Let me start off by saying that Caster Semenya is a chick until proven a dude. OH hang on, she has been proven to be a chick by her parents, her teachers, her friends mind you.
The screams of racism that have been leveled at the IAAF have been a bit excessive. However one can understand why this would be our first line of attack. The problem with screaming racism every time one has been affronted causes some to turn a deaf ear because they start thinking, "Oh boy, here we go again," even when the claims of racism are in fact legitimate. It is a disserves to fight against racism. The key with racism is to know when to shout racism. I am not so naïve to claim that there may be no elements of racism within IAAF.
Let me start off by saying how incredibly proud I am of Caster Semenya. She did a sterling job. And she is so young, far too young to be going through this global spectacle. I have been incredibly proud of the manner in which she carried herself and still managed to win with all that focus on her. I felt personally affronted at the end of her race when the commentators talked her as though it was an obligation, then they promptly talked about the silver medalist and bronze winners as if they were the real winners. I was tempted to claim racism, then I realized they were British, they praised the bronze medalist as if she was the winner, this was the case during the medal presentation too.
When Semenya ran for her provinces, several provinces lodged complaints because they suspected that she was male. Tests came back proving that she is in fact a young girl. According to news reports, Limpopo Athletics secretary Leon Bammau, a gender test was conducted on Semenya after an appeal was lodged by National Secondary School's Championships in 2007. He said the test results confirmed she was a female. Then a second appeal was lodged by two provinces with regards to Semenya's gender in the same year.
He said a basic test was also conducted and it proved Semenya was a female. "A physical test was conducted on whether she has a female part. We did what we thought was necessary, thereafter there was no complaint." Of course no one accused any of these provinces of racism when they wanted proof that she is in fact a girl.
This is not an issue of racism. It is a new and unnecessary and dehumanizing debate on gender. If anything, those who have tried to dehumanize have done nothing but turn her into a national hero. If she carries on in this dignified manner I suspect she will become an international one too. She deserves to be. Not many young people could endure the pressure she has undergone these past few days.
Many of us confusing the issue. It's about gender.
As Limpopo Athletics secretary Leon Bammau, said, "A physical test was conducted on whether she has a female part. We did what we thought was necessary, thereafter there was no complaint," why then does the IAAF want to conduct more tests to prove whether she is female or not? How then do we define what a female is if having female organs is not enough?
If we are truly honest with ourselves we will admit that we did think that she appeared and sounded like a man. Even so, she was not the only female athlete to resemble a man. When looking at the 100 and 200 metre sprinters, I remember saying to myself, "I wouldn't want to meet any of those in a dark alley," in fact, now that I think about it, in any alley. There is a difference between saying someone appears like a man and questioning their gender. I never questioned Semenya's gender, nor that of the other female runners because it is something I have seen over and over again.
I even had a persecution complex initially. I thought, first they tried to prevent Oscar Pistorius from running because they claimed that he had an unfair advantage. It was all rather strange that a man with no legs had an advantage. By the time he won his case he hadn't time to train for his races because he had spent so much time in court. It was just ridiculous.
If the IAAF was racist, then how do we explain the success of so many black athletes? Do we turn a blind eye? Are we going to call it anti-South Africanism perhaps?
A British newspaper claims to have access to Semenya's preliminary test results. The test results allegedly prove that Semenya has more testosterone than the average woman. Even if that is the case, how did they gain possession of the tests? For arguments sake, let's assume that she does in fact have more testosterone than the average woman, does that mean she ought to be disqualified for having a genetic advantage?
Professor Tim Noakes on Kaya Fm said on the issue, then how do you decide who has an unfair genetic advantage? According to Noakes, some women will have more testosterone then they get that advantage. He stated that most top athletes do in fact have a genetic advantage above others. What if Bolt is found to have superior genetic coding? Should he then be disqualified as well? I just wonder, what if she has more testosterone then the average professional female athlete but less than the male professional athlete? How do they decide what the thresh hold is? All I have to say to the IAAF and those bloody Australians, "Leave Caster alone!"
A friend of mine put it very well when she said, (yes, she's a she and I won't be needing a gender testing thank you) "I'm peeved that the Australians were the cause of this saga, how quickly they forget how we rallied behind Kathy Freeman!" Hear, hear!
Semenya first came to the prying eyes of the I.A.A.F. this year when she cut more than seven seconds off her best time of 2008. They then investigated possible doping violations but found nothing. Well, I say just because she pulled off a Superwoman effort doesn't mean she's not a woman.
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