Click to see her entire body
A female runner accused of being a man tonight took gold in the 800m World Athletics Championship. South African Caster Semenya, 18, had to take a gender test after doubts were raised about her sex.
Today officials at the world athletics body, the IAAF, revealed that it ordered her to take a gender test three weeks ago.
What is the difficulty in knowing what gender you are? I know they won’t do it but the “old way” of checking could work.
Look at her coach’s opinion:
Michael Seme [her coach] told South Africa’s News24 website: ‘We understand that people will ask questions because she looks like a man. It’s a natural reaction and it’s only human to be curious.
Hey thanks a lot for the compliments, coach.
Inspecting “the zone” appears like a ‘she’.
However, it could be a Republican ‘he’.
Needs more research.
I wonder what definition of male/female is used by the World Athlete Championship?
You’all do know there is more than one, definition that is.
And even with those definitions, just like in sports, some cases fall on the line.
Perfect design, or the devil?
Wasn’t JCD a Gender Inspector before a bloger?
It’s pretty common for steroids to turn someone into a shim and you can’t tell at a glance. They can give the ladies that squared jaw look (like her) and they give guys tits. It is what it is and damn near every sports professional uses them.
The East Germans and Russions did all they could to make a Hermaphrodite category at the Olympics.
[Duplicate comment deleted. Please don’t double post! – ed.]
Hey those steroids can do wonders! But they can make you look like a man. I’m just saying!
Wait a minute… male or female, aren’t steroids illegal anyway?
Just look at the runner’s name: Caster Semenya
Castrate Semen-yeah
Well, as has been stated, steroids can do wonders for your masculinity. Still, there do appear to be some non-lady like attributes not usually caused by steroid abuse. Look at the square jaw. The boyish hips. The broad shoulders. These are not conclusive and may even be artifacts of the photo angle, lighting, etc. I’m too damned lazy to go look up more photos.
BUT, there’s one thing I can say for sure: I wouldn’t date her.
@#2:”I wonder what definition of male/female is used by the World Athlete Championship?
You’all do know there is more than one, definition that is.
And even with those definitions, just like in sports, some cases fall on the line.”
No cases fall on the line if you strictly interpret science and do not use “how do you feel or look” arguments. You have Y chromosome – you are male. You don’t have one – you are female. Regardless of looks, because those can be defective or altered. Regardless of feeling this or that way, because that can be altered by anything from upbringing to mental disease or faked. There is no surgery to remove Y chromosome or add one in. There is no third option of having it or not.
The whole business of who, or what, won is just a stupid wastet of time IMHO. Given any contest, someone will win no matter how well or poorly they performed. It is a exercise in relativity.
What a waste of attention.
fast women are always to be avoided.
If you guys lived in San Francisco, you wouldn’t even notice this runner. Believe me, we have some strange characters here! Scary strange.
Some great female athletes of the past have been tested and turned out to be males that didn’t respond properly to testosterone. Their genitals look female at least from the outside. A few eastern block females had been gender changed.
On the other hand no world class athlete is normal or they would not be a world class athlete. Normal people are average athletes.
The IOC states that athletes must perform in the sex that they were born. So if someone had a sex change operation to become a male/female they wouldn’t be allowed to compete in their current gender.
#15 deowll : Almost right. Normal people sit in soft swivel chairs in front of computer screens and debate the prowess of athletic freaks.
Excuse me. I need to go get some more Fritos and Twinkies.
That’s a MAN baby! Yeah!
(WARNING! Technical crap ahead…) I reread a couple of posts and felt and urgent need to come to the “lady’s” defense. Genetically. I don’t want to get into a molecular biology lecture here, but the definition of male/female might be a cosideration. Like I said, no lectures on mosaicism of genetic map are forthcoming. But let it be said that it is quite possible that some men have as much as 30 or 40% of their chromosomes lacking a Y and yet still shave and screw and look masculine as hell. Except they might have tits or something. I recommend a good book on endocrinology. For a start look up Kleinfelters Syndrome. XX = girl but these have XXY. Are they men or women? Tune in next week. How about Turner’s Syndrome? XXX. You’d think these would be extra feminine, soft and lush with thick lips, curvy hips and full,ripe breasts. Sorry big boy. They often skip puberty and aren’t fertile. And there are other variations, too. X0, XXX, XXXXY. No, really. And, just like a woman, those X chromos are twisted and wicked and complicated to understand. Google up some images and you’ll see what I mean. Now the dependable ole Y proteins are simple little stubby erections in the genetic profile, Okay, not all that simple. There is a region on the Y that actually includes a sort of switch to turn on the gender machine and make a male a man. (You can look up SRY genetic switch if you wish.) So, it is quite possible if the SRY gene is defective and doesn’t flip the man-making switch, that an XY could be a woman. I believe Olympic testing looks for the SRY gene. If I had to guess, I’d say that’s what we’re looking at here. Anyway, you would be surprised at the number of different combinations you can get out of Xs and Ys. About the only one you can’t get is YY. Without a feminine side, we just aren’t viable, boys.
Hey, who you callin’ “boy?” boy?
Word is some of the worlds most famous models are from the Kleinfelter mold. Big rumors regarding Cindy Crawford until she dropped a liter.
If I love tall, skinny women am I gay? Can I blame it on my genes? or from reading blogs?
To me, she looks like an American male who grew up in a neighborhood with gang activity. Then, he recently moved to South Africa where track coaches looked the other way and never asked about gender.
Try the braille method.
Check DNA (Y chromosome). Otherwise who cares, after all the drug cheats I stopped paying attention.
#11 – “No cases fall on the line if you strictly interpret science and do not use “how do you feel or look” arguments. You have Y chromosome – you are male. You don’t have one – you are female.”
Ahh but you’re wrong there too. I suppose you’ve never heard of de la Chapelle syndrome. Here is the wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XX_male_syndrome
Even science has failed you, semantically speaking.
#24 Alex
Very interesting.
It just goes to show… the world is fucked up. A more cogent argument for an irrational universe I have not seen.
From the face alone, I’d suspect that (s)he has a Y chromosome hanging around where it shouldn’t be.
Sadly [her coach] should be [its coach]
until we know for for sure.
yep
#19 Animby
Interesting that all those disorders you mentioned cause infertility.
Steroids have the same effect as testosterone and women who take them start to look more manly. I guess the only way to tell the gender of this person is a.) have someone look and b.) test this individual for steroids.