The ugly side of Semenya gender saga

[Roger B]

Caster Semenya is too ugly to be a woman.

That's not the only issue in the complicated story of Caster Semenya, but it's the main issue. Nobody thinks she's too fast in the 800 meters -- which she won by almost 20 meters a few days ago at the world championships -- to be a woman. She didn't break the world record, so it's not like she's too good.


Caster Semenya did not set any records while winning the 800 in Berlin. (AP)
She's just too ugly.

Close your eyes and picture her as Naomi Campbell, or better yet, as former 800 world-record holder Mary Decker. She's still running the 800 in 1 minute, 55.45 seconds, still winning the world title by an enormous margin. But if the face that crossed the finish line first were beautiful, there would be no outrage here, because her winning time and even her margin of victory were plausible. Remarkable -- but plausible.

On a prettier woman.

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But Caster Semenya is fast and dominant and she's not what the world would call beautiful. So that's the answer: She's guilty of some form of gender cheating. How do we know? Because she's too ugly to be a woman.

The world is thinking that, and you know it.

And the heartbreaking thing is this:

She knows it, too.

Heartbreaking. Even if she's guilty of doping, of ingesting so many anabolic steroids or so much testosterone that she has morphed into something between male and female, it's heartbreaking. Cheaters -- if that's what she is, and I don't think she is -- have a lot coming to them in the form of ridicule and scorn, but they don't have this coming to them. The world calls you a cheater, and that's justice. The world thinks you're hideous? That's not justice. That's abject cruelty.

She's 18 years old. Good Lord, it's hard enough being 18 when you're considered attractive. Imagine being 18 and being told, basically, that you're too ugly to be a girl.

That's why this entire ordeal is a failure of epic proportions. Never mind that women have run the 800 faster than Semenya, whose 1:55.45 clocking isn't even one of the 10 fastest of all time. That's not the failure here. The failure is that, in this era of sporting fraudulence, we have taken our natural inclinations to be cynical and accusatory and morphed into a cold, callous pack of jackals.

I blame us for being so cruel, but I blame South African and international track authorities -- the International Association of Athletics Federation -- for letting it come to this. If there were questions about Semenya's gender, they should have been asked and answered before she raced. If she was female enough to enter the race, she should be female enough to win it. She didn't get any less feminine in the 1:55.45 it took her to win. Her gender never would have been questioned had she finished seventh, because she wasn't too ugly to enter the race. She was just too ugly to win it.

• Semenya receives big welcome home in South Africa

The issues here aren't just too sensitive to be debated in public; they're too complicated, too. The general population -- and believe me, I'm in this mix -- is simply not smart enough to understand this conversation, much less to engage in it. The easiest answers to digest intellectually would be either that 1) Semenya is a man hiding his current or former manhood or 2) she has taken gender-altering drugs that allow her to run with the power of a man.

Nobody thinks it's the first option. This isn't that scene from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, where the beautiful police detective has been stashing "Captain Winky" under her skirt. Nor is Semenya the track version of Renee Richards, who was born "Richard Raskind" but became Renee Richards -- and a top 20 professional tennis player -- after having a sex change in 1975.

The second option, about drugs, is a possibility. I can't pretend it's not. The coach of the South African track team is Dr. Ekkart Arbeit, who once coached the drug-riddled East German team. One of his athletes, shot-putter Heidi Krieger, was so masculinized that she underwent sex reassignment surgery and now lives as a man named Andreas Krieger.

The Telegraph of London reported Monday that tests on Semenya have shown her to have three times the normal female level of testosterone, which isn't as damning as it sounds. The typical man has 40 or even 60 times the amount of testosterone as the typical woman, so Semenya is hardly "manly" from a chemical standpoint.

More to the point, world-class female athletes tend to have elevated levels of testosterone. Naturally gifted athletes, male or female, are born with elevated levels of something, somewhere. It's why they're "naturally gifted." Unless Semenya has become a years-long science project for Arbeit, it's inconceivable that she could consume enough steroids or testosterone to be transformed by age 18 into the next Heidi/Andreas Krieger.

The truth is probably somewhere else, and again, the search for it is complicated. The New York Times commissioned a Northwestern University bioethicist to write an essay on the Semenya matter under the headline, "Where's the Rulebook for Sex Verification?" Almost 900 words later, I still don't know where the damn rulebook is. I don't even know what was in those 900 words. All that discussion of genes and chromosomes and hormones, not to mention the size of an enlarged clitoris, sailed over my head, and I'm a semi-intelligent person trying to understand.

