Semenya Saga Continues
One would have hoped that by now sanity would have prevailed. But unfortunately that is not the case at all.
Every politician and quack has come out of the woodworks to offer an opinion. None of which is helping poor Caster Semenya.
Unless you count the R60 000 or so that the ANCYL has bestowed on her…the apparently broke ANCYL.
And what should have been a low key return, the girl’s sexuality is being both questioned and tested, has turned out into a circus.
The media – worldwide – have taken to interviewing medical practitioners in every medical field willing to give an opinion. Oh and are they ever willing!
Politicians – including this country’s president – have weighed in on the saga. What they know about the situation could probably be written on a pin’s head.
Yet there they were at Oliver Tambo International, getting all fired up, calling the IAAF racists and generally saying nothing important.
Whether they like it or not, the IAAF were well within their rights to question Semenya’s gender. She does after all looks and speaks like a male.
How they did it is up for debate…the fact that this very private matter was leaked to the media is inexcusable.
The fact that Athletics South Africa knew that Semenya’s testosterone levels were three times that considered within range for a ‘normal’ female athlete makes one think that they doth protest too much.
ASA put Semenya on the world stage to be ridiculed. They should take the biggest amount of blame for this attention the 18 year old Semenya was placed under.
Meanwhile there is Caster Semenya, an 18 year old girl who may or may not have a career in athletics.
In the end she won’t even matter – she’ll fade off stage and the politicians and media will move onto their own agendas.
