Being able to complete a 800m race and win a gold medal for outdistancing her competitors by 2.45 seconds ought to make any world-class track and field star feel mighty good.
Of course there might put a little bit of a damper on things if, instead of celebrating your triumph, the world started questioning it.
This is what happened to 18-year-old South African runner Caster Semenya when she competed recently in Berlin during the world championships. It seems that there is some doubts as to...er...exactly what Caster is.
Apparently, she is not quite "girly" enough in her appearance and manner, with a low voice, male-like pecs and muscular build, so much so that she was forced to take a battery of tests from gynecologists, internal medicine specialists and a bunch of other medical experts to prove what her gender is.
I always thought that there was one surefire way to make this determination, but,
according to some circles, it's a "lot more complicated" than that.
Huh?
Although her family members swear out that Caster is female, IAAF people are not fully convinced, hence, these examinations.
No matter what the results turn out to be, it can't be good for Caster's self-esteem. If she turns out to be defined as a male, she loses her medals and gets banned from the sport. If she's determined to be female, doesn't it essentially mean that she was judged because she wasn't "hot" looking enough?
