wow

this is powerful

An open letter to Caster Semenya
Nomboniso Gasa

Mokgadi Caster Semenya is a South African runner who won the women’s 800-meter gold medal at the 2009 World Championships. She was subsequently challenged by competitors to prove her gender and subjected to sex tests by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Below is a commentary by South African gender and political analyst Nomboniso Gasa that first appeared in the Cape Times Daily Star News, Aug. 27. Gasa edited “Women in South African History” (2007).

First, congratulations on your success; it is no mean achievement. This is your finest hour. And this must not be lost. Like so many others who have been following the developments, I have been at a loss for words, have felt rage and above all an incredible sadness at what you have been forced to experience.

Looking at your photograph in the front page of The Saturday Star, with the South African flag draped over your shoulders, I was drawn to your grace, dignity and composure with which you seemed to handle yourself in these times. I looked closely, at the smile playing at the corners of your mouth and it seemed to me, on some level you were wondering—what is the fuss all about? You won. You worked hard. You deserve the accolades, recognition that honor and affirm your discipline and hard work. For many of us, as a young Black woman, there is much we are learning from you, even though you have said a few words and generally been silent.............

this is a very interesting story

i know it's happened before. athletes accused of competing as women but really being men. i know that scenario has happened on purpose. HOWEVER, in most cases, i do believe there are athletes who are women, compete as women and they have an unusual genetic makeup. they may have a few male characteristics . they may be built more like a man than a woman YET THEY ARE WOMEN.

this woman is 18 years old. she can run. everyone who is jealous SHOULD JUST GET THE HELL OVER IT.

Gold Awarded Amid Dispute Over Runner’s Sex
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY and GINA KOLATA

BERLIN — As an 18-year-old runner from a village in South Africa received her gold medal in Olympic Stadium on Thursday night, activity away from the track had put her at the center of an international dispute: doctors here and in her home country were examining test results to determine whether she has too many male characteristics to compete as a woman.

The case of Caster Semenya, who has burst to prominence this season, touched off a debate over whether she should be allowed to keep her medal and, more broadly, how sports officials are supposed to discern the fuzzy biological line between male and female.

Medical experts said assigning sex was hardly as easy as sizing someone up visually. Even rigorous examinations can result in ambiguous findings. Some conditions that give women male characteristics can be discovered only through intrusive physical examinations, and others require genetic analysis.........

pic: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei of Kenya, left, Caster Semenya of South Africa and Jennifer Meadows of Britain display their medals from the women's 800 meters at the world championships on Wednesday.