How the (insert expletive) is Caster Semenya still Competing

IAAF say she is not gaining an unfair advantage. Their doctors explored the issue and made the ruling. Case closed. IAAF rules say you can not ban a woman just because she looks butch, she has to gain a quantifiable advantage.

The case is closed. She is a she in IAAF`s eyes.

Having a man race against the women actually draws "some" attention to T&F. If Caster wasn't a man, people wouldn't be talking about him. But, having him race against the women brings at least some media attention to a sport that, traditionally, receives almost none (except for the Olympics).

I'm not trying to incite anger, but the facts are Caster Semenya has elevated testosterone, ambiguous genetalia, and testicles within her body. The IAAF "sees" her as a women because they see a gigantic lawsuit down the pipeline. The governing body must protect the integrity of the sport and allowing Caster Semenya to compete is out of FEAR, not justice.

Yeah, fear of a lawsuit is at the heart of all of this. The fact that the IAAF basicvally says nothing at all indicates that there's more to it than a mere "yes, she's a woman."

having internal testes is not sufficient? not being a woman by chromosomes? it's not about the looks, which are only a guide to the chromosomes and the testes.

but what I enjoyed the most was Jenny Meadows's comment about how proper Brits are.

What are her chromosomes? If she/he is XY, that should be the end of the discussion.

Nobody knows what the facts are. We have some newspapers printing some rumors but nobody in a position to know have ever confirmed them. Also, I have seen nothing that indicates if she has had any kind of treatment, surgical, hormonal, or otherwise.

This issue will eventually be decided by the female athletes themselves. If they think Caster has an unfair advantage they will refuse to participate in the races in which Caster runs, or they will have their own award ceremony next to or in front of and in lieu of the "official" awards ceremony. There is no way they will allow this issue to destroy women's sports. The ladies will have the courage to remedy this.

CardinalsRule wrote:

This issue will eventually be decided by the female athletes themselves. If they think Caster has an unfair advantage they will refuse to participate in the races in which Caster runs, or they will have their own award ceremony next to or in front of and in lieu of the "official" awards ceremony. There is no way they will allow this issue to destroy women's sports. The ladies will have the courage to remedy this.

You mean along the same vein as when they had the courage to not race against the known Eastern-bloc dopers or had the courage to have their own award ceremony next to or in front of the 'official awards ceremony?

You obviously haven't been paying attention to the sport.

This is the way I see it going.

CardinalsRule wrote:

This issue will eventually be decided by the female athletes themselves. If they think Caster has an unfair advantage they will refuse to participate in the races in which Caster runs, or they will have their own award ceremony next to or in front of and in lieu of the "official" awards ceremony. There is no way they will allow this issue to destroy women's sports. The ladies will have the courage to remedy this.

That sure happened in the 1980s with the Eastern Europeans.

CardinalsRule wrote:

This issue will eventually be decided by the female athletes themselves. If they think Caster has an unfair advantage they will refuse to participate in the races in which Caster runs, or they will have their own award ceremony next to or in front of and in lieu of the "official" awards ceremony. There is no way they will allow this issue to destroy women's sports. The ladies will have the courage to remedy this.

I disagree. A lot of the female athletes would be prepared to compete against Caster and participate in a ceremony in which Caster won a medal. Perhaps not some of the more eurotrashy athletes like Cusma Piccionne and Savinova, but the ones with a sense of decency and humanity (like Meadows) definitely would do the right thing.

In all fairness, I'm certain Meadows is thinking exactly the same as those 'Eurotrashy' athletes have actually expressed.

She's as much as said that she'll only tolerate competing with Semenya because of her British 'stiff upper lip' attitude.

Is it fair on her that she feels obligated to happily smile and look pleased and congratulate Semenya on another great victory and time, simply out of decency and humanity, not because she actually believes it was done fairly?

trollism wrote:

Is it fair on her that she feels obligated to happily smile and look pleased and congratulate Semenya on another great victory and time, simply out of decency and humanity, not because she actually believes it was done fairly?

I don't think Meadows would think of Semenya's achievements as being done unfairly seeing as Semenya is performing entirely within the rules.

Semenya cannot help how she was born. She didn't ask for her biology. She didn't make the rules, she got selected and stood on the start-line in Berlin in the same way as Savinova, Meadows and Cusma did. All she did was want to run and train and compete to the best of her ability: same as you, same as me.

