Caster Semenya Has Her Gender Tested at the World Championships

Sports Betting News - August 20th, 2009 - Written by Ryan Smith

Caster Semenya, the young south African track star, won the 800-meter gold medal at the world championships in Berlin Germany on Thursday, all while being constantly asked about her gender. The teenage South African girl took her victory lap around the track, than walked to the podium, bowed her head, and received her gold medal for the 800-meter event. Earlier in the week, during qualifying, sports media members started to realize Semenya was winning her races by six or seven lengths, just a bit more than the rest of the qualifying winners. This started rumors and speculations, that maybe the young girl was not a girl at all.

Caster Semenya has the physical physique of a young man, and short braids pulled back on her head, so she almost resembles that of a young boy. However lets remember that this girl is a professional athlete training for the next Olympic event. Semenya's case is just another situation in which media members would rather judge a book by it's cover, instead of reading the facts for themselves. The Rumors spread, and spread, and now this young girl who received God given talent must defend her own gender, because a bunch of reporters jumped to speculations.

IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss represented Semenya at the winners podium, and ESPN reports these comments from him, "... testing was ordered because of ambiguity, not because we believe she is cheating." South African athletics president Leonard Chuene defended the young track star after her gold medal run Thursday, and said Semenya is facing all this scrutiny because she is African. ESPN reports Chuene had these comments, "It would not be like that if it were some young girl from Europe, If it was a white child, she would be sitting somewhere with a psychologist, but this is an African child." Chuene later stated, "If there was evidence, she would have been stopped, Where I come from, you're innocent until proven guilty. They're judging her based on what, Who can give me conclusive evidence? I want someone to do that."

Due to the fast pace of speculations and rumors Semenya, the young teenager, will undergo a series of test just to keep her Gold medal victory. These test will include a physical and medical evaluation, and it also includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender. If any of these tests prove she is not a woman, she will be stripped of her Gold medal immediately.

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