People congregating on the Internet sacrifice their intelligence at the altar of groupthink, where nobody even wants to understand. They get off on being vicious and cruel, which is what's happening here with Caster Semenya. People don't understand the science behind her physiology, but they understand this: She's not very feminine, and she is very fast. Conclusion: She's too ugly to be a woman.

People are saying it. The IAAF is investigating it. If she wants to keep her gold medal, Semenya will have to undergo a series of humiliating tests to prove she's womanly enough. A week ago her name was unknown outside her village in South Africa. Today she's famous. Thanks to the bumbling of South African and IAAF authorities, the world knows her as the ugly trackling -- the girl who is too ugly to be a girl.

Everywhere, people are laughing.

Somewhere in South Africa, a little girl is probably crying.

[Bert Williams]

JOHANNESBURG -- South African track officials will meet this week to discuss the future of their president, who admitted to lying about his role in the gender-test case of runner Caster Semenya.

Attlee Maponyane, vice president of Athletics South Africa, said the group's council would meet Thursday. Politicians are calling for ASA president Leonard Chuene's dismissal, but Maponyane and other ASA officials contacted Monday refused to say what recommendations the council might make to the board.

The council includes Chuene and leaders of sport-specific committees and provincial bodies.

Chuene, whose four-year term ends in 2012, also refused to comment Monday when contacted by The Associated Press.

Chuene had repeatedly said gender tests on 800-meter world champion Semenya were done abroad, not in South Africa. Over the weekend, he admitted he knew of tests conducted in South Africa, saying he had lied to protect Semenya's privacy, but refused to resign.

The International Association of Athletics Federations has been criticized in South Africa and abroad for publicly acknowledging tests, which under IAAF rules are supposed to be confidential, putting the 18-year-old Semenya at the center of an international media storm in which intimate details of her anatomy made headlines. Chuene led a South African campaign to place all the blame on the IAAF.

Semenya won the 800 at the world championships in Berlin on Aug. 19 in 1 minute, 55.45 seconds - 2.45 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. It was the fastest time in the world this year.

The IAAF announced hours before the final that gender tests had been ordered because of questions about Semenya's muscular physique and recent stunning improvement in times.

Maponyane said Monday that whatever action his organization takes regarding Chuene, questions remained for the IAAF about why a confidential matter went public.

The sports ministry has called on the ASA to fire Chuene, as did several opposition parties. The governing African National Congress said in a weekend statement that it was "appalled by the manner in which both the IAAF and the ASA have handled the issue."

If ASA does stand by Chuene, it could find itself overruled by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, which is conducting its own investigation into the Semenya case.

[Bert Williams]

South African runner’s relatives dismiss gender uproar

FAIRLIE, South Africa — In the poor, rural village where South African runner Caster Semenya grew up, relatives on Thursday brushed off questions about her deep voice and muscular build that have prompted the world governing body for track and field to seek gender tests.


“That’s how God made her,” said her cousin, Evelyn Sekgala, who recalls Semenya being teased about her boyish looks while growing up in Fairlie, a village at the end of a dirt road where the biggest traffic jam on Thursday was a herd of goats.

The 18-year-old runner’s father, Jacob, told the Sowetan newspaper: “She is my little girl. … I raised her and I have never doubted her gender. She is a woman and I can repeat that a million times.”

A teacher first got Semenya interested in running, her cousin said in this village some 300 miles (500 kilometers) north of Johannesburg. The family was pleased she took up an interest in sports, and not in drinking and partying like other teenagers. Her grandmother would give her money to enter races.

South Africa team manager Phiwe Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said Semenya was thrilled about winning Wednesday’s 800-meter world title.

“She said to me she doesn’t see what the big deal is all about,” Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said. “She believes it is God-given talent and she will exercise it.”

About three weeks ago, the IAAF asked the South African athletics federation to conduct the gender test after Semenya burst onto the scene by posting a world leading time of 1 minute, 56.72 seconds at the African junior championships in Bambous, Mauritius.

The test, which takes weeks to complete, requires a physical medical evaluation, and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender.

