijing.
But the thing that has caught my attention was the women’s 800 meters. The winner was Caster Semenya, yet this caused a whole lot of controversy and gossip. This time it isn’t about illegal substances, but more about the rather masculine look, voice and movements of this 18-year old athlete. This caught a lot of people’s attention and questions/gossip started to arise, saying that she was actually a man. She was forced to undergo tests to establish her sex.
These allegations need some specifying though. It is not an issue of female versus male, but of “entirely female”. It is very much possible that she is suffering from hermaphroditism, which means she has both male and female reproductive organs. This may cause her to possess secondary male characteristics. If this is indeed the case, she can be disqualified since the IAAF says only “entirely female” or “entirely male” contesters can participate. Is this fair? Yes and no. Allow me to explain myself.
It would be fair to disqualify her because if she has indeed a Y-chromosome, this means she is naturally favoured compared to the “entirely” female athletes because she would have male hormones. Face it or not, and as a girl I hate to admit it, but men got naturally more power, more muscles and run faster than woman. The stats prove this: Usain Bolt 9,58 versus Delorez Florence Griffith-Joyner 10,49.
On the other hand, it isn’t fair to disqualify her because this is what she loves doing, this is what she has trained for. And then who are we to tell her she can’t run any longer because of a medical condition she did not choose for. How inhuman would that be… Neither would it be fair to let her run the men’s 800m because then she would always end last.
But all this aside, the way this has been handled by the IAAF is just too outrages for words. This woman has the right on privacy and, if the IAAF found gender tests necessary, they should have done this quietly and privately and not, I repeat not, in the very open. This girl has her dignity, pride and human rights and no one should have the right to humiliate her when the whole world is watching!
All I can say is; you go girl! Keeping your head up while the whole world is on a witch-hunt. Going out there and run your race while the public is not cheering after your victory. No standing ovation like Usain Bolt gets just because you don’t meet up to the stereotype image of a woman…
But the thing that has caught my attention was the women’s 800 meters. The winner was Caster Semenya, yet this caused a whole lot of controversy and gossip. This time it isn’t about illegal substances, but more about the rather masculine look, voice and movements of this 18-year old athlete. This caught a lot of people’s attention and questions/gossip started to arise, saying that she was actually a man. She was forced to undergo tests to establish her sex.
These allegations need some specifying though. It is not an issue of female versus male, but of “entirely female”. It is very much possible that she is suffering from hermaphroditism, which means she has both male and female reproductive organs. This may cause her to possess secondary male characteristics. If this is indeed the case, she can be disqualified since the IAAF says only “entirely female” or “entirely male” contesters can participate. Is this fair? Yes and no. Allow me to explain myself.
It would be fair to disqualify her because if she has indeed a Y-chromosome, this means she is naturally favoured compared to the “entirely” female athletes because she would have male hormones. Face it or not, and as a girl I hate to admit it, but men got naturally more power, more muscles and run faster than woman. The stats prove this: Usain Bolt 9,58 versus Delorez Florence Griffith-Joyner 10,49.
On the other hand, it isn’t fair to disqualify her because this is what she loves doing, this is what she has trained for. And then who are we to tell her she can’t run any longer because of a medical condition she did not choose for. How inhuman would that be… Neither would it be fair to let her run the men’s 800m because then she would always end last.
But all this aside, the way this has been handled by the IAAF is just too outrages for words. This woman has the right on privacy and, if the IAAF found gender tests necessary, they should have done this quietly and privately and not, I repeat not, in the very open. This girl has her dignity, pride and human rights and no one should have the right to humiliate her when the whole world is watching!
All I can say is; you go girl! Keeping your head up while the whole world is on a witch-hunt. Going out there and run your race while the public is not cheering after your victory. No standing ovation like Usain Bolt gets just because you don’t meet up to the stereotype image of a woman…
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