Hoops

NH: Gender Debate: Caster Semenya

Not that I am a believer in sweeping things under the carpet but in this case I think they are making it worse for everyone if they either prolong the issue, or awards two golds etc. Make a decision right now that she is a female and can compete and normal rules apply, or ban her from the competition forever (hopefully they don't).

It all evens out in the wash. This chick has a high level of testoterone but should still be allowed to compete with the other girls. I mean, Ian Thorpe has been racing against men for years and he is the biggest girly blouse I have ever seen.

No Jack toft. It has not been reported yet AFAIK.

There are a couple of forms of this condition, does anyone know what the chromozone count was?

Good points you make Isaac.
I think it is fair for Semenya to keep her gold medal too.
However as for grading the minority such as this case, the Olympics is about the best male and female athletes. There is no grading in between that at the present time. I also don't believe she has a disability or physical impairment. Therefore I don't believe such an inclusion in the Paralympics is likely to occur.
The long-term solution may well reside in the IAAF setting boundaries for what constitutes an athlete being able to compete as a man and in this case, as a woman. And therefore, in answer to your last question, it is highly likely that all athletes may have to undergoe such testing in future - whether it is right or wrong. After all, it is about gender equality as much as anything else.

The Lady Gaga comparison was not far off the mark in the end!

"WORLD champion 800 metre runner Caster Semenya has been revealed to have both male and female sexual organs, posing an ethical and political quandary for the world international athletics body, the IAAF, and South Africa.
Extensive physical and emotional examinations of Semenya, 18, have shown the athlete is technically a hermaphrodite. Medical reports indicate she has no ovaries, but rather has internal testes, producing amounts of testosterone considered abnormal for a woman."

The Age: http://linky.com.au/2dj3z

Now what to do? IAAF is considering letting Semenya keep the gold emdal but award another to the 2nd place getter.

The jokes on this thread alone confirms that this story should never have been publicized. All it has done is create a wave of jokes and insults for this person regardless of whether she/he is cheating the system. Also without a doubt creating embarrassment for the individual and the family. All this testing could have been done privately. If she/he was found to be female, then no one would have been the wiser. If she/he was found out to be a fraud, then strip the medal and then make it public information.

Yeah - apparently the head honcho of South Africa's athletics team is none other than the former East German coach who was the mastermind of their systematic doping program many moons ago - Dr Ekkart Arbeit.

In fact Dr Arbeit is accused by an East German female athlete of giving her so many anabolic steroids she was forced to have a sex-change operation!

Ricey, I don't think anyone is suggesting she was once a man. The suggestion is she has male characteristics, like high testoterone, and therefore she is does not "qualify" for a women's event.

Yeah - but when you have cases such as Lady Gaga (gag?) where they apparently have both options (phenomena called hermaphrodite apparently) it would certainly get a bit complicated!

Oscar Foreman should be gender tested. He is far too pretty to be considered a man.

LMAO TC2. That was good.

The track officials spotted some hair growing on unusual places on her body, like her scrotum.

The drummers were great weren't they!!!

awesome that the Sixers introduced drummers.

Yeah - just read a new news story that in she has tested positive to having three-times the normal testosterone levels of a women.

Link: http://linky.com.au/wlogv

"Preliminary medical tests on the South African athlete at the centre of a gender row reportedly showed triple the normal female level of testosterone in her body."

"High hormone levels do not always translate to a failed drugs test. Testosterone levels can vary widely."

She failed the vacuum test, I believe.

It reported today that initial testing for doping showed 3 times the amount of testosterone than a normal female athlete!

So perhaps she just hit up the roids massively

Oh, the South African runner? I thought this thread was going to be about Michelle Timms. Carry on...