You are all missing the point, and that is that is very likely that Wang was not even a real female at all. It is entirely possible that in a country with a billion plus population to pull talent from, the government sought out xxy female or xyx male children sorted them into passable females and trained them to be very good distance runners. These are not hermaphodites per say(some are), but are normal looking female/young male athletes that either have more testosterone(female) or more estrogen (male). I couldn't find much info on this, but a show was on last week on the Discovery Channel, and I couldn't pull my eyes away. The show covered everything from sexual development(very explicit photos) to physical traits. The long and short was that some look like males with female genitalia, some females with underdeveloped make genitalia, some are normal females with more testosterone and no internal or external differences, some males with higher estrogen levels, and no noticable differences. Then there were the ones that had very noticable differences. Females with very masculine characteristics, and males with very effeminate features. The funny thing was that these were fiercely heterosexual people so it wasn't a sexual thing at all, just a hormonal abnormality. Now we get into the area of gender testing. This was the basis of the show, namely that the gender line is a blurred one, what exactly are these people classified as? It got me to thinking about the rumors I heard about the Chinese teams from that time-that they were all really young boys on female hormones. I know it sounds stupid, but what if they weren't on artificial hormones, but on the hormones that nature gave them. From what I understand in the 92' Games, the I.O.C. had as it's main goal as is the goal for every Olympics(true worldwide representation/participation), to bring back into the fold, the highest populated country, who as you remember hadn't been in the games in a while due to various political, and idealogical differences with the rest of the world;it was China. There was a story circulating at the time that many consolations had to be made in order for this goal to become a reality. One of these was the gender test. The Chinese claimed that it was somehow a cultural insult for their women to have to be tested(wasn't it clear that their women were women, anything to the contrary might upset their athletes and this was not acceptable), along with other guidelines about how their athletes should be tested for drugs...that a Chinese official had to be involved in every step of the process. This was needed, they claimed, because they and their athletes still had a great mistrust of the western world, there could be mistakes(read frame-ups) and it was non-negotiable to not have a Chinese rep(there were even rumors that they were not tested at all). If the I.O.C. wanted that talent in The Games, they must agree to the stipulations. Basically, there was a sellout, and the athletes at those games had two sets of rules, one for the Chinese, one for everyone else. I know this sounds like a conspiracy theory, but if you think about back room deals in America, it isn't a far stretch to see it done on the international sports scene. The problem for the Chinese came in the following international competitions. They had had a taste of worldwide fame in sport, and they wanted more, but they found that trying to drive the same hard bargain again wasn't going to fly, but they were hooked they would compete anyway, and send an even bigger team to America. They enterd the 96' Games with the same hopes of worldwide dominance, but what they got was utter disgrace. More that 25 Chinese athletes busted for bigtime usage in all disciplines. 2000 was no better, with the Chinese federation itself sending a watered down team that still had around six positive tests, and a swimmer busted for smuggling drugs into Australia! It is a lot to digest, but it does make one wonder, a billion people, xxy, hard training, the times a better than average high school boy might post. Just Food For Thought!
Lyle The Effeminate Heterosexual!