The Gender Row
Most of you who are Athletics fans will have heard of the controversy surrounding the 800m final in Berlin at the world championships.The athlete in question was Caster Semanya who won the Gold easily.This 18 year old looks and sounds very much like a man.The IAAF asked for a gender test to take place, announcing this in the middle of the championships.This resulted in debate about the timing of the announcement and how the governing bodies have dealt with it as well as the issue of has the athlete got an unfair advantage over other athletes in her class.
It seems that Semanya was born an haermaphrodite and this information will have been known at least by her family and one would have thought by others in her own country.A South African website earlier this summer mentioned this issue but claimed that South Africa did not have the expertise to carry out the complex tests required.It was also thought that the girl would have an aim to possibly get to the final with her sights set on a medal place in 2012.She won the Gold emphatically.Her progress has been staggering in comparison with other top class athletes.
For those studying Biology or P.E. this is an interesting topical case.There are claims that this person has internal testes (male reproductive organs) and that when tested in Berlin she had three times the amount of testosterone (the male hormone)that women have normally.This should indeed give her an advantage over others.In addition this would mean that she is unlikely to have experienced female puberty therefore would not have had periods.The IAAF yesterday issued a statement to the effect that they have had the report from tests carried out in Berlin but would not confirm to the public these results until they next meet in November.
In addition it has emerged that she has been coached in South Africa by a former East German coach who used to inject his athletes with anabolic steroids back in the Seventies.He has reputedly claimed to be clean of such practices since the early Eighties.If any of this is substantiated it begs the question why he is still allowed to coach when great effort shave been made to clean up the sport.One such athlete claims that she later has had a sex change and now lives as a man.I can only think the gutter press have missed this so far or are busy on other things becasue they would have a field day with this information. Rather than take all this second hand from me have a search for these issues .However beware words like allegedly,reputed,reported,claimed,which exonerate the writer from mistakes.I too have used such words because I have got the information fromother sources and do not know these claims to be fact.I write to make people aware of the need to do Gender tests as there were people who were annoyed that they had to be done and some even claimed it was racism picking on her.
One thing is clear , even though this young lady is an exceptional 18 year old she will have alot of mental issues to deal with especially now that its discussed in the media.She may have already had the bombshell some tiome ago that she cannot ever have children and may have come to terms with that but all the other gender issues ar every complex.Many people will over simplify things and there will be bigotry and misinformation from some quarters.Whilst its right to question does she have an unfair advantage nobody would wish the mental turmoil she will have endured in the last few weeks.Personally I feel the South African authorities have alot to answer for and do not seem to have looked far into the future to protect theior athlete.Should not Dr Arbeit be scrutinised given his past track record?
I will try and post the links here later
to stories about this case.
Telegraph Sport can also reveal that the head coach of the South African team is Dr Ekkart Arbeit, the former East German coach who was accused by a female athlete of giving her so many anabolic steroids that she was forced to undergo a sex-change operation and live the rest of her life as a man.
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Although it is unclear how closely Arbeit has been working with Semenya, news of his position will raise concerns with the International Association of Athletics Federations.
The analysis on Semenya’s testosterone levels was carried out in South Africa and it is understood this information contributed to the IAAF’s decision to request the South African federation carry out a detailed “gender verification” test on the athlete.
Arbeit, who was named as a key figure in the East German doping machine in a German parliamentary inquiry headed by Professor Werner Franke, has admitted his involvement in the drug programme and has expressed his regret for the part he played in East Germany’s tainted successes of the 1970s and 1980s.
But he has also insisted that, since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he has had no involvement with performance-enhancing drugs and that his coaching methods are now clean.
Heidi Krieger, who underwent surgery in 1997 and now lives in Germany as Andreas Krieger, has always blamed Arbeit for the role he played in supervising her drug regime under East Germany’s state-sponsored doping programme.
Arbeit was, however, considered trustworthy enough to be invited by Frank Dick, a former head coach of British Athletics, to work with Denise Lewis, the 2000 heptathlon Olympic champion. Arbeit coached Lewis for several months in 2003 before they parted ways after the World Championships in Paris.
The row over whether Semenya is a woman or a man has become a cause célèbre in South Africa, where the country’s parliament is preparing to file a complaint with the United Nations Commissioner of Human Rights over the athlete’s treatment, saying the gender verification tests are a “gross and severe undermining of rights and privacy.”
Medical tests on the athlete are said to be ongoing, with the results not expected for several weeks.
On Sunday, Lamine Diack, the IAAF president, said he regretted the public row over the athlete and admitted that the affair could have been treated with more sensitivity.
“It should not even have become an issue if the confidentiality had been respected,” said Diack.
