Sad for Caster Semenya
9.11.2009 - 3:59 PM - Tim - 1 comments
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/6170229/Caster-Semenya-is-a-hermaphrodite-tests-show.html
My heart goes out to this poor woman (and as I read someone say elsewhere, I choose to call her a woman because that's how she identifies herself). From articles I read a few weeks ago, this appears to be a case in which her family had no idea this could be possible, and it looks like the tests have confirmed what many people speculated: she's one of the extremely rare percentage of people in the world who have both sexes' genital organs and hormonal makeup.
Whether we like it not, the reality is that the majority of our sporting systems are separated by sex. Whether that's right or not or good or bad isn't something I'm willing to debate at this point; the reality is that there's no facility in our current system for a person with this type of genetic makeup. I only post this to convey my sadness for Ms. Semenya that she will very likely never be able to compete again. She is a champion and has obviously worked tirelessly to get to where she is, as any athlete of this caliber would have to. I hope that something -- anything -- can be done to give this woman the chance she deserves to develop her skill and compete in a way that brings her satisfaction.
OK, just a little bit of my opinion: I think she should be allowed to compete with the women, even though I can't see any of the world's Track & Field or Olympic sport committees agreeing with me.
9.11.2009 - 3:59 PM - Tim - 1 comments
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/6170229/Caster-Semenya-is-a-hermaphrodite-tests-show.htmlMy heart goes out to this poor woman (and as I read someone say elsewhere, I choose to call her a woman because that's how she identifies herself). From articles I read a few weeks ago, this appears to be a case in which her family had no idea this could be possible, and it looks like the tests have confirmed what many people speculated: she's one of the extremely rare percentage of people in the world who have both sexes' genital organs and hormonal makeup.
Whether we like it not, the reality is that the majority of our sporting systems are separated by sex. Whether that's right or not or good or bad isn't something I'm willing to debate at this point; the reality is that there's no facility in our current system for a person with this type of genetic makeup. I only post this to convey my sadness for Ms. Semenya that she will very likely never be able to compete again. She is a champion and has obviously worked tirelessly to get to where she is, as any athlete of this caliber would have to. I hope that something -- anything -- can be done to give this woman the chance she deserves to develop her skill and compete in a way that brings her satisfaction.
OK, just a little bit of my opinion: I think she should be allowed to compete with the women, even though I can't see any of the world's Track & Field or Olympic sport committees agreeing with me.
1 Comments:
I agree that she deserves a chance to compete and achieve her goals. The problem is that, genetically, she has three times the amount of testosterone as a normal woman. This gives her an advantage that her competitors cannot keep up with no matter how hard they train. A normal woman would need to take steroids to achieve the same physical results that she does naturally. One woman in the interview said she could see a time in the future of athletic competitions where there is a third category, in addition to "male" and "female", of "other". Scary thought.
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