Tests have revealed Caster Semenya's testosterone level to be three times higher than those normally expected in a female sample.@ 'BBC'
There is excellent reporting on this saga here:
The Science of Sport
(and do check other posts at this blog as well as the comments. Invaluable.)
As Ross Tucker(one of the blog's authors) commented a short time ago:
"...This has become a political platform, and the pretense of "support" for Caster Semenya has long fallen by the wayside. It is quite clear that the support of athletes and of victory is conditional on that support providing a political voice to those who have agendas to push. It has become a fiasco, and Semenya is in the middle.
Regardless of your stance on sex testing, this has long moved from sensible debate into vicious attack and hate speech...
Very sad."
Very sad."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/athletics/article6808200.ece
ReplyDelete"And then, of course, with sickening inevitability, the whispering campaign begins, the rumours surface and grow louder and suddenly we reach the controversial stage we are at now, with people openly maintaining that Berlino the Bear is not, in fact, a bear.
“He doesn’t look like a bear,” people are saying. “He doesn’t sound like a bear. He doesn’t run like one, either.” And thus the unsubstantiated assertions thrive, the unhelpful stereotypes get wielded and, instead of rejoicing in the magic of Berlino, we are plunged into dark doubt and insinuation.
For us, the issue is a simple one. He was raised as a bear. He believes himself to be a bear. He entered the tournament in good faith as a bear. He deserves to be treated as a bear. And we will continue to argue this way until it is categorically proven that he is not a bear.
Proof, though, is, of course, the nub. The suggestion that the bear underwent a gender test at the beginning of these championships has been flatly denied by people in Berlino’s camp. Nevertheless, it does seem clear that his bear-hood is imminently to be the subject of an authorised medical investigation.
One’s first reaction is to ask: “Why is all this out in the open?” Transparency at this point hardly seems to serve Berlino’s best interests. The public questioning of his bear-ness could have a ruinously humiliating effect on a performer who is — let’s not forget — still young."
2HerrB/
ReplyDeleteWas going to put up Berlino's best moments last night. I will now!
Regards/