Quote of the day
“It is clear that she is a woman but maybe not 100 per cent.”
- Pierre Weiss, general secretary of the IAAF (the world atheletics governing body), responding to the claim that sex tests carried out on Caster Semenya, the female world 800 metres champion, show that she is a hermaphrodite. If the allegation is backed up by the official results, the South African may find herself stripped of her gold medal and banned from racing. Semenya was believed to have gone into hiding last night and it is understood she is unlikely to appear in her first race since winning the gold last month.
Is that like being ‘a little bit pregnant’?
Possibly.
Every time I see a photo of Caster, I think it’s a bloke – does that make me a bad person?
Perhaps they could run her in a special gender category in these equivalent times.
A no op Ladyboy – Cool
New race categories, eh? So we could have races for men, women, men who look like women, women who look like men, men who want to be women, women who want to be men….
The 100 Meter Lilly Savage Tranny-dash could be a great event – somewhere between ‘conventional’ athletics and ‘It’s a Knockout’…
Should we be testing Harriet Harman?
Two things get me about this story. Firstly, even after all the debate about eastern European women shot-putters athletics seems to have no unambiguous definition of “woman”. Secondly, we have blokes here (Thailand) that can pass for attractive young women in broad daylight in a bikini. Miss Semenya, god bless her, would have trouble in a baggy tracksuit by candlelight. Surely her coach or teammates might have discreetly suggested that this challenge was only a matter of time?
“It is clear that she is a woman but maybe not 100 per cent.”
Are we talking about Ann Widdecombe here?
If s/he cannot race as a woman, I fear s/he cannot race as a man. Quick scour the globe and see if there are enough hermaphrodites so that each lane of the track has a runner.
I’m still waiting on the DNA test to confirm her Genus let alone her gender… I suspect she’s a shaved, poorly shaved, chimp…
The real story here is that it is almost certain that the South African authorities would have subjected Miss Semenya to some kind of screening before the world championships. They should have already known that there was a problem and that this coiuld be serious for her in more than just a sports context, but in terms of her long term wellbeing. However, there reaction to the IAAF has been one of grandstanding arrogance and national indignation.
Also, the conduct of the IAAF has been deplorable. They had plenty of warning but still allowed her to run in the World Championships, while deliberately trying to destabilise her with their nasty ‘leak’. were they were trying to take a swipe at the South African authorities for sending her, possibly making the false assumption that they had force fed her testosterone or steroids?
Pathetic and despicable treatment of an 18 year old girl, and the authorities should hand their heads in shame.