Athletes will use any means to get ahead. Steroids, growth hormone, fertility drugs… any substance that can be snorted, injected, eaten, or smeared on is going to get used by someone who is looking to get an extra few feet on a home run shot, or a few seconds’ shaved off the time of a sprint. That’s just a fact of life. For South African sprinter Caster Semenya, the question isn’t about the drugs she may or may not be taking. The question is her gender. Or his gender.
Caster competes as a woman, and for all we know she is a woman. But she doesn’t look like a woman with her broad shoulders, big biceps, triangular shape, and deep voice. Plus, she destroyed the field in the 800 meter race at this year’s world championships, and shaved an incredible nine seconds off her time last year. All of this suggests that something is wrong, and as such, the International Olympic Committee has decided to make Caster undergo a gender verification test.
Gender verification used to be universal, but the provision was dropped in 2000. Now it goes based on appearance and suspicion. Sometimes, what is a man isn’t really a man and in Caster’s case, sometimes a woman isn’t a woman. Elite athletes undergo a ton of humiliating tests anyway; why not one more?
Tags: south African sprinter, sexual ambiguity, caster semenya, gender testing, international sports, gender bending, unusual health issues
