CASTER SEMENYA- World Gold Medalist seeking to run tomorrow

Vipam,

It was meant to be a ridiculous comparison. My point was simply that one can't look at Semenya's splits from that race and say whether or not he/she is capable of running faster. He/She simply ran with the pack through 600 meters, and they happened to take it out at a quick pace. Mainly my point was that the differential between the first and second laps doesn't tell the whole story - you have to watch the race. I can go out to a track right now and run a 2:20 800, splitting 69/71. Doesn't mean I can't run any faster.

Regardless of whether you feel that Caster Semenya should be allowed to compete with women (and for the record, I do NOT believe that she should), it is sad that so many people on this message board are referring to her as he/she (or worse, it). The argument about whether she should be allowed to compete is an important one, especially insofar as it will set a precedent for future cases that will no doubt come up concerning ambiguous gender. However, to refer to Caster as anything but she is to personally insult her, and she does not deserve that. She was raised female, and has lived her whole life as female. It is not her fault that she has been thrust into this controversy because she happens to be a world-class athlete.

Bravo- NICELY SAID, Airbear!!!

Fair enough, I was being inconsiderate. But at this point, is Caster Semenya still the innocent victim? I can buy the fact that no one noticed that she was a little different from other girls growing up. I can concede that she might not have known that she was anything other than an extremely talented female athlete when she started cracking 2 minutes last year. But she knows now that she has high testosterone, testes, and undoubtedly other physical characteristics that distinguish her from females. She is choosing to re-enter the public eye, and she is rightfully catching flak for that. I think right now she's basically just trying to create the circumstances for a lawsuit, and I'm not going to sit here and cry about poor Caster Semenya trying to screw over women's athletics so her lawyers can sue the IAAF into oblivion.

I agree w/ airbear, I'll stop refering that way as well.

The IAAF is being extremely unfair to her, though. If she is not eligible to compete than they need to rule her ineligible. As far as I am concerned they have not and she is free to compete. They should not be telling meet sponsors that they cannot invite an eligible athlete.

He's a guy.

It is stupid to call him a woman.

And it is disrespectful to real women to call him a woman.

airbear wrote:

Regardless of whether you feel that Caster Semenya should be allowed to compete with women (and for the record, I do NOT believe that she should), it is sad that so many people on this message board are referring to her as he/she (or worse, it). The argument about whether she should be allowed to compete is an important one, especially insofar as it will set a precedent for future cases that will no doubt come up concerning ambiguous gender. However, to refer to Caster as anything but she is to personally insult her, and she does not deserve that. She was raised female, and has lived her whole life as female. It is not her fault that she has been thrust into this controversy because she happens to be a world-class athlete.

a true blue jackass; let's take a chromosome check

reality will then bitch slap you

airbear wrote:

Regardless of whether you feel that Caster Semenya should be allowed to compete with women (and for the record, I do NOT believe that she should), it is sad that so many people on this message board are referring to her as he/she (or worse, it). The argument about whether she should be allowed to compete is an important one, especially insofar as it will set a precedent for future cases that will no doubt come up concerning ambiguous gender. However, to refer to Caster as anything but she is to personally insult her, and she does not deserve that. She was raised female, and has lived her whole life as female. It is not her fault that she has been thrust into this controversy because she happens to be a world-class athlete.

Then she has to accept the truth that she may be less female than she has always been. If a genius has been raised as a fool and has lived her whole life as a fool, that doesn't mean she is not a genius. It is fairer to bar one female than to let so many other females of this generation to be deprived of fair competition. Yes, it is not her fault. Blame the powerful media for keeping everyone glued to the story.

So basically she is saying the IAAF took too long and she's going to start competing?