POSTED: September 10th 2009
NewsUpdate
Gender test results spell instant end to Semenya's career
KEIR RADNEDGE / Sports Features Communications
LONDON: Caster Semenya’s gold-medal winning 800m run at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin last month is almost certain to have been her last at senior competitive level.
The results of the widely-publicised gender test on the 18-year-old South African have been brought before the IAAF - whose reaction, stating a need for careful further assessment and consultation with Semenya, was a tacit concession of the extensive complexities of the issue.
In those circumstances her track career, certainly beyond her native southern Africa, is almost certainly at an end.
The IAAF refused to clarify the situation tonight but, earlier, its general secretary Pierre Weiss had been reported as saying: “It is clear that she is a woman but maybe not 100 per cent.”
Leonard Chuene, the president of Athletics South Africa (ASA), which has been blamed for placing Semenya in such a tragic spotlight, said: “We cannot get involved in gossip of this sort. Our people will speak to Caster and ensure she puts these rumours from her mind.”
Allegations from South Africa, where Semenya was welcomed proudly home as a heroine, that the gender issue was disguised racism have added to the delicacy of the case. Chuene has resigned from the IAAF council in protest and the body has been accused of racism by the African National Congress Youth League.
A source, said to be close to the IAAF, was reported in the Australian media as saying that the 18-year-old had internal testes and no womb or ovaries.
The source was quoted as adding: “There is evidence Semenya is a hermaphrodite, but the trouble is the IAAF now has the whole ANC and the whole of South Africa on its back. Everything is going to have to be done absolutely by the book.”
Verification checks
The IAAF has claimed that gender verification tests were undertaken in South Africa after it had noted Semenya’s remarkable performance improvement at the Africa Junior Championships in Mauritius in July.
ASA denies these tests took place though Wilfred Daniels, who has quit as an ASA coach, has said that Semenya was tricked into taking gender tests; she had been assured this was merely an anti-doping procedure.
Pre-Berlin tests, it has been agreed, did reveal high levels of testosterone but this is a condition which can be treated under IAAF supervision.
The IAAF’s policy document on gender verification states that if there is any suspicion, an athlete can be asked to go before a panel including a gynaecologist, psychologist and an expert on transgender issues.
Earlier this week the IAAF had said that, in a worst case scenario, it was nevertheless highly unlikely that Semenya would be asked to return the gold medal she won in Berlin.
Spokesman Nick Davies said the test results would be made public only after experts had studied them and Semenya had been contacted personally. He added: "The test results need to be interpreted by a panel of experts drawn from the IAAF medical commission and some outside specialists as well. It is likely that we will be in a position to then discuss the results, in private, with Semenya, and decide on the course of action and any public announcement.
"Nothing will therefore be announced or confirmed until we are in a position to have the expert evaluation of the results, and discuss them with the athlete. We cannot give an exact timing but probably within the next couple of weeks."
Keywords · Semenya · IAAF · World Athletics Championships · Berlin · ASA · Athletics South Africa
For more information contact:
Laura Walden ()
All original materials contained in this section are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Sports Features Communications, Inc the owner of that content. It is prohibited to alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
