Record Bender or Gender Bender: South African Runner Faces Gender Testing

South African Caster Semenya, 18, is facing a rare legal challenge in her sports career. The problem is not drug testing but gender testing. Various people have accused Semenya of being a male and sports officials are planning gender testing to result the dispute.

This week Semenya took gold in the 800m World Athletics Championship in Berlin. Various people insisted that her muscular physique was that of a man. Her mother, however, insists that she is female (here): Mokgadi Caster is a girl and no one can change that.”

I fail to see why there is such suspicions after the run below in Berlin. She seems like a very muscular female to me. I was far more suspicious (and remain suspicious) of the Chinese gymnasts in the age controversy.

It turns out that a gender test is not just watching to see if she can sit through a full performance of “Pride and Prejudice” without fleeing the room. The testing takes several weeks to complete.

Molatelo Malehopo, general manager of Athletics South Africa, insists that she is a she: “We have not been absent-minded, we are very sure of her gender.”

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