Meadows comments have always been measured and sensitive and understanding of Semenya's plight. I think she's tried out empathy.

The relevant question is whether the IAAF should change its rules and if so how. Not whether under the current rules Semenya should be entitled to compete, because the answer to that question is obviously yes.

For me, there just doesn't seem to be enough public information to develop a closed opinion on the matter. I don't know that there will be any forthcoming either. I would imagine that a lot of that information is being kept close to the vest in the interest of Caster's private life (or whatever is left of it).

Did she receive hormone treatment? Is the IAAF going to monitor her testosterone levels, etc. if she continues to bring home gold? What exactly changed that seemingly put this issue to rest for the IAAF?

Without that info, I think that the attitude of the other female athletes, many of whom seem less than excited to race against her, is completely understandable. "The IAAF ruled her a she" is not going to be enough to render their personal opinions moot, and why should it be? As a lot of folks have already mentioned, the ambiguity of IAAF standards and complexity of Caster's gender, make it likely that IAAF would NOT want to get into a legal battle that they would be hard-pressed to win if they decided to block her from competition.

I think that it's a nice quality that Meadows displays, the readiness to protect someone who is being alienated, who cannot help physically being who they are and just wish to compete. Still, I think it is in poor taste for her to call out the other women publicly, making it seem as if their concerns and animosity towards the situation that has been created are out of petty jealousy and without a reasonable foundation. They've worked their entire lives to achieve at this level of competition, and have a small window to shine and make a living in the sport. Suddenly, a performer that outwardly looks more man than woman springs up, and she puts on a performance that leaves commentators and educated observers of the sport saying "something is very, very wrong here"... only to find out shortly thereafter that doctors in the athlete's own country called her gender into question and advised against letting her compete internationally. Of COURSE there is still frustration with the whole situation. I don't think that anything short of full access to the results of Caster's most recent gender tests would satisfy them fully, but we all know that would be a terrible thing to do to Caster, and that there is no way those will ever be made public.

Hopefully, the IAAF has made the right decision here, but something tells me we'll never fully know, and that come London 2012, a lot of Mid-D Female athletes are going to arrive and leave feeling cheated.

Some Coked Up Brit wrote:

CardinalsRule wrote:

This issue will eventually be decided by the female athletes themselves. If they think Caster has an unfair advantage they will refuse to participate in the races in which Caster runs, or they will have their own award ceremony next to or in front of and in lieu of the "official" awards ceremony. There is no way they will allow this issue to destroy women's sports. The ladies will have the courage to remedy this.

I disagree. A lot of the female athletes would be prepared to compete against Caster and participate in a ceremony in which Caster won a medal. Perhaps not some of the more eurotrashy athletes like Cusma Piccionne and Savinova, but the ones with a sense of decency and humanity (like Meadows) definitely would do the right thing.

This is not about decency or humanity. It is about sport and fairness. That is why we have rules regarding drugs and substances.

Castor can run against the men with no unfair advantage. Why is not that the solution to this issue?

Your approach will destroy women's sports. Using your approach, Caster and others with a similar issues should enter the women's track, boxing, weightlifting etc championships next. They will be the next world champions in all women's sports so we can have a sense of decency and humanity...

Just pulled this article up on Bleacher Report:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/422049-caster-semenya-lite-less-haste-or-more-willing

Was wondering, can anyone point me towards an article that cites the leaked information about Caster's definitive hormone treatment and measures that will be taken to monitor her during the year? I may have just missed something, but my understanding was that all of that was just speculation, not based on anything leaked directly from the IAAF.

The Meadows story was posted a day after one in which Lisa Dobriskey, who recently ran 3:59 for 1500 in a race in which two drug offenders finished ahead of her, expressed considerable frustration about the lack of a level playing field...and she's probably the most polite and sweet elite middle distance runner there is.

On all of these accounts, you would indeed think that at some point the "clean" female middle distance runners would collectively take a stand and say they've had enough of this nonsense and cheating....and perhaps they'd submit to more frequent testing.

Anyone who believes Anna Alminova is clean believes in the Tooth Fairy. And the two Ukrainians who medalled in the 1500 in Beijing and were basically unknown before and since...does anyone imagine THEY were clean?

Ross Tucker at Science of Sport has speculated that he believes Caster received surgery or hormonal treatment but admits it is just personal belief. I have not seen definitive statements like that in print anywhere else. The Australian press were the ones who have broken most of the stories.