“There was a leak of confidentiality at some point and this lead to some insensitive reactions.”
see The Dialy Telegraph 12th september , where most of the above was lifted from.
It seems that Semanya was born an haermaphrodite and this information will have been known at least by her family and one would have thought by others in her own country.A South African website earlier this summer mentioned this issue but claimed that South Africa did not have the expertise to carry out the complex tests required.It was also thought that the girl would have an aim to possibly get to the final with her sights set on a medal place in 2012.She won the Gold emphatically.Her progress has been staggering in comparison with other top class athletes.
For those studying Biology or P.E. this is an interesting topical case.There are claims that this person has internal testes (male reproductive organs) and that when tested in Berlin she had three times the amount of testosterone (the male hormone)that women have normally.This should indeed give her an advantage over others.In addition this would mean that she is unlikely to have experienced female puberty therefore would not have had periods.The IAAF yesterday issued a statement to the effect that they have had the report from tests carried out in Berlin but would not confirm to the public these results until they next meet in November.
In addition it has emerged that she has been coached in South Africa by a former East German coach who used to inject his athletes with anabolic steroids back in the Seventies.He has reputedly claimed to be clean of such practices since the early Eighties.If any of this is substantiated it begs the question why he is still allowed to coach when great effort shave been made to clean up the sport.One such athlete claims that she later has had a sex change and now lives as a man.I can only think the gutter press have missed this so far or are busy on other things becasue they would have a field day with this information. Rather than take all this second hand from me have a search for these issues .However beware words like allegedly,reputed,reported,claimed,which exonerate the writer from mistakes.I too have used such words because I have got the information fromother sources and do not know these claims to be fact.I write to make people aware of the need to do Gender tests as there were people who were annoyed that they had to be done and some even claimed it was racism picking on her.
One thing is clear , even though this young lady is an exceptional 18 year old she will have alot of mental issues to deal with especially now that its discussed in the media.She may have already had the bombshell some tiome ago that she cannot ever have children and may have come to terms with that but all the other gender issues ar every complex.Many people will over simplify things and there will be bigotry and misinformation from some quarters.Whilst its right to question does she have an unfair advantage nobody would wish the mental turmoil she will have endured in the last few weeks.Personally I feel the South African authorities have alot to answer for and do not seem to have looked far into the future to protect theior athlete.Should not Dr Arbeit be scrutinised given his past track record?
I will try and post the links here later
to stories about this case.
Telegraph Sport can also reveal that the head coach of the South African team is Dr Ekkart Arbeit, the former East German coach who was accused by a female athlete of giving her so many anabolic steroids that she was forced to undergo a sex-change operation and live the rest of her life as a man.
Related Articles
*
Dobriskey celebrates silver
*
Bolt eyes leap into long jump
*
Berlin championships come to a close
*
Bolt antidote to the chemical brothers
*
Semenya threatened to boycott medal ceremony
*
Semenya courage earning respect
Although it is unclear how closely Arbeit has been working with Semenya, news of his position will raise concerns with the International Association of Athletics Federations.
The analysis on Semenya’s testosterone levels was carried out in South Africa and it is understood this information contributed to the IAAF’s decision to request the South African federation carry out a detailed “gender verification” test on the athlete.
Arbeit, who was named as a key figure in the East German doping machine in a German parliamentary inquiry headed by Professor Werner Franke, has admitted his involvement in the drug programme and has expressed his regret for the part he played in East Germany’s tainted successes of the 1970s and 1980s.
But he has also insisted that, since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he has had no involvement with performance-enhancing drugs and that his coaching methods are now clean.
Heidi Krieger, who underwent surgery in 1997 and now lives in Germany as Andreas Krieger, has always blamed Arbeit for the role he played in supervising her drug regime under East Germany’s state-sponsored doping programme.
Arbeit was, however, considered trustworthy enough to be invited by Frank Dick, a former head coach of British Athletics, to work with Denise Lewis, the 2000 heptathlon Olympic champion. Arbeit coached Lewis for several months in 2003 before they parted ways after the World Championships in Paris.
The row over whether Semenya is a woman or a man has become a cause célèbre in South Africa, where the country’s parliament is preparing to file a complaint with the United Nations Commissioner of Human Rights over the athlete’s treatment, saying the gender verification tests are a “gross and severe undermining of rights and privacy.”
Medical tests on the athlete are said to be ongoing, with the results not expected for several weeks.
On Sunday, Lamine Diack, the IAAF president, said he regretted the public row over the athlete and admitted that the affair could have been treated with more sensitivity.
“It should not even have become an issue if the confidentiality had been respected,” said Diack.
“There was a leak of confidentiality at some point and this lead to some insensitive reactions.”
see The Dialy Telegraph 12th september , where most of the above was lifted from.