Gideon Sam, the president of South Africa’s Olympic governing body, congratulated Semenya on a “truly remarkable achievement.”

“We condemn the way she was linked with such media speculation and allegation, especially on a day she ran in the final of her first major world event,” Sam said. “It’s the biggest day of her life.”

South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress, also defended Semenya, calling on South Africans to “rally behind our golden girl.”

“We condemn the motives of those who have made it their business to question her gender due to her physique and running style. Such comments can only serve to portray women as being weak,” the party said in a statement. “Caster is not the only woman athlete with a masculine build.”

In an interview with South Africa’s Beeld newspaper, Semenya’s former headmaster said he didn’t realize she was a girl because she wore pants instead of a skirt to school.

“She was always rough and played with the boys. She liked soccer and she wore pants to school. She never wore a dress. It was only in grade 11 that I realized she’s a girl,” Eric Modiba, head of the Nthema Secondary School, told the newspaper.

Morris Gilbert, a media consultant for TuksSport, the University of Pretoria’s sports department, said the issue of Semenya’s gender has not been raised since she began attending the school, where she is a the freshman studying sports science.

“We are all very proud of her and of what she’s achieved,” Gilbert said. “The university stands behind her all the way.”

He attributed her recent success to hard work and rigorous training.

“She trains a lot,” Gilbert said. “If you go to the athletics track, you’re sure to find her there. I don’t think she had really good training before she came to the university. She’s from a very poor area.”

Semenya’s cousin says no one in the area has gotten as far as the teen running sensation. At 50, Sekgala has never been farther than Pretoria, South Africa’s capital, which is near Johannesburg.

Sekgala says it’s her dream that Semenya will one day take the whole family overseas to watch her run.

“We’d be very happy if that would happen. I wish her well, God should take care of her, and she should go from strength to strength with her talent.”

Associated Press Writer Anita Powell in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

[Bert Williams]

South African Runner Caster Semenya is reportedly a Hermaphrodite.

South African Teen Wins 800 Amid Gender-Test Flap

South African teenager Caster Semenya wins women's 800 at worlds despite gender questions
By RYAN LUCAS, The Associated Press, BERLIN



Facing questions about her gender, South African teenager Caster Semenya easily won the 800-meter gold medal Wednesday at the world championships.

Her dominating run came on the same day track and field's ruling body said she was undergoing a gender test because of concerns she does not meet requirements to compete as a woman.

Semenya took the lead at the halfway mark and opened a commanding lead in the last 400 meters to win by a massive 2.45 seconds in a world-leading 1 minute, 55.45 seconds. Defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei was second and Jennifer Meadows of Britain was third in 1:57.93.

After crossing the line, Semenya dusted her shoulders with her hands. Semenya did not speak to reporters after the race or attend a news conference.

About three weeks ago, the international federation asked South African track and field authorities to conduct the verification test. Semenya had burst onto the scene by posting a world-leading time of 1:56.72 at the African junior championships in Maruitius.

Her dramatic improvement in times, muscular build and deep voice sparked speculation about her gender. Ideally, any dispute surrounding an athlete is dealt with before a major competition. But Semenya's stunning rise from unknown teenage runner to the favorite in the 800 happened almost overnight. That meant the gender test — which takes several weeks — could not be completed in time.

Before the race, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies stressed this is a "medical issue, not an issue of cheating." He said the "extremely complex" testing has begun. The process requires a physical medical evaluation and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, internal medicine specialist and gender expert.

South Africa team manager Phiwe Mlangeni-Tsholetsane would not confirm or deny that Semenya was having such a test.

"We entered Caster as a woman and we want to keep it that way," Mlangeni-Tsholetsane said. "Our conscience is clear in terms of Caster. We have no reservations at all about that."

Although medals will be awarded for the 800, the race remains under a cloud until the investigation is closed, and Semenya could be stripped of the gold depending on the test results, IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss said.

"But today there is no proof and the benefit of doubt must always be in favor of the athlete," Weiss said.

Semenya's rivals said they tried not to dwell on the issue before the race.

"I've heard a lot of speculation, but all I could do was just keep a level head and go about my business," Meadows said. "If none of it's true, I feel very sorry for her."

One thing not in doubt was Semenya's outstanding run.

"Nobody else in the world can do that sort of time at the moment," Meadows said. "She obviously took the race by storm."


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