Caster Semenya started to run almost as soon as she could walk. She played soccer with the boys in her rural village. At school races, she'd lap the other girls -- sometimes twice or more. Even then, according to friends quoted by South African news reports, girls teased her about looking like a boy. Semenya shrugged it off and kept on running. But after she exploded onto the athletic stage in the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, beating her nearest rival in the women's 800-meter race by a whopping 2.45 seconds, the question was back: Is she really a she?
The IAAF's handling of the case spurred many negative reactions. A number of athletes, including retired sprinter Michael Johnson, criticized the organization for its response to the incident. Prominent South African civic leaders, commentators, politicians, and activists characterized the controversy as racist, as well as an affront to Semenya's privacy and human rights. The IAAF said it only made the test public after it had already been reported in the media, denying charges of racism and expressing regret about "the allegations being made about the reasons for which these tests are being conducted."The federation also explained that the motivation for the test was not suspected cheating but a desire to determine whether she had a "rare medical condition" giving her an unfair competitive advantage. The president of the IAAF stated that the case could have been handled with more sensitivity.In an interview with South African magazine YOU Semenya stated, "God made me the way I am and I accept myself."
I feel that the IAAF's enquiry should not have been publicized as it was a breach of Semenya's human rights and was indeed very racist on their part. She was put under investigation only after she won the World Championship and was banned for two years before being allowed to run again. That was very unfair on the part of the federation. She should have been allowed to run until there was evidence to prove that she was not female. Semenya lived her entire life as a female and although she was said to be a tomboy as a child she was still female. She was put through a lot of unnecessary stress and embarrassment by the IAFF. Her gender is a private matter and all the information regarding her gender should have been kept private.However, in 2010 she was given some hope and cleared to race again and her gender test results were not released for privacy reasons.
I agree completely with you on how the IAAF handled this situation. It was completely racist and violated her rights as a human being. However, the sports world is going to have a difficult time with this issue as transgenders and people with sex chromosomal abnormalities decide to part-take in professional sports. If a transgender women, who has the sex chromosomes of a male, wants to compete in the woman's division of a sport, what would be the guide lines for permitting her to play? Or for people with chromosomal abnormalities, many people live their lives without knowing they even have one until way later in life, and if they want to participate in professional sports, which gender would they choose? The line isn't as clear cut anymore as our society's viewpoint of "what is gender?" is changing. Although these people are not the majority of the population in professional sports, it is still an issue that will need to be discussed.
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