Report claims 800m world champion Caster Semenya is a hermaphrodite• Report says 18-year-old has male and female sexual organs
• 'This is a medical issue and not a doping issue' says IAAF

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David Smith in Johannesburg guardian.co.uk, Thursday 10 September 2009 23.36 BST Article history
An Australian newspaper is reporting that the IAAF tests have revealed Caster Semenya has male and female sexual organs. Photograph: Rainer Jensen/EPA


The results of a controversial gender test on the South African athlete Caster Semenya have been received by international athletics officials but will only be made public after they have been analysed by experts and Semenya has been informed, according to reports.

However, an Australian newspaper has reported that the 18-year-old has male and female sexual organs. The Sydney Morning Herald said extensive examinations of Semenya have shown she is technically a hermaphrodite. Medical reports indicate she has no ovaries, but rather has internal male testes, which are producing large amounts of testosterone.

A spokesman for the International Association of Athletics Federations is reported to have said that its urgent efforts to contact Semenya, the women's 800 metres world champion, were being thwarted by South African athletics authorities. Adding to the confusion, Athletics South Africa (ASA) has denied the claim, insisting that it has not yet heard from the IAAF.

"This is a medical issue and not a doping issue where she was deliberately cheating," IAAF spokesman Nick Davies was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "These tests do not suggest any suspicion of deliberate misconduct but seek to assess the possibility of a potential medical condition which would give Semenya an unfair advantage over her competitors. There is no automatic disqualification of results in a case like this."

Semenya's victory at last month's world championships in Berlin was overshadowed by speculation over her masculine appearance, deep voice and radically improved performance. The IAAF's order of a gender test caused fierce protests in South Africa and complaints that it infringed her human rights.

A South African website, Sport24.co.za, reported Davies as saying that the manner in which the ASA was handling the matter could become a huge problem. He was reported to have said the ASA president, Leonard Chuene, had spread so many untruths about the IAAF's conduct that it would be a major embarrassment for him when the facts are revealed. "Chuene may have no other option than resigning as president." The IAAF could not be reached to confirm the reported remarks.

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I feel bad that they had to be so public and mean about it.
The thick stache should've been a clue a while ago....

http://prince.org/msg/100/318685

She's an intersexed human being whom identifies as being a woman.

She's not an "it" or a "boy".

GirlBrother said:

it was tongue in cheek, like a baby announcement...

sorry anx, didn't think to look at that one, lock on.

BklynBabe said:

Yeah, I know. I was just being over... protective of her.

It's cool. I was being insensitive too.
I already have a room reserved in hell for my meanness

I do think it's really ugly how they played this out in public...

this is really mean

nurseV said:

Anxiety said:

That thread was removed. I started it, and asked for its removal, because at the time the IAAF hadnt confirmed the news. Even though it was all over the morning papers here in Oz and on morning tv.

The press dont wait for conformation


Its not a joking matter.

BklynBabe said:

Me too. I feel bad for her. It's not her fault she was born that way. Lawd knows the poor chile is probably embarrassed as all get out that those fools paraded her around in the press like a dog and pony show.

prb said:

I feel so bad for her. Her face is plastered all over the place with people ridiculing her, judging her, making armchair socio-political analysis of her...sometimes I really hate the "information superhighway", I swear I do. There are some moments when it truly does far more harm than good

Can you please change the thread title? So not cool.

I feel bad for Semenya. It's looking more and more likely she had no idea she was intersex. It's not fair to her or her family to have to find out the way they have, in front of the entire world. Her sex and gender are a private matter.

That said, legally she's a woman and she identifies as a woman. Let her keep the medal, for fuck's sake, and let that be the end of it.
[Edited 9/11/09 14:19pm]

Poor girl, she even went all out and had a make over to make others happy.

PaisleyPark5083 said:

Yeah that is so sad-I feel sorry for her

PaisleyPark5083 said:

IMO it's kind of sick and deeply indicative of women's place in sports that she even had to go through with a makeover at all to "prove" her femininity. Female athletes are constantly being given more attention for their appearance than their athletic abilities, to the point of sports magazines and commentators even compiling "Top 10 Hotties" lists. Any female athlete who doesn't conform to traditionally accepted ideals of feminine beauty are held up under special scrutiny, mocked, and even had their genders questioned.

Anyone who knows me knows that probably one of the last things I give a shit about or think should be world news or subject of focus is athletics, but I will call bullshit where I see it. It's well past time that women who are athletes aren't taken seriously or challenged for their assumed lack of real womanhood. Stop focusing on how hot or not they are, stop questioning -usually unjustly - whether or not someone has 2 x chromosomes or 1, stop underreporting and ignoring their achievements.

Ottensen said:

Me too, and yesterday i attributed to the spreading of mis-information.
Even if it does turn out to be true, this "leak" is awful.

The results were meant to be private.

I did say in the other thread, i hope Caster has has a supportive family base around her.- and that she is offered counselling if she requires it.

her family does love her and that's all that matters!

and a poor village in Africa is not going to have ultrasound and DNA tests...they are going to go based on what they see. So I doubt she or her family meant to deceive.

Att the same token I do think her "coaches" did her wrong...like here's Caster, she looks like a boy, sounds like a boy, and has been teased about being a boy...surely some private testing before throwing her into a world arena would have been smart.It's not like it's the first time. I think she was horribly used.

She's apparently on suicide watch:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/...watch.html

There's an interesting (and touching) essay by another intersexed woman in today's Independent newspaper, in the U.K.

http://www.independent.co...91132.html

meow85 said:

Well I'd argue it's sport that's unnatural-if it's on in the pub it takes you twice as long to get served. That becomes a marathon in itself. by the way i DO agree with your point. It's the source issue that's the problem-the way women should look etc-so obviously women in sport are the other extremity. The irony is that these women that are accused of looking too muscley etc probably go through less physical pain than Posh Spice. The world can be a very starnge place