The news keeps rolling in on the Caster Semenya gender issue and it keeps getting more and more convoluted.  The officials of the IAAF are using language like whether her “conditions” accord her an advantage over other females?!  What in the hell is that supposed to mean?  How about being a superior athlete who has put in the hard work that it takes to win in today’s competitive sporting world?  Is that one of the “conditions” that the IAAF is talking about?

Furthermore,  IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss went on to say that she was being tested because of “ambiguity”, not because we believe she is cheating.”  Now this is where i take offense.  Just because her particular brand of beauty doesn’t fit traditional stereotypes in SOME peoples minds is no excuse for this type of discrimination.  In more than one place I see experts say that its a more complex issue than people think.  At http://www.sportsscientists.com, Ross talks a lot about this.  I think that the issue is a lot simpler than people make it out to be.  Like many other people i don’t see psychological testing as being relevant in this.  I also think that aside from tampering her body through steroids, hormones or other artificial or unnatural means she cannot be disqualified. In other words neither she nor anyone else should be disqualified based on their natural state.  She is being judged an anomaly to the system and that is wrong.  She has spent her whole life as a girl and aside from how she looks and runs she is a girl in every other way.  Simple tests administered by a gynecologist and and other specialists in Sex determination should be sufficient to put this matter to rest.

Another issue that i am seeing here is the perceived incompetence of the ASA also known as Atheltics South Africa.   The ASA is the organization that handles athletics for people in South Africa on the international level.  Many have stated that the ASA was obviously wrong in bringing  Ms. Semenya to the games as her female status was questionable.  This just seems downright slanderous and libelous to be frank and one wonders whether or not this would even be put forward if a Western(white) run organization instead of an African(black) organization  was in a similar situation.  I think it is pretty obvious that if the ASA truly had any doubts that Ms.Semenya was a woman man they wouldn’t have allowed her to represent them.  It truly smacks of a cultural misunderstanding that is based on perception.  It seems to me that the ASA saw a talented young female runner who obviously deserved a spot on their national team and brought her to the games in the hopes that she would win glory for their nation just like everybody else.

In conclusion i have to say that yes we live in a world where men and women bend their gender everyday and make changes to themselves to fit their current lifestyles.  However,  this doesn’t mean that a Caster Semenya is one of these people.  She is just a girl who wants to run and to be allowed to win if she comes in first.  Is this so much to ask?

-Douglass Mcguire