Tests have revealed Caster Semenya's testosterone level to be three times higher than those normally expected in a female sample, an article on BBC Sport reports. Leaked test results show Semenya testosterone level is 3 times than expected.
This is not the official result!
Doing 'La-pour' in the City of Accra
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When I was a curious, capering child street-sauntering at Achimota School,
there was an obliging, octogenarian gardener with no known name. People
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8 years ago
but does that mean she/he is all woman or part man or that he/she is all man or part woman?
ReplyDeleteIt is said in the same BBC article that the mere fact that Caster's testosterone is three times higher than 'usual' is inconclusive of either doping or of her gender, by itself.
ReplyDeleteSo is 'she' a man? That is plain stupid. Then may be Usain Bolt is Super-Man with testosterone levels ten times that of his colleagues giving him more advantage. And would they have complained if a man had oestrogen levels three times as much and thus always come last in a race for 'men'? Why? didn't Magic Johnson or Shaqueal O'neal have advantage of height in boxing? In all fields of life people tend to have advantages and that does not mean anything. They are just plain stupid.
ReplyDeleteNOTE: In my earlier comment I made a mistake: I was referring to BASKETBALL. Was infuriated by the whole idea of testing to see if you are a man or a woman.
ReplyDeleteI still find the whole situation ludicrous and it raises too many issues:
ReplyDelete1. Do elevated testosterone levels now mean that Caster is in fact a man even if she is not anatomically male?
2. Does this mean she will have to give up her medals due to the purported unfair advantage she has?
3. What about the testosterone levels of generations of other seemingly manly female athletes? Do these have to be revisited?
4. As Nana F-A said, does this mean that if Usain Bolt has naturally elevated testosterone levels does that mean that he should not compete with other men?
I'm just waiting for someone to say that African women are more manly than most...just waiting...
@Abena, I wonder what gender Usain Bolt is really! We could be up for some gender never seen before if the Semenya "test" is anything to go by.
ReplyDelete@KFC, Semenya's gender may end up being a matter of the courts really. We are fast approaching a stage where we need evidence and counter evidence to decide what sex he/she is...
ReplyDelete@NYA, maybe we should take this matter to Makola Law!
ReplyDelete@NFA, Superman, Lol. Bolt is another specie from another planet, who would dare oppose me.
ReplyDeleteI don't see what the fuss is all about. It's already been established that news of this testing was leaked (meaning that the IAAF did not at all mean for this to become so public - CAster knew she was being tested).
ReplyDeleteRules for female athletes stat that you can't have something that gives you too much of an advantage over your peers. If indeed her 3x level of testosterone gives her an advantage, then they'll address it as needed. It is not a witch-hunt. It's been done before by the IAAF- this whole gender test thing. They are not being racist or sexist or anything.
As for Bolt, if he too was tested and found to have extreme levels of something, that will also be addressed. I noticed that what started off Caster's controversy was that they noticed she had MARKEDLY MARKEDLY improved in very minimal time. It would be like if my cumulative GPA was a 1.7 for three years, then after one semester, it became a 3.7 - yeah. questions will be asked.
So the IAAF erred, what with the leaks....but I do not think the questioning is irrelevant.
Last night I went on the internet to do further research on this matter. A testosterone (sp) of three times higher than an everage woman is actually about 57 times lees than that of an average man. So if this hormone alone is the yardstick, Semenya is definately a woman. Men tend to have 40 to 60 times more testosterone than women, and merely having three times higher than a woman does not in any way make Semenya a man. However, the real question is, what advantage would the 3 times higher level give her other female competitors. But what is the essence of competition? Those with a natural advantage over others must prevail. Isnt that what we call talent?
ReplyDeletethe research also says that women are more sensitive to levels of testosterone than men are. forget her gender, but if they find that those extra levels aid her unduly (as in like wayyy to much extra muscle development or sth like that), then the iaaf will address it as they see fit
ReplyDeleteSemenya does not worry me.
ReplyDeleteman or woman? i'm my own worry? which am i?
This whole disgusting thing annoys me no end.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, the IAAF are totally out of order to leak things about her as they had been doing since hours before her final. It's totally farcical and they owe her BIG TIME.
Secondly, they already knew that they were going to test her and had decided to do so 3 weeks prior to her race and she had agreed. Why did it have to become a matter for public consumption?
Thirdly, if it is doping concerns, when athletics fail tests, names are not released until they fail a second test. So why on earth does the IAAF think it is even right to address this in the public domain and release bloody statements before any tests?
Fourthly, ditto the Usain bolt test arguments.
Fifth-ly, is improving massively in a physical activity during puberty so surprising? She's seventeen and you know hormone levels can take massive leaps in this time, do they not?
Sixth-ly, so should she quit the sport she has dedicated herself to because she is naturally superior physically in this respect than they are? Should people who are 'too muscular' be penalised in the Hammer because they have superior physical strength to other competitors? Should she suppress her testosterone level unnaturally then to compete? Where do we draw the line? Someone with a Mensa-level IQ is not penalised in a test against a regular chick like me, rather they are lauded and admired.
Lastly, she is a child, 17 years old for goodness sake. How on earth can it be ok for her to be treated with such a lack of respect, for her person, her reputation and her mental state? What kind of damage will it do to the child with people questioning the very essence of her identity? In the rest of the world this is known as BULLYING.
If this girl is found to be a girl, she'd better sue their arses for all they've got. KMT. It's a bloody witch-hunt. This is LUDICROUS!